Isaiah 53:4-12
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

Jesus has saved us. Then why is there so much evidence contrary to that fact? Why is there hatred, greed, pride, sickness, oppression, and misery all over the world? Why is there so much sin in ourselves and consequently in our  world, nation, families, parishes, and monastery? If he bore all our sins and if we are healed by his bruises, as Isaiah says in our first reading this morning, why do we still sin and get sick? No matter who one thinks Isaiah is talking about, or one’s opinion of the idea of substitutionary atonement, it does not seem to have worked very well.
Or maybe it has, and we just don’t have the proper perspective to see it. Maybe we need to not say that Jesus has saved us – maybe it is more true to say that Jesus is saving us. Every sickness, every sin, every misery is taken up by Jesus every day and every moment, bringing them into God’s own being where they are healed and sent back out to the world as a blessing.

Jesus is saving us and the whole world, and he gives us an opportunity to be part of the process, as he tells James and John in our gospel story. The true glory of following Jesus is the opportunity to take on the pain of the world around us so that it can be healed. Of course, in order to do that, we must first realize that the world is worth being saved. The cross of Jesus is not an indication that the world is bad, it is an indication that the world is of infinite worth and so the infinite God suffers and dies infinitely for its sake. In the same way we should not take up our crosses out of disdain for the world, but rather out of deep, intense love for every part of creation and every person in it. We must believe that the world is worth dying for, and we must believe it is worth living for.

Jesus has saved us and the whole world, but because of our finite point of view, we just don’t see it yet. Jesus is saving us from our own pride, fear, and anger. We can nail those things to the cross of Jesus so that we have room on our own cross to absorb the consequences of those who have not yet been able to do that. We can also be grateful to those who willingly absorb the consequences of our own sin when we deny our own cross and try instead to sit on our self-appointed throne in the center of the universe. It is our choice: to pretend that it is all about me and cultivate pity for ourselves and indifference for others, or to allow our pain to help us grow in love and gratitude so that we can be a blessing to others. We can choose to wallow in our own mess, or we can realize that since there are six billion other people on the planet, it can’t all be all about me – it is only one-six-billionth about me. That perception can be a great help in lessening our crippling fixation on ourselves. Saying that does not minimize or dismiss the severity of many problems, but it does give them some positive value, if we so choose the way of the cross.

Jesus has saved us and  the whole world, Jesus is saving us and the whole world. That is his job. We don’t need to tell him how to do it, or always demand that he does it in ways that immediately benefit us. He knows how to do it. The amazing thing is the fact that he offers us a chance to be part of that process, and as usual with the things of God, we can’t understand how or why it works – and all the study done, all the books written, all the conferences and councils held can not figure it out. We just need to follow him, do our small part, and trust.   AMEN