Sunday, November 25, 2007

                                                                        Christ the King C

                                                                        Luke 23:33-43

JESUS, REMEMBER ME

Beloved people of God,

          grace and peace to you

                   from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

AMEN.

Deeply embedded in our American way of life

is the tradition of gathering together

          on Thanksgiving Day for a splendid feast.

Often several generations

          are represented around the dinner table.

We are thankful for the food

          that is before us.

But we are especially thankful for the opportunity

          to rekindle relationships

                   and to renew family ties.

It is also a time we remember

          loved ones who have died

and are no longer able

to gather around the table with us.

We are mindful of the impact

          these loved ones had on us.

In remembering them

          they continue to influence our lives.

Last Sunday at the American Academy of Religion

          I attended a session on

                   “The Teaching of the Holocaust.”

This session was led by Vicki Barnett,

          the Director of Church Relations

                   at the Holocaust Museum

                             in Washington, D.C.

The beginnings of the US Holocaust Museum

          go back to November 1, 1978,

                   when President Carter established

                             a Commission on the Holocaust

                   to assess the state of

Holocaust remembrance and

          education in the United States.

When this commission presented their report,

                   their first recommendation was:

          “That a living memorial be established

                   to honor the victims and survivors

                             of the Holocaust

            and to ensure that

the lessons of the Holocaust

          will be taught in perpetuity.”

This recommendation led

to the construction of the Holocaust Museum,

          which was dedicated in 1993.

This museum is a fitting memorial

          to ensure that the victims and survivors

                   of the Holocaust

                             will not be forgotten.

At the same time the hope is

          that this living memorial will stimulate

                   “leaders and citizens

                             to confront hatred,

                                      prevent genocide,

                                      promote human dignity,

                               and strengthen democracy.” [1]

Remembering has always been

          central to biblical understanding of God

                   and thus vital to

          our Judaeo-Christian tradition.

God remembers the people of God

          and turns to them with grace and mercy.

In response to God’s remembering of them

          the people of God are to remember

the gracious acts of God.

They are also exhorted to remember

          their guilt toward God,

                   how they have sinned and gone astray.

In remembering their guilt

          their need for God’s grace

                   becomes abundantly clear.

The Psalmists stress

          how important it is to remember

                   to turn to God

                             whenever we are in distress.

The most important meal in the Jewish tradition

is the Passover.

The primary purpose of the Passover meal

          is to remember

how God led the people of Israel

          out of slavery in Egypt.

The most important meal in the Christian tradition

          is the Lord’s Supper.

Remembrance is at the heart of this meal.

Each Sunday we hear the words:

          “In the night in which he was betrayed,

                   our Lord Jesus took bread,

                             and gave thanks;

                   broke it,

                             and gave it to his disciples, saying,

                   `Take and eat;

                             this is my body,

                                      given for you.

                   Do this for the remembrance of me.’

          Again, after supper,

                   he took the cup, gave thanks,

                             and gave it for all to drink, saying,

                   `This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

                             shed for you and for all people

                                      for the forgiveness of sin.

                   Do this for the remembrance of me.’”

In the biblical tradition

          remembering is not simply a mental process.

It is crucial

          to strengthening and purifying our faith.

During my first year at Trinity in Tacoma

          one precocious little boy

                   kept me on my toes

during children’s sermons.

Often it felt like

          I was his straight man.

One children’s sermon stands out.

I do not remember the exact content,

          but it was something about

                   how much God loves us

                             and how special each child is

                                      in God’s eyes.

I brought the children’s sermon

          to what I thought was a fitting conclusion

                   and then told the children

                             they could return to their seats.

As I stood up,

          I felt a tug on my robe,

                   and then this little boy said to me

                             in a voice loud enough

                                      to be heard by all,

          “Pastor, don’t forget about Jesus.”

What else could I say but,

          “Yes, don’t forget about Jesus.”

To forget about God or to forget about Jesus

          is spiritual death for us.

To be forgotten by God or by Jesus

          would be a fate worse than death.

Given the vital importance of remembering

                   in our tradition of faith,

          it becomes clear

                   that the penitent thief

                             on the cross next to Jesus

                   uttered the most powerful prayer possible

                             when he says to Jesus,

                   “Jesus, remember me

                             when you come into your kingdom.”

