The heartbeat of the Christian faith and life is the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is likewise His Cross which His disciples are given to receive, to carry, and to rely upon for Life. For it is in the Cross of Christ that true divine greatness and the almighty power of God are made perfect in His voluntary weakness and demonstrated in His mercy and pity toward us poor sinners.
He has such compassion and bestows His charity upon you, not from some high and lofty distance, but up close and personal, in His own flesh and blood. Nor is His giving to you like the painless writing of a check from your disposable income to this or that cause or charity for the sake of a tax write-off. No, His divine charity is the true greatness and real strength of self-sacrificing love and voluntary suffering for the sake of saving you, even though you have no way to repay Him.
So, then, in answer to the disciples’ questions and discussion, it is Christ Jesus alone who is the greatest of all. He stands head and shoulders above any and all other contenders. Indeed, He is lifted up above all others when He is lifted up in His death upon the Cross — and when He is then raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of His Father in everlasting glory and honor.
Again, His greatness is found precisely in His grace and mercy toward us, which He exercises in His obedience to the Father and in His humble service to the point of His death upon the Cross. It is in love for His Father, and in steadfast perfect faith in the Father who sent Him, that He takes up that Cross and offers up His Body and Life upon it in love and compassion for His neighbor.
In doing so, He has made Himself the Least of all and the Servant of all. The almighty and eternal Son of the Living God has become like a little child. More than that, He actually was conceived and born as the little Child of St. Mary, in order to redeem the world and everyone in it, to rescue all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve from sin, death, the devil, and hell, by His own death.
To be and to live like a little child, as Jesus has done for you and your salvation, is to live by faith in the Lord your God, in His Word and promises. It is to rely on Him and to receive all that you need from His hand by way of those He has given to care for you. It is to boast not in yourself but in His grace and mercy, and to give to Him all your thanks and praise in body, soul, and spirit.
It is by living in this way on your behalf, by faith in His Father, in flesh and blood like your own, that Christ Jesus has humbled Himself to serve you and save you at the cost of His own Body and Life. So has He atoned for your sins, reconciled you to God, and poured out His Spirit upon you.
Of course, this is the great irony and paradox of Christianity, that forgiveness, Life, and Salvation are obtained by the Cross of Christ Jesus and given to you by and from that same Cross; so that your true and only Life — your only real Life — is found in His innocent suffering and death.
Those who are called and catechized to be the disciples of this same Lord, Jesus Christ — who are called to follow Him and learn from Him — are thus taught by His Word and by His example to be and to live like Him: in faith toward God and in fervent love for those He places around you.
So do you become like a little child and live by faith in your dear God and Father. And so do you also bear the Cross of Christ Jesus in self-sacrificing love and humble service for your neighbors in their need. Not simply trading favors, tit-for-tat — not doing good merely for those who are able to repay you in some way or another — but sacrificing yourself, expending your time, your treasures, and your talents in service to others, for no other reason than that of holy charity.
Understand, first of all, that you actually are “a little child” in relation to the Lord your God, like a newborn infant. You are absolutely and completely dependent on Him for everything; and you are not able to repay Him in return. And as that is how it is for you, so learn to love and care for your brothers and sisters in Christ and for all your neighbors in the world, regardless of their age or abilities, in the way that your dear Father in heaven cares for you and all His beloved children.
In particular, care for those who actually are little children, even yet hidden in the womb. And by the same token, care for those who are like the little children — who are innocent and simple in their thinking, in their abilities and way of life. Care for all such little ones, because they are so small and weak and helpless — because they are not able to help themselves or to help you, but they need your help — and do what you can to care for them as an instrument and agent of your God and Father in heaven, much like an older brother or sister caring for your younger siblings.
To live in these ways, both in general and in particular — that is, to receive what you need from God, and then to give to your neighbor as the Lord your God gives to you — that is nothing more nor less than to live by faith and in love as a Christian. It is to live by the Cross and by the fruits of the Cross of Christ Jesus, and to bear such fruits for others after the same kind — at your own expense, as needs may be, even unto death, in the hope and confidence of the Resurrection.
Sure sounds good, doesn’t it. Except that it really is no wonder that the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant when He told them where He was going and what was going to happen to Him there. They did not want to know or understand the Cross — not His, and certainly not their own. That is not at all the kind of “greatness” they were discussing on the way.
