Church of the Ascension, Sligo

Church of the Ascension, Sligo

March 13, 2016

Rev. Vikki Clayton

Fifth Sunday of Lent

GospelJohn 12:1-8

There is a saying that traditions are the ties that hold families together. We all have our own family traditions. I’m certain you can name some right off the top of your head: Christmas day, Thanksgiving, and Easter traditions.These come to my mind right away. Times when we get together with those we loveto celebrate the season.

But it strikes me as odd, and I don’t know whether you’ll agree with me, but it strikes me as odd that the traditions we have for Lent are not as readilyembraced,as are traditions of other seasons.

We received our Ash Wednesday ashes, we’refinishing up our fourth week of giving up something or adding a new Lenten discipline, we are all deep into the penitential prayers that are sprinkled through our Sunday liturgy, and we look ahead towards Holy Week worship liturgies.

But as we come to this fifth week of Lent I experience a sense of lost momentum. Do you agree? It’s like we’re in an in-between place right now – a time of prayer and waiting. And to be honest, it’s an uncomfortable feeling to me – some days I want get it over with and just move on to Easter.

When I take this feeling to prayer I realize the reason I feel uncomfortable is that I hesitate to fully enter into this time of walking with Jesus to the Cross.

For I know that to fully participate in Jesus’ Passion, Jesus’ suffering, I too must suffer.

I must bring to mind in prayer all my weakness, my vulnerabilities – all those aspects of my character that I prefer to keep hidden. I must bring all these “bad parts of me and my life” to light. And that’s really hard to do. For my ego tells me, “Just let this time pass, you don’t need to go there. Easter is right around the corner.Focus on ministry with others, focus outside yourself and you won’t feel the suffering within yourself.”

I believe this uncomfortable feeling is what Jesus addresses to Judas Iscariot in our Gospel reading today when he says, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”Judas Iscariot is uncomfortable with Mary’s actions towards Jesus. So he focuses on the cost of the perfume, not what it signified – the anointing of Jesus as the chosen one, our Savior.

Judas has a hard time with this reminder of Jesus’ mission that leads to the Cross. Judas focuses on money, and how he can acquire more of it. Pretending he is concerned for the poor when in reality he is concerned with his own wealth. Judas is unable to enter into Jesus’ Passion.

“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” There will always be other things for us to focus on, but we will not always have this time set aside to walk with Jesus to the Cross.

Walking with Jesus to the Cross means we set aside this one season of the year to fully participate in Jesus’ Passion by reflecting on our sins andturning to Jesus who alone can offer us salvation and healing.

To fully enter into this tradition we need to walk through the painful parts of our life. And the reason we need to bring these things to light and Jesus’ forgiveness is so that they do not remain in the darkest parts of our soul, causing us to suffer, distancing us from God.

I believe Jesus desires for us to fully enter into His Passion this way so that we can cleanse our souls.
For you see we are not meant to dwell on these painful aspects of our lives, we are meant to acknowledge they exist and then turn towards Jesus for help and forgiveness. This is the only way we can get through and move on. So that we can come out the other side as we too are raised from the dead.

There’s an important distinction to remember: we are not being asked to suffer with Jesus and remain in that suffering. We are strong. God sees our strengths. Jesus is imploring us to honor this time, to make good use of this time,by inviting him to lead us as we examine our shortcomings, so that we too can see our strengths and move towardshis saving grace.

When Jesus says, “…you will not always have me” I believe He is saying,“Honor this time in remembrance of when I was present here on earth and offered my body for your redemption. This is the time to focus on the process of moving from deathof our former selves, toenteringinto new life.”

Sure, we offer our Confession during our Sunday worship services, but as a community of faith that walks with Jesus,over a period of forty days,we have only this season of Lent. Face it, that’s quite a long time to reflect on our shortcomings!

The reason it’s so important, and different from our weekly Confession, is that it requires us to live each day of Lent as though we too are taking a step closer to the Cross.Each day we hold up to the light a little bit of ourselves we’d rather keep buried in our hearts. Each day we receive forgiveness. Each day we step closer to our own salvation.

And during Holy Week we enact with our liturgies, our prayers, our bodies, we physically enact this process of redemption so that on Easter Sunday we experience the full light of God’s grace. It’s an amazing process.

If we simply go through these weeks of Lent as though they were like any other time of the year, we will be doing ourselves a great disservice. We will be ignoring this one time of the year when we can participate in this restorative process. Gathering strength from our community of faith to continue the process each day.

Right now, as the season of Lent is upon us, we are all opening ourselves to this type of spiritual-examination.We give each otherthe courage to do this type of deep introspection because we are all doing it together. No one is excluded,all are invited, and all are needed. There is strength in numbers here!

For me, it’s important I remind myself that I am part of a largercommunity who sets aside this time for self-reflection and repentance. Embracing this spiritual tradition becomes less uncomfortable when I remember I am a member of a community that is undergoing the same transformative process together.

The season of Lent is a tradition I share with all of my brothers and sisters of faith. It’s a tradition that encompasses powerful transformation and spiritual growth. It is a tradition that holds our family of faith together.

This is not a time of waiting at all; it’s a time of hard work. It’s a time of deep emotion as we open our souls to God’s greatest gift, the sacrifice of His only Son for our salvation.

Who am I to shy away from this gift? What can I do that can even come close to God’s expression of love? All I can do is offer myself to Christ, all that I am, weaknesses and strengths;offer myself in faith that His love will guide my soul to new life.

We share this Lenten tradition so that we can see more clearly how we are beloved children of God.

Amen.

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