Look at Me!

John 19:16b-30

March 21, 2008, Good Friday

Those who have read the Harry Potter series know that the wizards in the story have a unique way of looking at past events in their lives. Thoughts can be drawn off of their brains as a silvery stringy matter that can be put in a bowl of water called a pensieve. They can then re-enter those thoughts and observe them from a third person viewpoint. Now if you don’t want to hear a major piece of the last book I suggest you plug your ears up and I’ll raise my hand when you can unplug them.

In the last book Professor Snape – now the headmaster – is attacked by Voldemort’s snake Nagini. Before he dies he tells Harry, who saw the whole thing hidden under the cloak of invisibility, to take his thoughts, which are oozing out of him, and he says “Look at Me!” It was an invitation to look at Snape’s life and in doing so he understands not just the life of Professor Snape, but also finds out how to defeat Voldemort.

“Look at me!” In the passage from the Gospel of John we hear Jesus say to his Mother, “Woman, here is you son.” And then he says to the beloved disciple, “Here is your mother.” Probably what he was referring to when he said “Woman, here is your son” was that he would not be able to take care of her any longer, which then leads to her care being taken over by the beloved disciple.

However, I also think there is a piece there asking Mary to look at her son – look at what sin can do to her son’s life. It is perhaps another rendering of Luke’s “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Look at me! As Jesus said in the garden when they came to arrest him in Matthew, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.” I have only done good for you, I have only taught you, healed you, and loved you, and look at me. Later in the service we will hear the Solemn Reproach of the Cross, which states this truth. Christ only did good and we rewarded him with the cross.

Woman, look at your son. Look at me! This is what happens when people love Caesar more than God. This is what happens when people love Wall Street more than God. This is what happens when people love security more than God. Look at me! As Jesus said to the women of Jerusalem who were wailing when he was being led out to be crucified, “they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us;’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” If they can do this to one who has power and cares for people in good times, imagine what they will do in not so good times.

None of us likes to look at Christ on the cross. As George Bennard in his old hymn, The Old Rugged Cross writes, it is an emblem of suffering and shame, and thus is despised by the world. But it is also the measure of the world – the standard by which we need to measure our actions, our words. Can we look at the cross, at Jesus on the cross in the midst of our daily lives, or do we cringe, because we know we have put Jesus on it again. When we pass by someone in need can we look at Jesus on the cross? When we’ve denigrated someone else so that we can get the higher paying job – can we look at Jesus on the cross? Jesus says “Look at me!” Can we look at him? But the good news is that even if we cannot look at him, Christ still says from the cross, “God forgive him, God forgive her, because he/she does not know what they are doing. “

The cross is the plumb-line to stack up our lives, our actions and words against. But it is a very forgiving plumb-line. It doesn’t move, but it also won’t destroy us. Like Harry looking at Snape’s life he figured things out about Snape, Voldemort, and himself. If we can look at Jesus on the cross we can figure a few things out about ourselves, and about God. May God grant you and me the courage, and the will to look and see Jesus on the cross, not just today, but every day of our lives.

Amen

© 2008 Rev. Dr. Thomas T. Peters