Sermon Notes 3/25 Jn. 12:2-33, Heb. 5:5-10

Can we speak of divine feelings? I tend to think we must, as we all confess that God is love. Our readings touch on it in one way or another. Our little piece on a new covenant, a new partnership in Jeremiah emerges from a broken divine heart. God speaks of the people of Israel with a metaphor of marriage. He goes on to say that the people broke their threw away their wedding ring, if you will. they broke the vow of loyalty and fidelity. God remains faithful in spite of being kicked to the side. god really offers a new start, to remember no more, to call to mind the hurt no more.
Our passage from Hebrews does not seem to cite a particular piece of Scripture. Here in Lent, my thoughts immediately move to the cross or Gethsemane, but maybe not.We are faced with the tears of a priest. I am one of those who like to picture Jesus as preternaturally calm. We get a different picture here, do we not?

It is possible that we are getting a glimpse at the prayer life of Jesus. In some ancient material, these loud cries and tears describe the prayers of pious people, sincere people. They also, though, are linked to people in trouble. Again, if we take a stance that Jesus serenely floated through life, this again pulls us up short. They could also be prayers of intercession as well as supplication. Jesus’s compassion was and is so deep that prayers for others had perhaps more emotion than prayers for his own condition. This letter is convinced that Jesus is shaped by suffering to help bear the suffering of the world on his shoulders. This high priest is empathetic, more than sympathetic with us. We are not clients of salvation, we are more than patients for divine healing, we are family. Jesus can go beyond saying there by the grace of God go I, but there by the grace of God I am (see Long commentary on Hebrews:42). Parker Palmer, writing on the season, says that Midwestern winters (well usually) are to be feared, but the way we can survive them is to learn to face them, get outside to experience the winter cold and winter wonders. So in prayer, Jesus carries not only our needs, but Jesus carries us into the abode of
God. (Cite What a Friend verses). Put differently, in the Incarnation, God’s own is intimately with us, and that includes our suffering. Jesus prayed to get through his own suffering, to find strength and help; Jesus prayed for us to get strength and help through our suffering. Jesus continues to do so right now. Suffering is not some secret signal of God’s disfavor, some retribution for a long forgotten sin. No, it is part of human experience, period.

Of all places, we get further evidence for this in the gospel of John. By and large, Jesus glides over life in this gospel; I always think of the otherworldly sense of a Zen master. Here, Jesus says, now my soul is troubled. He asks aloud, prays aloud, should I say, “Father, save me from this hour?”Yes, Jesus can face death heroically , especially in this gospel. it reminds me of the Sidney Carton line, it is a far, far better thing that I do then I have ever done.” Recall that Carton takes the place of someone on the guillotine.He will be lifted up, on the ross, on Easter, at the ascension and will draw all people to himself. Notice, not coerce, not force, but draw like a magnet. Power may be a great aphrodisiac, but the power is love is compelling enough to draw us toward it. It can even take the cross and attract us to it. One day, we too may pray with loud cries and tears, for others.