Recent Sermon from Myers Park Baptist Church

Today’s word from the cross causes us to ponder what it means to be lost and what it means to be saved. The words "lost, saved" make us nervous. Some people know too much about the matter. A few years back some Baptists published their calculations about how many people in Alabama were lost and how many were saved. Bill Leonard quipped: "How did they get a Xerox copy of the Lamb’s Book of Life?"

But another reason the words make us nervous is because they imply something ultimate; they go to the heart of things. We defend ourselves against these words because of the questions they ask us.

The scene from the cross is this. Jesus is fastened on a cross with three nails. One through each hand, the third nail driven through both feet affixed together and secured with an extra piece of wood as a washer.

Crucifixion was the most abhorred and humiliating way to die in the ancient world, a form of execution reserved for the worst of public offenders. The body hung stripped naked for several days; it was a long, slow, merciless death. Sometimes the executioners mercifully broke the legs of the one on the cross to increase the pressure on the chest and hasten the death.

What does Jesus do while dying on the cross? He makes seven utterances. They tell us something crucial about who he was. Flannery O’Connor wrote:

. . . the man in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personality, those qualities which are all he will have to take into eternity with him.

The word for today is his word to the criminal hanging on the cross next to him: "Today you will dwell with me in Paradise." In the violent situation of the cross Jesus was seeking and saving still.

The word "save" in the Old Testament and the New Testament is a multi-layered word. There are 1001 ways to be lost and 1001 ways to be saved. Here are some of the meanings:

1. To be delivered from danger, captivity, sin or death;
2. To be healed in body or mind;
3. To be set free from demonic possession and the power of evil;
4. To be forgiven, reconciled with God, and given peace with God in this world and in the world to come;
5. To be made whole, a healing deeper than being cured;
To experience shalom and justice in the social realm: Where all God’s children share in God’s blessing and where no one is afraid.

God’s salvation is all these things and more. The name "Jesus" itself means "God comes to save," and Jesus did. He healed illness and opened blind eyes; he forgave sins and befriended sinners; he confronted the powers that be and brought a kingdom of justice, joy and peace; he set people free from demons and from all that enslaved them. He came to save; and wherever he went salvation happened.

Let’s take a brief look at the last story in Luke before the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the story of the saving of Zaccheus, the tax collector. How many ways was this man lost? He is described as chief tax collector and very rich. As a tax collector he was a traitor to his people: a collaborator with the Roman oppressor. As chief tax collector he was doubly a traitor. As a rich tax-collector he was also a thief, using his power to take from people taxes far above the amount prescribed by Rome. There may have been no more hated a man in Jericho. How many ways was this man lost?

What had gotten him to this place? Greed, anger, and ambition to prove people wrong, a mania to be on top? In more ways than we can know, this man was lost.

But when he heard that Jesus was coming to town; he went to take a look. Sometimes curiosity is the first step on the road to salvation, a drawing we cannot explain.

When he got to the main street of Jericho, it looked like Macy’s parade. He could not see over the crowd because he was very short. What to do?

He suddenly scampered up a tree, becoming as a child, and perched there to see Jesus.

Jesus saw this unlikely sight, a grown man in a tree, and came over to him. Everything grew quiet. What would Jesus say to him? A denunciation of his collaboration with Rome, a sermon on the lure of riches? What he said was: "Zaccheus, come down from that tree; I’m going to your house today." Today, right now.

The town was not pleased, but salvation was stirring. They broke bread together, a sign of God’s shalom. The divine friendship worked its holy power in Zaccheus. Before the meal was through, Zaccheus stood from the table and said,

Lord, half of all I have I will give to the poor; and if I’ve cheated anyone, I’ll restore it fourfold.

Fourfold! All Jewish law required was principal plus 20 per cent. The servants in the room probably fainted on the spot.

What Jesus said in response was: "Today salvation has come to this house!" How many ways did salvation come to him? In as many ways as Zaccheus was lost. And it came to his house and his community as well because salvation changes the way we relate to all people. When salvation comes it not only happens internally, it also helps us be God’s salvation to the world. What part of God’s salvation has come to you? What part of God’s salvation do you want to help happen in the world?

I love the way Walter Rauchenbusch has captured this moment: A camel passed through the eye of a needle -- and Jesus stood and cheered!

Then Jesus adds the words: "The Son of man has come to seek and to save the lost."