It’s not what you’re after for yourself, either; not according to your sinful, mortal flesh. It’s quite the opposite of what you want. Your old Adam has other ideas and altogether different desires! You don’t want suffering, you want prosperity and pleasure. You don’t want to serve, you want to be served — except when you can promote yourself and feel good about yourself by serving others, in such a way that you’re able to place yourself above them, as though you were superior. In general, you want other people to care for you, to provide for your needs, to cater to your wants, to be at your beck and call — or, better yet, to do what you want without your asking — none of this as though it were a matter of charity (or grace), but as though you were deserving of it all.
As you make your way through life, as you chart your course and blaze your trail, you also discuss and contemplate your greatness vis-à-vis others. Not the greatness of the Cross, but the greatness of the world with its idols. For that prize you compare and contrast, you jockey for position, you compete with your neighbor, and you maneuver for your own advancement, benefit, and profit. That is what occupies your attention, because that is what grips your heart and mind.
Consequently, you are not able to comprehend the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus, who lays down His life and sacrifices Himself, not for His own benefit, but for the benefit of others, even for those who have hated Him and been at odds with Him, in order to rescue them from their own predicament, from their sin and death, and to reconcile them to His God and Father in peace. He goes out of His way to make friends of His enemies, and to make life better for them, and to bring them to God. Such divine, self-sacrificing love is pure grace and utter charity — and so contrary to your own instincts of survival, self-preservation, self-promotion, and self-righteousness.
So, that is why you must be catechized, put to death, and born again to a new and better life — all by the Word and Spirit of God, by the preaching of the Law and the Gospel, unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins — in order that, by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, you should thus become a little child of God and a faithful disciple of the same Lord Jesus Christ.
And with that, bear in mind that the only true and lasting greatness is that of Christ Jesus Himself, who has become, for you and for all, the Least and the Last, the faithful Servant of both God and Man, the Sacrifice to end all sacrifice for sin. For not only has He become the little Child who lives by faith in His Father, but so is He also the sacrificial Lamb who lives and dies in love for God and for His neighbors, who takes upon Himself and takes away the sins of the whole world.
This is the great service that He has rendered and accomplished for you and for all people.
And it is in this greatness of His own Cross and Passion that He gently calls you to Himself, again and again, and catechizes you by and with His Word and Holy Spirit unto repentance, away from sin and death to faith in Him. And as the Father has raised Him from death and the grave and has seated Him at His right hand in glory, so does He raise you from death to Life, now and forever.
So has He given you a brand new birth, and He has made you a little child of His God and Father by your Holy Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection. That is who you are. No matter how old you are, no matter how smart you are, no matter how strong you are, no matter how wealthy you may be, and no matter how much stuff you have (all of which is going away) — yet, for now and forever, you are God’s own child, a little child whom He takes into His arms and takes care of.
That is what He has done for you by way of your Baptism in His Name. In much the same way, throughout your life He continues to send His servants to preach and teach His Word, to catechize you unto daily repentance, to forgive you all your sins in His Name and stead, and to nourish your faith and life in Him by the means of His Gospel within the household and family of His Church.
He teaches you to be and to live as a child of God, not by the force and fury of His Law, but by caring for you and providing for you, by loving you relentlessly, in spite of your sins, in spite of your unbelief, ingratitude, petty grumpiness, and persistent disobedience. It is in mercy that He calls you to repentance for all of those sins and for all of your other sins, especially by calling you to the great goodness of His grace, to the forgiveness of His Gospel, to the free gift of His Love.
Not only does He feed and clothe and shelter you, guard and protect you, guide and lead you for this body and life on earth, but He freely gives you His own divine Life in body and soul, for now and forever. Which is to say that He feeds and clothes and shelters you, He guards and protects you, He guides and leads you, and He brings you to the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father.
As this one Lord Jesus Christ has given Himself for you and for all — unto His sacrificial death upon the Cross — so does He now give Himself to you from the Cross in the Sacrament of His Altar. He humbles Himself in the elements of bread and wine in order to feed you from His own nail-scarred hands, to serve you with His own holy Body, and to pour out for you, not only cold water (refreshing as that is), but that Cup which is the New Testament in His precious Blood.
Receiving these good Gifts which Christ Jesus freely gives, you receive the Lord God Himself in His mercy, and you partake of His divine, eternal Life. That is the true greatness of Christ and His Cross, which is now also yours as a child of God in Him, by His grace through faith in His Gospel.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment