Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
3rd Avenue at 111th Street
in the historic Lansingburgh section
of the city of Troy, New York
Sermon Links
Lent - Easter Sermon Series 2006
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
"The Bedroom"
("Heart Action")
April 2, 2006
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
For those of you who weren't able to be at worship Ash Wednesday evening or the last 4 Sundays, we're now in the season of "Trading Spaces," looking forward to the "Extreme Makeover" of creation even of our very selves. "Trading Spaces" and "Extreme Makeover" are two very popular TV shows which seek to completely change the living space of the family home. This season I'm going to be doing something a little different. As we examine the meaning and centrality of the Cross in the furniture scheme of our lives, of our living space, our home, we will consider the "Extreme Makeover" of creation that allowed us to be "Trading Spaces" with Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One.
Mark's Gospel constantly points to the Cross as the defining moment of history the time when EVERYthing changed the event upon which all future would be determined, both corporate and personal. The resurrection and all of the power we derive from it would not have "been," had there not been God's action of the Cross. Hence my desire to speak of the centrality of the Cross in the "down and dirty," that is to say, our everyday existence, our daily lives. Consider this as this five-Sunday season of Jesus' "Trading Spaces" with us, taking our place upon the Cross. As such, I continue to mix my metaphors of our daily lives, our living space and our Lutheran "theology of the Cross."
It's been a long day. As you drive up to the house, you're exhausted. 18 holes of golf can be really tiring! Well, I imagine that might have been a difficult day at work, too. Your knees creak as you go up the steps and fumble with the keys in the front door. Walking through the living room, you know that smell from the kitchen Perdue Oven Stuffer Chicken mmmmmmm; and, though the den is calling me to work, it's been a long and tiring day. Dinner is at least 45 minutes away perhaps I can take just a short nap. Avoiding work, I shuffle off to a room of relaxation and fall into the bed. Carol would tell you she could hear me snoring from the kitchen, I've never heard it. Hmm perhaps I was reacting to a bed-spring poking me in the side? Nah. Well, after 33 years, I imagine she knows me better than I do myself. We think of the bedroom and giggle or snicker; but the bedroom of our home is not a place of which we need be ashamed; it is a place of intimacy, passion, prayer and rest the place wherein the heart dwells.
The Gospels tell us, not of a bedroom, at least we don't think it had been a bedroom prior to Jesus' use of it, no - an Upper Room where Jesus shared his most sensitive, intimate time with his closest friends. They were all together, one more time. Though it surely didn't include a golf game - it had been an exhausting week confrontation, teaching, preaching, meeting with both Jew and Roman alike. Jesus was exhausted needed rest and needed to share with these closest friends those things that were deep within his heart. This Upper Room was not a place of despair or a place of shame; it is a place of intimacy, passion, prayer and rest the place wherein Jesus' heart dwelled and was shared along with bread and wine.
As we have come through the front door by the power of the Cross, the hand action, the power of Jesus' right hand, nailed to the Cross; as we have watched Jesus put his feet up on the Cross, welcoming us to the eternal living room of creation; as we experienced the "Ove Glove" - God's love," Jesus' message of salvation was made clear as he dropped all divine protection, his right hand nailed to the Cross and we said "mmmmmm," that tasty message that, at that crucial moment of history God didn't "chicken out" but gave up all that we might live; as we hear the den of creation calling to us; that we now consider with our head that which God has actually done; melding thought, compassion and love to action, head action - and now we consider the heart action that in the Jesus event on the Cross; God's heart opened completely, that we should know what true love is always ready to sacrifice for the other and on the Cross, after his heart ceased beating, it was pierced through, not with a bed-spring but by the sword of a Roman soldier. This place, this room is where God shares with us God's most intimate thoughts and concerns; this room is not a place of despair or a place of shame; it is a place of intimacy, passion, prayer and rest the place wherein Jesus' heart dwells and is shared in Word, bread and wine.
A pillow "mmmmmmm," symbolic of the bedroom that it is a place of rest. Rest is, indeed, important to our health both physical and emotional. I generally begin my rest with prayer. But, without proper rest, we would be unable to function. Too hard? Too soft? Feathers or foam? A pillow you're comfortable with is important for giving you that proper rest.
There surely was no pillow for Jesus on that day. The Upper Room did provide him with that crucial opportunity to share his heart with his closest friends, but this brief respite would be followed with prayer; there would be no rest for Jesus over the next 36 hours. Jesus would begin and end his Passover experience with prayer, despite his inability to get any rest.
The pillow is symbolic not only of the rest, the renewal, we are able to get in our bedroom; it is symbolic of the rest Jesus didn't get, in order that we might not have heart trouble; that, when our hearts are troubled, the very heart of God beats for us; that God would not rest until our future was secure; that God would transplant his power into us through the blood of Jesus, shed on the Cross; heart pierced through that we might live in freedom; able to rest not having nightmares but dreams of life and love fulfilled.
As you enter your bedroom; as you lay down to get the rest you need; as your head rests on your pillow; consider this room, give thanks for this room no beds or pillows; but true rest and renewal found in the blood shed, the simple message of God's heart action on the Cross. As you enter your bedroom or feel the pillow beneath your head, remember the centrality of the Cross in the furniture scheme of your life. Consider the "Extreme Makeover" of Creation that allowed us to be "Trading Spaces" with Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One. Now, that is more reality than you'll ever see on ANY TV show. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
