THE POWER OF SACRIFICIAL LOVE

For Lent, our church is studying Twenty-four Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton.  We continue with torture and humiliation of the Christ.

Mark 15:15-23

I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hid my face from insult and spitting.       Isaiah 50:6

The biblical accounts of Jesus' torture and humiliation at the hands of the Roman soldiers leave me with a sense of helplessness. There stood Jesus -- his hands bound, his body a mass of bleeding wounds clothed only in a purple robe and a crown of thorns. He said nothing as he endured the physical and emotional torture inflicted upon him while soldiers mocked him and repeatedly struck him,

Where is the power in this?

Certainly we can see the power of evil in this story – Judas' betrayal; the fear that drove the actions of the disciples and the Sanhedrin; the self-serving pettiness of the religious leaders; the complacency of Pilot; the anger of the crowd; the cruelty of the Roman soldiers. The reminder of such power makes me uneasy.

It makes me uncomfortable because it reminds me of the potential for evil that is within me and within all human beings -- evil like the Holocaust of Nazi Germany; the lynching and cross burning in our own country; genocide in Croatia and Rwanda; the torture and humiliation of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison; the sex trade and other forms of human slavery that still exist in our country and in the world today. And all along the way, there have been people who, out of fear, find themselves supporting policies and practices that allow these acts of inhumanity to continue.

Under the right circumstances, it is frightening to think of what I or anyone else is capable of and of what we lose to evil – our humanity. You see, we are created in the image of God, that is we were made to reflect in our lives and actions the essence of God, which is love. We were made to love mercy, do justice, to love our neighbors as we have been loved by God through Christ and to walk with God. When we act contrary to that, the image of God in us begins to degenerate.

But there is another power at work here. It is the power of God's unconditional, self-giving, self-sacrificing love. Christ's suffering and death didn't change God so God was able to love us. The reason for the torture, humiliation and death of Christ was to send us a message that is powerful enough to change human lives.

Part of the American Soldier's creed states, “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” In the movie, “Forest Gump,” there is a scene that takes place in the jungles of Viet Nam where Forest returns again and again to rescue four wounded men. Even in the movie, “Lilo and Stitch,” we're reminded of that through the Hawaiian word “ohana,” which means, in a family, no one gets left behind.

This is the message in the suffering and death of Christ. “Look at me, and see how far I am willing to go to make sure you are not left behind, left behind, trapped in the power of evil and sinfulness and condemned to spiritual death."

This is a message of deliverance that reminds us of our brokeness and our need for repentance and offers us wholeness, healing and the promise of life. The power of Christ's sacrificial love regenerates, restores that image of God within us and frees us to be the people God created us to be. It calls us to live differently, to participate in the transforming love of Christ so that we can make a meaningful difference in a world full of sin and evil.

In November, 2004, Tammy Duckworth was serving in Iraq when the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by rocket grenades. Her legs severed, her arm crushed, she lay dying in the wreckage. Despite the eminent danger of capture and death, her fellow soldiers extricated her and carried her to safety. When asked about the great risk her fellow soldiers took to save her, Duckworth said, “You have to get up every day and seek to live in such a way as to be worthy of that kind of effort and sacrifice.”

Adam Hamilton, in his book, Twenty-four Hours that Changed the World, writes, “That is the power of sacrificial love, and that is exactly what the cross of Christ is meant to inspire us to do. We have to look at the cross of Jesus and say, 'I have to live in such a way as to be worthy of that sacrifice.'” (p. 92)

How will we each live our lives in such a way as to be worthy of that sacrifice? How will our words and our actions share the message of Christ's love with the world and stand against injustice, oppression, exploitation and the evil in this world? How will we serve Christ so that others are not left behind?