2024 02 25 Sermon Healing for the World through the Cross
Healing for the World through the Cross
Lent 2 B
Mark 8:31-38; 2 Corinthians 5:19
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
A few months ago, a seminary classmate of mine shared that he had been learning about a side of his extended family that he did not know much about. It turns out that his great-great-grandfather had two families—one with his wife in Arkansas, and one with his slave in Texas. For over 160 years—since before the civil war—these families had little to no contact or even knowledge of each other. Which is understandable, given the painful legacy of slavery and family dynamics that some might want to keep hidden. But last November, these two sides of the family got together, met their cousins, and ate chili. There, around a simple meal, they took a journey 160 years in the making, towards family reconciliation and racial reconciliation.
Maybe it’s the ease of finding unknown relatives these days, or that historical research into family migration is easier to access than ever before; or that many are seeking healing from past wounds and hoping to come to terms with some of the uglier aspects of our history. Whatever the reasons, my classmates’ family is not the only one to begin this kind of journey lately. Last summer I read an article (“Descendants of enslaved and enslavers explore truth”, which originally appeared in the Greensboro News & Record, and was reprinted nationally including in the July 21, 2023 Racine Journal Times, p. A7) written by two women who had recently met and become friends. One of them (her name is Ann Morris) is the descendant of a Virginia plantation owner; and the other (her name is Robin Mines) is a descendant of a family who was enslaved on that same plantation. As soon as I read it, I clipped it out and saved it, not only for being inspirational, but because I found it to be such a powerful example of 2 Corinthians 5:19—where St. Paul writes: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
This verse sheds light on Jesus’ harsh treatment of Peter, which we hear about in today’s gospel. Jesus had been teaching his disciples that he must “undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Peter rebukes Jesus for this (“this must never happen to you, Lord”)—it seems he disapproves of the whole suffering, and being rejected, and being killed part. And that’s understandable. Who would want to watch their teacher and leader go through such terrible treatment. I can imagine Peter thinking, “if Jesus has to go through that, then what’s in store for me?!?” Forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation are in store for you Peter—but he doesn’t realize this until much later, after Jesus had risen from the dead.
Unlike Peter who was living through it, we have the benefit of knowing the gospel story ahead of time, so we know that Jesus never gives up on Peter! Even when Peter messes up big time, and denies even knowing Jesus. It’s because Jesus refuses to give up on Peter that he needs to rebuke him in this case—because the stakes are so high: “Get behind me Satan!” Jesus says to Peter, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
The stakes are high because the way God chose to reconcile the world to himself was to die on the cross, and after three days to rise again. God chose the cross precisely because it was the most humiliating, shameful, and public way to be killed in the ancient world. It was a method of execution reserved for those who threatened the power of the Roman Empire, to make an example of them, and be a warning to others that they should “behave”. God chose the cross, not because God thinks it is good for sin to triumph or that it’s good to suffer, but because it is God’s way of embodying his promise to stand with the suffering, and it is God’s way of carrying in himself all of the sins that the world can devise, in order to offer forgiveness, reconciliation, and new life in Christ for anyone who turns toward him.
Through the cross of Christ, God brings healing to the world and to our relationships, as we “take up our own crosses and follow Jesus”—that is to say, as we trust that he is present with us through faith, and as we strive to live by his teachings, and we strive to follow him on the difficult journey of reconciliation among people. As God reconciled the world to himself, likewise God calls us to strive for reconciliation with each other.
This brings me back to the article I started talking about before. Ann (who was “researching her family history as enslavers”) and Robin, who is also minister (and who was “already involved in racial reconciliation work”), began meeting together along with a few of their cousins. This led, in June 2023, to a “gathering of more than 180 descendants from both families” on the former Virginia plantation where their ancestors had lived. They shared stories, shared a meal, learned more about each family, toured the slave cabin that was still on the grounds. They prayed, and sang, and talked. Even when the topics felt difficult, painful or shameful; even when some black descendants were mistrustful of the intentions for the gathering; even when some white descendants feared they would be “confronted and blamed for their ancestors’ actions”. But they stuck with it and learned that they didn’t need to worry, because “curiosity and open heartedness go a long way.”
Ann spoke about the “myths and lies” she had been taught, such as the myth that “most slaves were happy” and the lie that her family “didn’t sell enslaved people at auction” even though public historical records prove they did. Robin spoke of how the KKK had burned a cross in her yard, and of how she suffered through racial taunts and attacks in school. The way she got through it all was because of her faith, and as a result she “dedicated her life to promoting unity, justice, and racial healing.” What Ann and Robin were doing is part of the ministry of reconciliation that God has entrusted to us, as St. Paul wrote of in 2 Corinthians.
Both of these women show us what it means to “pick up your cross and follow Jesus.” They are living examples of how love, forgiveness, and reconciliation—which was won for all humanity by Christ on the cross—can become manifest in our lives. Even though this gathering of two families who shared a common, yet uncomfortable, past did not undo racism or the lingering effects of slavery in America, it did build “a bridge to better understanding”, and friendship, and trust among 180 people—that is no small thing, and that is the healing and reconciling power of God at work.
We, who are gathered at House of Prayer today, may not have such a painful history as being descendants of slavers or the enslaved—but, really, no one gets through life without carrying some kind of baggage, racial or otherwise. Either it’s baggage from personal experiences, or baggage handed to you from the past, which you had no personal involvement in, but nonetheless we all bear responsibility for dealing with these things because we’re human. As theologian Peter Scazzero puts it: “Jesus may be in your heart, but grandma and grandpa are in your bones”—and that can be both for good and bad.
Regardless, it all goes into making you the unique person God created you to be. And whoever you are, wherever you came from, whatever you’ve done or left undone, Christ gave himself to die upon the cross and after three days to rise again, so that he could bring God’s healing power of reconciliation and forgiveness to the world. And just as Jesus never gave up on Peter—even when Peter rebuked him and denied even knowing him—Jesus will never give up on you. Therefore, you can put your faith in Jesus; and we can all ask him to help us build those bridges of better understanding that lead to new life. Amen.