The Will of the Father

            "The Will of the Father" was preached at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 20, 2015. Scripture, commentaries, creative writing, discussions with other seminarians, and the study of lament were among the inspirations. 

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Jeremiah 11:18-20

18 It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;

    then you showed me their evil deeds.

19 But I was like a gentle lamb

    led to the slaughter.

And I did not know it was against me

    that they devised schemes, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

    let us cut him off from the land of the living,

    so that his name will no longer be remembered!”

20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,

    who try the heart and the mind,

let me see your retribution upon them,

    for to you I have committed my cause.

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After a small meal in a small house with a small crowd of his closest friends, after he broke the bread and poured the cup, the Man went out to the garden to pray. Hours upon hours, the Man pleaded and begged the Father for his life. This was not what he wanted, but this is what he was willing to do for this was the will of the Father. Hours upon hours of praying long through the night… Suddenly, another man, a friend – the Betrayer – appeared. It all happened so quickly. A kiss. The betrayal. The Man foresaw this. He was arrested. Another friend – the Denier – started a fight. The Man calmed the Denier. He let the other men take him, and his friends deserted him. The kiss of the Betrayer still lingered on his cheek… This was the will of the Father.

He was taken before the High Priest where he was put on trial. Witnesses gathered to give their testimony. The Man looked out among the crowd. He saw the familiar face of the Denier hidden among the many faces of strangers. The man hung his head low. Many gave their testimony before him. Lies upon lies; false witnesses to condemn him! The High Priest asked the man to defend himself, but the Man stayed silent. This angered the strangers. They mocked him; they spat in his face. Someone struck him, a slap across the face. There was a cold sting on his cheek; the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. This was the first of the beatings to come. This was the will of the Father.

In the morning, they bound the Man and took him before the Governor. Suddenly the Man felt a great loss – the loss of a friend – the death of the Betrayer. He remembered the kiss. The betrayal. Death was hanging in the air. This was the will of his Father. The trial continued. The Governor asked him questions, “Are you the king of the Jews? Do you not hear the accusations they make against you? Do you understand I have the power to put you to death?” But the Man gave no answer. Not to any accusation nor to any charge. The Governor was amazed, and so the Governor sought mercy. This was the will of the Father.

The Governor went before the crowd. He would release one prisoner as it was custom to the festival. The Governor brought the Man before the crowd. There was a look of compassion and love in his eyes. Then the governor brought another man – the Other – before the crowd. The Other’s eyes were filled with wrath and frenzy. “Whom shall I release?” The governor asked, “The Man or the Other? Whom shall I release?”

“Free the Other!” The crowds shouted, “Free the Other! Free the Other!” The Other sneered and snarled, teeth like fangs in his mouth. But the Man looked out among the crowd, a look of love and compassion still on his face. This was the very same crowd that followed him just days before; this was the crowd that once loved him. “Free the Other,” the Man thought to himself. This was the will of the Father. “Crucify the Man!” the crowds shouted even louder, “Crucify him!” The Governor was astonished. He washed his hands before the crowd. Let the blood of the Man be on their hands. And so the Man was taken away. This was the will of the Father.

The Man was beaten again. Flogged and whipped. Whipped and flogged. His body was broken over and over. Blood stained his clothes; bruises covered his skin. This was the will of the Father. They stripped the Man of his clothes. They forced him into a scarlet robe and shoved a crown of thorns onto his head. Blood streamed down his face; he wore a crimson mask. This was the will of the Father. They mocked him. They spat on him. They gave him false praises and they beat him with a rod. This was the will of the Father.

It was time for the crucifixion. It was time to carry the cross. The crowds found another man – the Bystander – to carry this cross. The Bystander carried it up the hill to the place of the skull. The Man looked at the Bystander with love. “Thank you,” the Man whispered. This was the will of the Father.

When they had arrived at the top of the hill, the Bystander fell over in exhaustion. But it was not over for the Man. The Man was nailed to that cross. Three nails pierced his flesh. One. His left hand. Two. His right hand. Three. The center of feet. The Man was set to be crucified. This was the will of the Father.  Two others joined the Man on their own crosses. The Bandit and the Thief. The Bandit taunted him; the Thief trusted him. The two would die to the left and to the right of the Man. This was the will of the Father.

After hours of agonizing pain upon the cross, the Man cried out with a loud voice, “Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani!” The Man took a moment. He was about to die. He cried out once more. He breathed his last breath. This was the will of the Father. The curtain was torn. The earth shook and the rocks split. Tombs were opened and bodies were raised. The Man had died. This was the will of the Father. Jesus – the Son of God – was killed like a lamb led to the slaughter.

The will of the Father…

According to our Book of Order, the first question we ask during a ordination, installation, or commission service for our elders and deacons is, “Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” It’s a lot easier said than done. The question comes in three parts: “Do you trust in Jesus Christ your savior?” Remember the man we trust was deserted and betrayed by his own friends. Remember that our savior was beaten and mocked. “Do you acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church?” Remember the crowds made fun of his royalty. Remember he was left upon a cross to die while people taunted him in his final moments. “And do you believe in One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” Remember it was Jesus who prayed to his Father in the garden saying, “Father, take this cup of suffering from me. Not my will but yours be done!” And remember it was Jesus on the cross who cried out with his final breaths, “My God, My God; Why have you forsaken me?”

“Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” How would we respond? And if we were to say “yes,” how would we live to ensure that we are staying true to our word especially in a world filled with pain?

It’s not easy. Especially when we consider what happened to the man we follow. When we put ourselves into the shoes of the Betrayer or the Denier, the High Priest or the Governor, the Other or the Bystander, the Bandit or the Thief, we realize it is not as easy to follow the man, as we would like to believe. And that is why we must consider one other character outside of this story. A character that lived many, many years before the life and death of Jesus. A character who knew following the will of God was not an easy thing to do. This character is The Weeping Prophet: Jeremiah.

For those who have noticed a darker theme among the passages I have chosen each time I have preached here at Lawrence Road, let me clarify two points. One, each passage I’ve preached upon was either assigned to me by Nina or it was that specific week’s lectionary text, the latter being true in this case. Two, I am drawn to passages where I see an emotional struggle in the story; whether that be anger, desperation, sorrow, or conflict.  That means I am very drawn to the books of the Bible such as Jeremiah where the act of lament is prominent. And it is in these words where we learn to relinquish our control and give it up to a God who has felt our pain.

Humankind has a tendency to shy away from their emotions and an inclination to hide our struggles. Especially when these emotions and struggles are directed towards God. We occasionally fail to recognize our losses and we occasionally fail to give weight to our sorrows. This creates sort of an inner chaos where our emotions become free-flowing and unpredictable because we are unable to channel it into a tangible feeling. We soon because overwhelmed by this chaos – lost in a storm of hurt we feel we cannot express. We become trapped in a whirlwind of debilitating and inescapable pain. This is why we need the act of lament. It gives a structure and a set pattern to our emotions. It helps us identify our own struggles as we give them up to God. It frees us from our pain as we name each of emotions – emotions that we feel have been caused by the world around us or even by God. It is through this act that we able to stay true to ourselves and to God because while laments are filled with emotions, they are expressed in a way where faith, love, and devotion are the key to one’s relationship with God. A lament is an act of righteous faithfulness.

Jeremiah knows pain, and if we read this text through the lens of our own human experience, we are able to see something more than just Jeremiah crying out to God. Yes, Jeremiah is sad and angry in this passage because he feels that God has done this to him. After all, it was God who called Jeremiah into service. But Jeremiah also recognizes that he does not understand God’s plans or God’s knowledge. Try as he might, his knowledge is limited in comparison with God’s. This is also true for us. Our knowledge is also limited in comparison with God’s. This is both an upsetting and comforting feeling. We live in a world where things just don’t make sense. Nothing happens according to the way we think it should. We expect that living a life of faithfulness will yield a life of blessing instead of a life of adversity, but this simply isn’t true. But through the act of lament, we relinquish our control over a world we never had control of, and we recognize that God is sovereign over all of human life. Over our blessings and over our adversities. From our own personal sufferings to the world’s harsh realities, our God is in control!

Our God knows our pain. Jeremiah said he would be like a lamb led to the slaughter. But God watched over Jeremiah. Through the sufferings and the hardships, God still cared for Jeremiah as Jeremiah responded to God’s call. And then hundreds of years later, long after the time of Jeremiah, the real divine lamb was born in the tiny village of Bethlehem. A lamb that would be followed by many and loved by even more. A lamb that would eventually be led to its own slaughter. This lamb came in the form of a man – the incarnation of God in whom the Word became Flesh. Flesh that took on all of the pains of the world and died for the sins of humankind. Yes, our lamb is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

This is the God we follow. We know that it is Christ who shares with us in our pain, as it was Christ who willingly died for all of us. Christ – the only begotten Son of God – listened to his calling from His Father even though it was filled with pain and torture until it ended with his own death. But through his resurrection, the finality of death was defeated. Pain and grief have nothing in comparison with God’s love for us. And that is why in great confidence, we can answer the question:

We trust in Jesus Christ our Savior. We acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church. We believe in One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

The world is filled with pain and grief and sorrow. Don’t shy away from that. Don’t hide it away. When you’re upset with God, you can do one of two things. You can lie to yourself and to God, and try to hide away something you both already know; or you can cry out to God, identify your emotions and struggles through a conversation with God, and experience the feeling of when God comes together with you in your mourning. As people of faith, we have a God who by grace allows us to lament – to release every emotion – because a lament is still a prayer; our faith, love, and devotion still remain. Cry out to God because God is listening for your voice!

This is the will of the Father. This is the will of the Mother. This is the Will of Your Great Creator.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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To the God who reigns above all else, The world is filled with pain; we don’t understand why. Instead of asking for the understanding, give us a voice to cry out to you. Give us the words and thoughts to express ourselves. Mourn with us in the same way you rejoice with us. We will live into your calling for us because we know your will is the will to follow. All glory and praise to you. In the name of the divine lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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