The Long Defeat?

When talking with me, Ruth will laugh when neither she nor I can remember a name, chalking it up to “shrinkage of the brain” which she says afflicts everyone over age 25.

Some things can be patched up, like a replacement hip, but it is not quite the same: “No running or jumping, ever” says the surgeon.

A long defeat, from the past and stretching into the future.

But we notice that Jesus does not see the events leading to the crucifixion as a long defeat, but rather the putting into action of a plan long-considered and worked out by God.

That is a point that the Gospel of John especially wants to be clear on this day.

--Jesus does not engage in a shouting match with Pilate.

--At each stage of the story, he shows himself to be in charge of the situation.

--In John's telling, Jesus carries the cross himself without aid.

--From the cross he makes arrangements for the care of his mother.

--With his final breath he declares his work complete.

--He follows through with what needs to be done.

And the Father insists that His body will finally be victorious, even though it often does not appear so.

On Thursday mornings for the past few months several of us have been slowly reading through CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters, wherein a senior devil is instructing a junior devil on how to tempt a human subject.

The senior devil counsels his minion to keep the humans distracted, keep them attentive to unimportant things, keep them thinking about anything other than the love of God in Christ Jesus on the cross.

He does not want his human quarry to realize that what looks like a long defeat is not the whole story that needs to be told.

JRR Tolkien, the man who wrote The Lord of the Rings, wrote in a letter to a friend: “I am a Christian...so I do not expect history to be anything but a long defeat – though it contains some samples or glimpses of final victory.”

A sample of final victory ...that is what we have when we gather around the baptismal font, as we will tomorrow evening.

The water which can drown will become the river of water promising eternal life for Max, we proclaim at Baptism; it is not defeat, but victory for him, and for each who pass through those waters of danger.

That water which poured from the side of the crucified Lord Jesus is become life-giving water for us.

A sample of final victory is voiced by Jesus from the cross.

“It is finished,” is often how we translate the word.

It is said not with resignation, but with a sense of completion; Jesus has done all that the Father has sent him to do.

It is the word that would have been written on an invoice by which a patron would understand “all done, completed, fully paid.”

It is the last of the seven “signs” in the Gospel of John, which began with that scene at the wedding in Cana.

This sign of the final love of God for us snatches victory out of seeming defeat.

A sample of final victory...that is what we continue to have each time we gather around the Lord's promises in Holy Communion.

His people even now will surely be fed;

“For you..., for forgiveness...., for life....”he said;

and those who follow will indeed be led.

Kyrie eleison.

A long defeat for Jesus and for us? In the end, No, because the Father says “This is my Son, the Beloved.” Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.