Even on the way to the cross, Jesus remains a vessel for God’s love and healing. Paul speaks of the mind of Christ–the ability to continue in humble service, even in the hardest moments, and says we can have this same mind. No matter how we suffer in this life, God can still work through us to heal.
Vicar Natalie Wussler
Sunday of the Passion
Texts: Luke 19:28-40; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56
Beloved in Christ, grace to you and peace in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
This is an awful week for Jesus. Our readings bear witness to Jesus’ last week, from the triumphal entry to the deep despair in the garden, where Jesus is filled with so much anxiety that he sweats blood, and then onto his gruesome death, abandoned, denied, and betrayed by his closest friends and mocked by basically everyone else, save for a few faithful women.
And even though we might not know Jesus’ exact pain, our own lives give us some perspective. Many of us have been betrayed or abandoned by friends. We know what it feels like to be absolutely alone. We know the crushing weight of overwhelming anxiety and know what it feels like to be grieved to the depths of our soul by the heartache we might witness. And, when those times come, it’s easy to want to close ourselves off to the world, wallow in our worst moments, or become bitter–we might even believe our pain makes us as useless as broken pots, like the Psalmist says, but Jesus offers another way.
In Jesus’ deepest depression and anxiety, on the path to the cross, and even on the cross, Jesus remains a vessel for God’s love and mercy. Jesus puts aside any self-preservation, and walks in the way of love. He remains humble and doesn’t elevate his pain over the hurting going on around him, and even in the midst of his most painful hour, he remains committed to love until his last breath.
And this way of love healed. Like when Jesus heals the ear of an enslaved man in the party trying to arrest him, rather than letting the way of violence and force do him any favors. Even though Jesus was grieved to his very soul, he couldn’t stand by and watch someone else suffer when he knew he could do something about it. Or when Jesus assures the thief hanging next to him that he will come into paradise with him that very day, Jesus heals this man’s heart by promising hope even from the cross, the place thought to have no hope. Jesus’ pain and despair was real, and gutting. But it didn’t blind him to the ways people around him were hurting and needing healing.
And that’s the mind of Christ Paul tells us about. The humble mind that allowed Jesus to relinquish the impulse toward lifting himself over anyone else and ignoring the anguish other people were experiencing around him. The mind of Christ led Jesus to the cross to heal the whole world, but before that, on the way to the cross and on the cross, this mind of Christ moved him to heal whatever he could around him.
And, this same mind of Christ is here for you, right now. You don’t have to wait to be ready or good enough to receive it. Paul says “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ.” Present tense, a promise of possibility for today, that through the loving guidance of the Holy Spirit who dwells within you, your heart and mind can be transformed to be like Christ. And that you can have an extra measure of love, an expanded capacity for mercy, an eye to see what needs healing, and the resolve to go do something about it.
It helps us stay humble enough to see the pain of our siblings, even while we are hurting. It’s how in the middle of a hard moment, you still have the will to show up in kindness or mercy to someone else who needs healing. It’s how you can care for the wellbeing of someone else or help someone realize their belovedness when your world feels like it’s falling apart. Of course we mourn, of course we cry out in pain to God when we feel devastated. But this mind of Christ keeps you open to the pain of others even when your hour of pain comes, and helps you extend your hand when you don’t think you can lift another finger.
And this mind of Christ is something we do together, not just by ourselves. Just one verse earlier, Paul says “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” With the mind of Christ within us and among us, we weep together, mourn together, bear each other’s burdens together, and we find a way forward on Christ’s path of love and healing together. And our community grows our capacities to love and serve because we know we’re not doing it alone. And when each of us are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in humble service to each other and all people, this path of love and this way of healing readies us as a community to be Christ, even when our hour comes.
In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
