by Rev. Dr John Evans
We have listened again to the story of the Passion of Christ.
Peter Abelard, 900 years ago – one of the great doctors of the church said:
“Our sins, not yours, you bore then, Lord.”
What does it mean to say Jesus bears our sins?
I want to suggest this day’s simple message is that we all, in some way are responsible for Jesus’ death. We were not there, we did not yell, ‘Crucify him!’; we were not people of power who made life and death decisions; but in some way we humans, in the face of the goodness of God, in the presence of peace and the gift of life, light and extravagant love – we cannot cope. We betray, we deny, we fear, we become anxious – and Christ dies because of that, just as much as if we were Judas, or Pilate, or Caiaphas, or Ananias or whoever.
Let me tell you a modern story which illustrates that Jesus can be threatening, challenging, even frightening.
It is a true story – one of those “only in the USA” sort of stories. I hope, however, it may help us understand more of this day. I read it the Weekend Australian in the mid-1990s and I still find it staggering.
There were twins, Aaron and Joshua Zeichner, 23. They were accused of the gruesome and horrific murder of their parents Sam and Adele Zeichner. This family was a typical middle American family – they lived in an ordinary enough house – and the family had middle-class ambitions: college for the boys – and the prospect of good jobs. However, this was not any ordinary murder. In all respects it was totally disproportionate. The two sons used artillery, howitzers, sub machine guns and hand grenades. It was a total over kill.
Meanwhile Sam and Adele simply adored their boys . . . perhaps overly so, but then love can be extravagant. Perhaps just like God’s love for us. These twins simply wanted for nothing at all through their life. This was not a story about distant and remote parents, wanting to buy the love and respect of their children. These were parents who simply wanted nothing but the very best for their children. And nothing was spared. Sam underwent surgery to his wrist so that for among other reasons he could pitch in batting practice for his 8 year old son Aaron, who just desperately wanted to play baseball. Adele apparently – and this is truly amazing – as the report says, never once in the 12 years of the public education of her sons gave them the same lunch twice. In the trial, an expert witness was even called to testify what that commitment entailed.
These were exceptionally loving parents. Again, as the report says, “never was a hand raised in anger, never was a sarcastic or deprecating remark directed at those boys.”
But this is what happened. With each caring gesture, each act of forgiveness, each loving act, the twins grew increasingly certain that their parents were going to kill them. The more sympathetic Sam and Adele were, the more fearful their sons became. They, Sam and Adele, were about to kill them – or so the lawyer argued in court.
According to the twins’ testimony, normal parents were confrontational, contemptuous, selfish and abusive. As their lawyer argued, “How many television movies, how many celebrity confessions, how many news broadcasts, or programs like 60 Minutes or A Current Affair did these boys have to watch before they became convinced that normal parenting was indeed abusive, that the relationship between parent and child is violently adversarial – and that their parents, Sam and Adele, were not normal?” These parents’ gentle and empathetic behaviour was bizarre, frightening and a grave threat. A preemptive strike was needed, so reasoned the boys.
It was after a particularly generous act of forgiveness by the parents, that the boys conceived of and executed their brutal murder.
Horrifying, isn’t it? Perhaps not even believable. But then isn’t this the story of the crucifixion of Christ?
Jesus showed unbounded love; he was gracious and loving, forgiving. His behaviour was bizarre according to the standards of his time. Fancy sharing meals with prostitutes, or the deranged – women like Mary Magdalene, or that rich lackey of the Romans, Zacchaeus; or that foreign widow up at Tyre? As for his recent behaviour in the Temple – calling the religious administration a den of thieves. Not normal; confronting; personally challenging – and that is before you analyse his teaching: turning other cheeks, the first shall be last and the last first.
Thank heavens, you might say, there is a range of people who want to get rid of him. Silence him. Let us just sit quietly, and he soon will be no more.
I think you can see how we all can betray Jesus. We might not be like Joshua and Aaron Zeichner and brutally murder two loving and saintly people. But then why do we feel challenged and troubled by Jesus’ teaching and behaviour? Because it is so out of kilter with how the world ticks.
Where did these lads get the idea about what was normal; how did they form the view, violence was acceptable; who has allowed a distorted understanding of parental responsibilities to be regarded as standard; who has permitted life to be seen as just a shallow and hollow existence; who has allowed fear and anxiety - even unwarranted fear - to gnaw away at these lads?
We have. We do.
Who sees it difficult, perhaps impossible, to accept Jesus, and his way as the will of God?
Our sin is that bloody cross . . . our sins are there – our failure to accept that love, and perhaps to be fearful of what taking up his cross and following him might mean. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
As Abelard says: “Our sins, not yours, you bore then.”
Jesus is our victim . . . however, the story is not over.
God did not leave us in our sinfulness. This is however, the message of Easter Day. Today let us use this time to understand with head and heart that it was for us, indeed because of us, he died.