Now, a week or so later by Luke’s chronology, Jesus hangs on a cross. Three times he is taunted and every time tormented with the word "save."

First the rulers of the Jews scoff at him:

He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One.

Second the Roman soldiers taunted him:

If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.

Then the third taunt from one of the criminals hanging next to him on the cross. He railed at Jesus saying:

Aren’t you the Messiah? Then save yourself and us!

Save, save, save, "Save yourself, Jesus, if you are who you say you are," as if they knew who he was, as if they knew all salvation could mean.

Jesus hangs between two thieves. "Thieves" is too mild a translation. These were violent criminals, not petty thieves. Think Timothy McVeigh. Think of any two on North Carolina’s death row. Picture that and you get a sense of the scandal it was to belong to a religion based on a crucified man.

The one criminal scoffs: "You’re the Messiah, huh? Then get yourself out of this and us too while you’re at it." The other criminal says to him:

Do you not fear God? We are being crucified justly, but this man has done nothing wrong.

Then he turns to Jesus and says:

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Here is the only time in the gospels someone addresses Jesus simply as "Jesus." Not Jesus Master, Jesus Lord, Rabbi, Teacher. Simply Jesus. First name only.

Jesus, remember me.

Could there be a simpler plea?

And Jesus replies, "Truly, I say to you; today you will dwell with me in Paradise." Today.

Jesus taught us to pray, Give us this day "today’s" bread, because when you’re hungry bread is part of God’s salvation.

In his first sermon in his hometown, Nazareth, he read the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to bring liberty to the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

And then he said, Today, today this scripture is fulfilled.

He said to his hearers’ amazement: The kingdom of God is entos you, within you, among you -- which means the kingdom is here not there, near not far, as near as your own breath, as close as the blood which courses through your veins, closer still.

At Zaccheus’ house he said to this man, just saved in more ways than we can know, "Today salvation has come to this house." Today.

There is something joyful about this word "today" -- and something urgent.

Marney once said that Jesus came to the paralytic to show that the helpless might come; he came to the leper to show that the untouchable might come; he came to the prostitute to show that the sexually shamed might come; he came to the Pharisee to show that anybody might come (even deacons); he came to the child to show that all might come; and he came to the thief on the cross to show that the hopeless might come.

Have you seen a one so hopeless? Violent criminal, his life flowing out of him on the cross. No time to be baptized, to learn the Lord’s Prayer; no time to do any good for anybody; no chance to prove his sincerity.

But this dying man with his ruined life speaks his own "Lord’s Prayer," nine words: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

And Jesus says: "Today you will dwell with me in Paradise." Seeking and saving still.

How many ways was this man lost? There were only two ways left he could be saved: To be reconciled with God and to be given the gift of eternal life in the loving presence of God. Jesus gave him both.

I was told by an old friend who grew up in the mountains of Kentucky that this verse was used there to debate the issue of death-bed conversions. Will God accept the repentance of a person at the very end? Of course.

He told me the Kentucky story about the notorious sinner on his death bed who was visited by the preacher. The preacher asked the question: "Do you renounce the devil?" The man replied: "Preacher, now’s not the time to be making new enemies!"

Will God accept deathbed conversions? Of course. Has the person missed something by not coming to God sooner? Of course. Will God hold it against him or her? No.

Is it fair? We ask, as if when we come before God at the end, we will plead for fairness.

I hope for mercy.

There are 1001 ways to be saved and 1001 ways to be miserably lost. Whenever, however we cry out to God, God will come to save.

Buechner has a character, Leo Bebb, an eccentric evangelist with his own shady past. One Thanksgiving he throws a great "love feast" for anybody in town who will come. At the meal he says these words:

We all got secrets . . . things we feel bad about and wish hadn’t ever happened. Hurtful things. Long ago things. We’re all so scared and lonesome, but most of the time we keep it hid. It’s like every one of us has lost his way so bad we don’t even know which way is home anymore only we are ashamed to ask. You know what would happen if we would own up we’re lost and ask? Why, what would happen is we’d find out home is each other. We’d find out home is Jesus loves us lost or found or any which way.

Think of the worst things you’ve done, the worst you could imagine doing. Think of the harm it has caused. Think of getting caught. Think of dying next to Jesus, not knowing what to say to this perfect man. Think of finally saying, "Jesus, remember me."

Now hear his words, "Today you will dwell with me in Paradise."

Today.

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