This thief has made

          a mess out of his life.

In rebuking the other thief

          he confesses that

                   “we indeed have been condemned justly,

                             for we are getting

                                     what we deserve for our deeds.”

This thief does not want to die

          an obscure death as a common criminal.

It is what he deserves,

          but hanging on the cross,

                   as he confronts

the stark reality of his death,

                   he recognizes Jesus

                             as an agent

of God’s mercy and grace.

We do not know

          what his prior relationship to Jesus was.

But in that moment perhaps he remembered that

          God is gracious and merciful,

                             slow to anger,

                   and abounding in steadfast love.

In any case he lays his fate in the hands of Jesus,

          believing that Jesus was the bearer

                   of God’s gracious and merciful love.

In Luke’s account of the crucifixion

          it is striking that the one person

                   who most clearly recognizes

who Jesus is

                                      and what Jesus is about

                             is a common criminal.

Pilate sentenced him to death.

The religious leaders accused him

          and then scoffed at him.

The crowds yelled “Crucify him”

          and then stood by and watched him die.

The soldiers mocked him.

The other criminal hanging on the cross

          derided him.

Judas betrayed him.

Peter denied him.

His friends,

          including the women who had followed

                   him from Galilee,

          stood at a distance and looked on helplessly.

They struggled to make sense

          of what was happening.

The centurion, a Roman military officer, declared:

          “Certainly this man was innocent.”

Only the penitent thief, however,

          expresses his faith in Jesus

                   and voices his prayer:

          “Jesus, remember me

                   when you come into your kingdom.”

Implied in this powerful prayer

          is a confident hope in the resurrection.

This is not the end for Jesus.

Christ the King will come into his kingdom.

The thief knows he does not deserve

          a place in Jesus’ kingdom.

He simply prays that Jesus will remember him,

          that he will not be forgotten.

In response to this powerful prayer,

                   Jesus offers a powerful reply:

          “Truly I tell you,

                   today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Jesus grants him

          far more than he asked for.

It would be easy to get hung up

          on the details of Jesus’ reply.

Chronologically does it make sense

          for Jesus to say

                   “today you will be with me in Paradise”?

We confess that Jesus was crucified

          and then raised up on the third day.

Today he will be in the grave.

Or we may get caught up

          in speculating about Paradise.

Originally “Paradise” meant a garden.

In the Septuagint “Paradise”

          refers to the Garden of Eden.

In Jewish apocalyptic literature

          Paradise was the place of the blessed,

                   envisioned in Revelation 2:7

                             with a beautiful stream

                                      and lush vegetation.

In the apocryphal book of 2 Enoch

                    Paradise is described as follows:

          “That place has an appearance of pleasantness

                   that has never been seen.

           Every tree was in full flower.

          Every fruit was ripe,

                   every food was in yield profusely;

                             every fragrance was pleasant.

          And the four rivers were flowing past

                             with gentle movement,

                   and with every kind of garden

                             producing every kind of good food.

          And the tree of life

                   is in that place,

                             under which the Lord takes a rest

                   when the Lord takes a walk in Paradise.

          And that tree is indescribable

                   for pleasantness of fragrance.” [2]

This description of Paradise is

          as plausible as the next one.

Surely Paradise will be a pleasant place.

But it is not a vision of Paradise

          that would have provided

                   the greatest comfort for the penitent thief.

Nor would he have gotten hung up

          on when “today” refers to.

The words that would have touched

          his heart most deeply are “with me.”

As they hang dying on the cross

          Jesus assures the penitent thief

                   that Jesus will be “with him”—forever.

He will not be forgotten.

There is a place

          even for an obscure common thief

                   in the kingdom of God,

                             where Jesus shall reign.

As we come to the end of another church year,

          as we contemplate our own unworthiness,

          as we grow closer each day

                             to the end of our lives,

          as we face the challenges of living

                   in a conflicted world,

          as we ponder what the final end

of all things will be,

          what more powerful prayer

could we utter than

          “Jesus, remember me

                   when you come into your kingdom.”

We have Jesus’ word on it

          that he will be with us

                   and that the God of grace and mercy

                             will remember us forever.

That is Paradise.

In Jesus’ name,

AMEN.