God sets us free from
the power of our suffering
Sermon preached at
St. Mark’s
By The Rev. Thomas C. Pumphrey, November 25th, 2007
Last Sunday in Pentecost (Year C, Proper 29)
Christ The King Sunday
Luke 23:35-43
Luke 23:35-43 And the people stood by, watching; but
the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if
he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming
up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews,
save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of
the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and
saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked
him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of
condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what
we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in
How many of you are familiar with the Bugs Bunny cartoons? Several generations grew up on Bugs and Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. One of the repeated routines that I remember captures something of the human condition. There was one cartoon with both Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, and both of them were trying to get away from Elmer Fudd, who was busy ‘hunting ducks and wabbits heheheheheh….’ Bugs and Daffy then try to avoid the hunter’s shotgun by arguing that he’s hunting them out of season. Each responds out of the fear of losing their own skin, but the end up trying to focus the danger on the other person. “It’s Wabbit season!” cries Daffy Duck; “it’s Duck Season!” cries Bugs Bunny.”
“Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!” “Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!”
“Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!” “Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!”
The cycle of opposition goes on and on, until, in the middle of the back and forth, Bugs answers Daffy “Wabbit Season!” Daffy, burning with opposition to his enemy, knows only that he must argue the opposite: “Duck Season!” he shouts. Bugs answers back “Wabbit Season!”
“Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!”
Then Daffy finally says “I say it’s Duck season and that’s final, it’s Duck Season!” “OK, Doc,” says Bugs… Soon Daffy finds himself down the barrel of Elmer Fudd’s shotgun.
I think that the creators of Bugs Bunny know a lot about human psychology and a lot about the human spirit. They poke fun at what we all know to be true—we so often get into this cycle of opposition that fuels itself for its own sake. All we know is that we need to fight the other person to feel secure and to push our fears away. But of course, we aren’t really more secure, just more divided from each other.
So often, we lash out at each other out of our own hurt—out of our own suffering and fears. A bad day at work gets taken out on the wife; a bad day with the husband gets taken out on the kids; a bad day with the parents gets taken out on the dog, or the friends at school. And so it goes, just like “Duck Season!” “Wabbit Season!” We say to each other, in so many different ways “I hate you!” and we respond back “I hate you!” back and forth goes this downward cycle of hurt and hatred, of suffering and mistrust and division. If we are fortunate enough to see this cycle for what it is, we cry out to God to set us free from this lose-lose battle. We cry out to God to set us free from the power of our suffering.
I think that if we look a little more closely at the
crucifixion scene, we can see some of the same thing happening. Not all sin
comes from being hurt, of course. The soldiers who crucified Jesus may have
simply learned malice, and found how their brutality could serve their desires.
But perhaps some of these soldiers responded out of their frustration with
being sent to this distant province of the Empire. Perhaps they were tired of
putting down Jewish insurrection, and they wanted to get back home to
The crowds mocked Jesus as well. Perhaps some of the leaders
came from the
The thief crucified next to him also mocked him. Perhaps the thief was just a cruel man. Perhaps his response to being caught for his crimes and hung on a cross to die was anger and bitterness. He couldn’t see past his own suffering, and the audacity of this “King of the Jews” next to him was more than he wanted to take. “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other thief saw something in Jesus that the others
could not see. The other thief did a little of what Bugs Bunny did in tripping
up Daffy Duck. He responded differently. He saw Jesus and Jesus’ shockingly
different ttitude toward even those who crucified him. The second thief also
knew his own sin. He knew that he was justly condemned. The second thief was
humble before Jesus, and as a result, he could see something special in Jesus.
He tells Jesus “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in
Today is Christ the King Sunday. This is the last Sunday of the Church year—the Last Sunday after Pentecost. We remember Jesus as the king in glory who will rule God’s people in glory at the last day. But we also remember part of what makes Jesus our King. Jesus is the king who was crucified, the king who seemed powerless because he gave himself to die. Jesus—God in human flesh, gave himself for us so that we might have life. Jesus gave a different response to the cycle of hatred and opposition. Jesus took that hatred and opposition onto himself, and put it to death on the cross. When the world was stuck in a cycle of “I hate you! I hate you!,” Jesus broke the cycle by saying “I love you, I love you—I love you even if you hate me, and I love you enough to give my whole life for you.”
We cry out to God to set us free from the power of suffering. We cry out to God to set us free from the cycle of being hurt and hurting others. We know about suffering ourselves. We may even have learned not to lash out at others in the midst of our hurt. But have we learned to show love in the midst of our suffering?
When the wife is hurt from the insults of her husband, can she hold him accountable, yet respond with love? When the husband is frustrated with his wife, can he respond to the expressions of hatred with expressions of love? Can we love our irritating co-workers or rude neighbors or hurtful relatives? When someone tells us, in so many ways “I hate you,” can we respond in many other ways “I love you?”
In my own experience, I think that I am not really capable of that kind of self-sacrifice. On my own, I don’t have the strength or the emotional reserve to give when I feel needy. But then again, I’m not on my own. I have seen the power of God working in the lives of others and in my own life. I have seen the power of God upset the cycle of being hurt and giving hurt. I have seen God’s deep desire for reconciliation break down decades-old hatred into mutual vulnerability and renewed trust. This is part of the doctrine of salvation. We are saved from our sins and from the cycle of sin by the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus sets us free from that old cycle—Jesus sets us free from the power of our suffering and hurt.
In the season of Advent that begins next Sunday, I invite you to join with the church in the discipline of confession and repentance and reconciliation. You will become more in touch with how great God’s love is for you, and how much that love is a gift beyond your ability to earn. As you discover the depths of God’s love for you, you will find the strength and the joy in giving God’s love to others—even those who don’t deserve it. And in so doing, as his disciple, you will join in the power of our great King Jesus Christ in setting others free from the power of their suffering.