This post is my Ash Wednesday meditation based on Mark 15:1-15. It is the first message in a series titled "Cross-Purposes." This is our series for Lent.
“And they cried out again, ‘Crucify him!’” Mark 15:13 (ESV)
Lent is a season of forty days (not including Sundays) leading to the celebration of the Resurrection. Originally it was a time for candidates for baptism to reflect on their lives and prepare their hearts for baptism by repenting of their sins and developing spiritual disciplines to sustain their life in the community of faith. Fairly quickly it became evident to church leaders that the benefits of this concentrated spiritual discipline would be helpful to all, thus, the Season of Lent.
So, here we are, on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Lent is counter-cultural. While it might be broadly popular to “give something up,” like chocolate or some other minor luxury, the idea of actually examining yourself to see what sinful attitudes and actions are keeping you from becoming the person God created you to be, is, indeed, not popular. We must take sin seriously so we can take grace seriously. Repentance is serious business and it is seriously neglected in this world whose mantra is “I’m okay, you’re okay!”
Don’t be judgmental. Don’t talk about sin. Everyone has to find their own path (that, in and of itself is sinful, considering at the heart of sin is self-centeredness). Don’t talk about brokenness. Don’t mention evil. Those are old-fashioned ideas. I’m okay, you’re okay.
Well, if I’m okay and you’re okay, somebody needs to tell Jesus because he is of the opinion that we’re not okay at all, and that’s what explains the cross.
The cross is counter-cultural. An orientation toward the cross, which is what Lent is all about, is an invitation to re-examine our most dearly held beliefs our most fundamental commitments. What are my beliefs and what are my commitments? What are my priorities?
What is most important to me? In the light of Jesus of Nazareth, the one to whom I owe allegiance, the Crucified and Resurrected King of Kings, who consistently points me toward the cross and calls me to take up my own cross, what are my values? What determines my decisions? What is the character of my choices? What principles decide my priorities?
This is what I would like us to do as we reflect on this scripture:
“And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” Mark 15:12-15 (ESV)
It’s not so strange that the crowd was sympathetic to Barabbas. He was a rebel, accused of “murder” during the “insurrection.” While many would not have been willing to go along with his methods, they were sympathetic to his politics. They shared his disdain for their Roman overlords. Barabbas was not a common criminal or simply a murderer. Many of this crowd gathered in an overcrowded Jerusalem during the Passover Festival would have seen him as a freedom fighter.
Still, there is a certain irony in this choice, especially from Pilate’s perspective. They chose Barabbas, who was guilty of insurrection and murder and rejected Jesus, whose guilt was wrapped up in the radical claims he made about himself and that others had made of him.
Crucify him? Jesus? What evil has he done?
Crucify Him? Who needs crucifixion? I need crucifixion!
During Lent, we look to the crucified Messiah and turn our gaze back onto ourselves and ask, What evil have I done? What evil am I capable of doing? What in me needs to be crucified?”
Paul believed there was something in him that needed to be crucified:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
It’s so easy for us to look at the other and discern their faults and sins. During Lent we’re invited to focus on the self, to see what about “me” needs to be crucified so that I can truly live.
The Psalm reading for today’s service invites this kind of introspection:
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” Psalm 51:3-5, 10-12 (NRSV)
So, let’s look inwardly. Let’s examine ourselves to see what in us needs to be crucified. What needs to die so that we can live the lives God created us to live, in righteousness and holiness?
Attitudes
Do I have attitudes that are drawing me away from the attitude or mindset of Christ? Have I even paused long enough lately to examine my attitude?
Different attitudes can draw us away from God’s best: pride, rebelliousness, defeatism.
Let God crucify your bad attitudes to you can enter resurrection life with Christ. It is no longer I who lives but Christ in me.
Actions
What about actual actions? Bad attitudes always lead to bad actions. What actions have I done that are clearly outside of God’s will for me? What actions have I taken that have hurt others, God, and even myself?
What actions do I need to take to the cross?
Values
Where do my I get my values? What determines my values? my priorities?
Do I value the things that God values?
God values righteousness, holiness, justice, love. Sometimes we value selfishness, what’s good for me and my family (but then we don’t have a clue as to what actually is good for me and my family).
Are my values lined up with God’s values?
Heart
How’s my heart? The heart is the seat of the human will. It’s where my “want to” resides. Is my will led by the will of God or am I a “willful” rebellious child on the inside? How can the Spirit of God mold my will, bend it, so that I want what God wants for me?
Attitudes, Actions, Values, Heart. The things that make up my self. During Lent we want to examine these things and see what in me needs crucified so I can be the person God wants me to be.
This notion of crucifixion of self is really about sanctification, it’s about finding my true self, the self who is created in the image of God. Lent is like peeling back the layers of the onion to go deep inside oneself and take that inward journey with Jesus as he applies his healing salve and resurrects the person he created me to be.
Let’s go to the cross. In the cross we find redemption, forgiveness, and healing. In the cross we go through death to discover true life. That, my friends, is taking sin seriously so we can take grace seriously. Let’s live in the power of grace.