Lancaster First United Methodist Church
February 28, 2010
Luke 13:31-35
Rev. Sam Halverson

“The Crosses of Jesus: The Jerusalem Cross”

[The following was preached after the Bahamas Mission Team (adults) had returned from their mission trip. They gave a 10-12 minute presentation about their trip and about reaching out to others in the name of Christ.]

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

During these weeks of Lent (leading up to Easter) we are spending some time studying the various kinds of crosses in our Christian tradition. We do this because the season of Lent is a time when we Christians purposefully focus on the cross – on the fact that Jesus was very aware of the cross in his near future and on the fact that Jesus told his followers (told us) that we are to pick up our cross and follow him. What does it mean to pick up your cross? What is your cross? What kinds of commitments do we agree to when we say we will carry our crosses?

Perhaps in focusing on some of the traditional Christian crosses we can learn about the priorities of the cross. And so, as we concentrate on how we should walk with Jesus as he travels closer and closer to his cross, we learn about this calling in our lives by studying the various kinds of crosses and what they may illuminate in Christian history and in our Christian discipleship.

Last week Robert introduced this theme with the Latin cross. We will continue with the series this week as we take a look at the Jerusalem Cross.

The Jerusalem Cross is also known as the Crusader’s Cross because it first came into existence during the first crusade in 1096 and was first used by the crusader, Godfrey of Bouillon, who also became the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem. Godfrey, who died by the age of only forty, was a tall, handsome, and fair-haired descendant of Charlemagne and he made way quickly into legend, idolized as the “perfect Christian knight.” After that first crusade The Jerusalem Cross was a coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The kingdom, however, lasted only from 1099-1203 at which time Jerusalem was taken away from Christian rule. In the nearly one thousand years since the first crusade, the Jerusalem cross has been associated with Christian crusades, heroism, and knights, but especially with Jerusalem.

Just as Jerusalem is viewed as the beginning of Christianity, so also the cross in the center of the Jerusalem Cross is meant to represent Jerusalem. The four smaller crosses, then, represent the four corners of the world – points of the compass – reminding us of Christ’s command to spread the Gospel around the world. This mission of spreading the Gospel started in Jerusalem and continues to this day in the church.

That’s what the mission team just showed us this morning, isn’t it? More than simply telling you what happened on their trip, the team was communicating you us the importance of carrying out Jesus’ Gospel to the entire world. We are commanded to live Jesus’ message to others – to bring comfort to the afflicted and to bring hope to the hurting. In going out from this place – from the comforts of home and the ease of our world – and going to a strange land to work among people of a different culture with different needs we are living out Jesus’ command to go into all the world. We are continuing this mission of going into the four corners of the world with the Good News.

I hope you will consider how you, too, can carry the Gospel to the rest of the world. Simply coming to church on a Sunday morning or learning about Jesus in a Bible study isn’t carrying out this mission. Reaching the four corners of the world involves more than hearing and it involves more than just belief. If we are to follow Jesus’ commands – if we are to carry out a commitment to continue the mission of Jesus as depicted in the Jerusalem Cross – then we must do things that promote the spread of the Gospel. We must help this message of Good News move through the world.

Now, you don’t have to do that by signing up for a mission trip. We would love for more people to experience the growth and the power of a mission trip like the one you heard about this morning, but that isn’t necessary in order to spread the Gospel. What is necessary is that you take some time to find out how God is leading you in using your gifts to carry out this mission. Are you called to help support a team like this one? Are you called to use your planning skills and organizational skills to help make something like this happen? You could be called to let others know the importance of serving, and so you would need to use every means you can to communicate that importance. Perhaps you are good at meeting peoples’ physical needs but you can’t get away from home at a time like this. Then you can get involved in some local outreach. We have the Second Saturday ministry coming up in just two weeks and it continues every month on every second Saturday. It’s a time when people like you will gather at Crossroads and go out into the city from 8:30 a.m. to noon to help with home repairs, with building projects, with health kits, with visitation, with cultivating a garden for food banks, and with anything else we can think of in order to help people who are in need recognize that God meets their needs through the community of faith. That is the Gospel in action.

We can always sit and listen to the stories and talk about how nice it is amongst ourselves, but unless we step out and live our faith others will see it as only talk and will say that this Gospel has not transformed us.

In this scripture from Luke today, Jesus is approached by some friendly Pharisees who are concerned with his safety. They suggest that he go into hiding for awhile in order to stay away from King Herod who is interested in killing Jesus. For the sake of his own safety – so that he can preach another day – Jesus could decide to follow that advice. Instead, though, he points out that he has work to do. He is busy casting out demons and healing people – too busy bringing hope to the hopeless and salvation to the lost – too busy doing the Gospel to take a break only so that he can preach again later. What kind of message would it be to protect his own comfort and not continue to live out what God commands him to do?

Like Jesus, we are tempted at times to maintain our distance from the fray – to take comfort in where we are and not bother with a change of pace or a change of the norm and preserve our dignity. If you want to be successful in what you preach, then you have to live it out so that everyone can see and experience the message.

Jesus demonstrates that the true prophetic vocation is not one of distance. True ministry is not simply listening or believing. Jesus does not hurl diatribes at people from afar or shield himself from their cold blooded rejection. Instead of closing himself off from a wounded heart, he opens himself wide. He becomes vulnerable and gets involved with those whom he is trying to reach. He is like a mother hen spreading her wings for her brood to find shelter from devouring predators. Jesus continues to pursue the redemption of those who reject him even at the risk of making himself vulnerable.

In all of this, we must remember that this vulnerability is still at the center of this cross. The Jerusalem Cross – while it tells us to be about spreading the Gospel into the entire world – it also reminds us that at the center of such a mission is the cross of Jesus. In our calling and in our vulnerability we, too, will find our own lives becoming vulnerable. When we respond and when we do what we can to assure the spreading of the Gospel we open ourselves up to also carrying the cross. We open ourselves up to dying our own death so that Jesus may live.

That’s always what it means to carry our cross and follow Jesus.