There is a popular expression that begins with: “I’d do anything for a….” Usually it is not meant too seriously, like a person might say, “I’d do anything for a meatball sub sandwich!” I really don’t think a person would to ANYTHING for a meatball sub sandwich, even though good Italian food merits great sacrifice.
Then there is the expression, “I’d do anything for YOU.” Sometimes it is part of a marriage proposal. The sentiments are lovely, but the reality contains a lot of “EXCEPTS.” Like, “I’ll do anything for you EXCEPT let you hold the remote control for the TV,” or “let your mother move in, or miss today’s big football game so we can go shop for curtains.”
Or a wife might say, “I’ll do anything for you EXCEPT let you keep that lousy old college sweatshirt or all that junk from your high school days.”
The expression, “I’ll do anything for you,” was no doubt true when you held your tiny new-born baby in your arms. People will do anything for their children because they love them so much. It might mean working two jobs, sitting through a dance recital even though your seven-year old is 83rd on the program.
The way you feel about your children when you say, “I’d do anything for you,” gives us a faint idea about how God feels about us. God WOULD DO anything for us, and God DID.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that all who believe in him might no perish, but may have eternal life” John 3/16.
God gave his Son to us as a complete gift. Jesus is completely ours to treasure or to ignore or to even put to death. And some human beings put Jesus to death in the most horrible way possible – by execution of torture and the Cross. We celebrate how this symbol of death and misery has become a symbol of life and victory.
The Cross is counter-cultural. Our culture asks us to accept the absurdity that political power, financial abundance and physical strength are signs of a powerful person or a powerful nation.
Who do you think were the most powerful people of the last century – Hitler, Stalin, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt? I would say, none of the three. Two of the most powerful people of the last century were both based in India – Mahatma Ghandi and Mother Teresa. Both were poor. Both were lovers of all that was good and right and just. Ghandi shamed the mighty British Empire into giving India its independence. Mother Teresa shamed us all into recognizing our responsibility to the poorest of the poor. The leaders of the world found that it was much easier to deal with powerful capitalists than it was to argue with Mother Teresa.
We should also add Pope Saint John Paul II to those who conquer through the Cross. Pope John Paul’s life demonstrated the power of the Cross. He once asked a group of children if they knew the 1st Letter of God’s alphabet. They all thought it was an “A.” But the Pope replied, “No the first letter of God’s alphabet is not an “A.” It is a Cross.” God created the universe with the Cross in mind. The Cross is at the center of creation and at the center of human history. Human history makes no sense apart from the Cross.
So many of us wear a Cross. We should never wear a Cross as a piece of jewelry, even if we wear a gold Cross. We should see a Cross as a sign that we are committed to the Way of Jesus – the Way of sacrificial love. Wearing a Cross means we are to bring love into the world, no matter what the personal cost. Love and love alone defeats hatred and retribution in the end. Love and the Cross defeat death itself.
Mahatma Ghandi once said – “I really like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Do YOU ever wonder if the celebrities who advertise food and beverages actually eat and drink what they are trying to sell to us? This is a good question for YOU to ask YOURSELF whenever YOU wear a Cross or give it allegiance.
JESUS WASN’T JUST A NICE GUY WHO DID GOOD. YOU CRUCIFY THREATS AND JESUS WAS A THREAT!
I hope you heard a great sermon at church today. Do share my homily with many others and please listen to my Podcast.
