April 15, 2022
Sermon by the Rev. Bernadette Hartsough
We have journeyed this Lent through the desert or wilderness. We have learned how to get lost to heighten our senses and to reconnect with God. Our journey takes us here to the cross.
Today we look toward the cross. We talk of the death of Jesus, an innocent man. We feel the horror of the torture and injustice of his death. We see the shame of dying and suffering in public as evil that humans do to each other. Jesus experienced humanity’s evil as an innocent victim. But on this “Good Friday” I want to talk about the Good that came of this day. I want to talk about space. I am reminded of the passage from Philippians 2:5-8 about Jesus emptying himself. It reads, “Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,7 but emptied himself…” Jesus emptied himself by becoming a human man with all its limitations and by following not his will but the will of God the Father. He restricted his use of divine attributes. He only used his divine attributes or power when it was in accordance with the will of God the Father. Jesus emptied himself with humility which led him to the cross. He created the space for us to be joined to the Godself.
In the desert-the wilderness there are wide open spaces. The spaces are clearings or canyons. The canyons or clearings are not filled. They may appear empty compared to the area around them. These open spaces are necessary for certain types of wildlife, for animal courtship, and for certain types of vegetation. Open spaces help to control wildfires and are necessary for the health of the ecosystem.
Keeping spaces open is not something that we do well in the United States in the 21st century. We like to fill rooms. Cover walls with pictures. Fill our schedule. Fill our plates. We don’t like anything that looks too empty. I think that open and empty spaces make us feel poor or inadequate. We are starting to see the consequences of a lifestyle that wants to fill spaces. Our health suffers. Our farmland suffers. Other people suffer. The earth suffers.
Jesus’s life is an example of creating open space. Jesus went away to pray so he could fill his space with the will of God the Father. He created space for those condemned like the woman who was being stoned and the other victims on the crosses next to him. Even as jesus was led to Golgotha he created space for others. Some of the people that he spoke to were the women of Jerusalem, the beloved disciple, Veronica, and his mother. Through the cross, Jesus reconciled us to God the Father thereby creating space for us.
Jesus left a space in his death. For three days his disciples had a huge space left by jesus. Many disciples gave up their careers to follow Jesus. now what? Now they had a huge space in their life. They did not go and fill it with new prophets or messiahs. They did not return to their careers at least not full time. They left their spaces open waiting for directions from God. They discerned how to fill the gap left by Jesus. We know the space was filled with the church.
The example of the cross is the opposite of our lifestyle.
Good Friday gives us space. It gives us time to remember Jesus. This Good Friday let’s focus on the space that Jesus created for us. He set another place at the table for us. He prepared a room in his father’s house for us.
On this Lenten and Holy Week journey, I hope that you found some open space in your life. I hope that through your open space you encountered God through prayer, meditation, study, and service. Now the challenge for us is to keep the space open. Keeping space for God and others creates a window to our soul. A window where we can experience God. The space becomes a way to get to know our true selves-followers of Jesus.
Let us take some space to pause and think of other innocent people who die. Let us take space to pause and remember those who must fill their days with work just to eat and have shelter. To think about others whose days are filled with only empty time. To think about the ways Jesus sacrificed and emptied himself. And most importantly, to think about the parts of ourselves that need some emptying so that we can create space for Jesus and for others. Let us take some time now to reflect on our open or filled space.