20 Nov SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2022

I’m reading another book called Discovering Your True Self: A Guide for the Journey, about transformation toward mature spirituality. I wonder if you’re thinking, “Why does our pastor introduce psychology into nearly every sermon and most of her newsletter articles, lol?

Because psychology examines how people think and interact. It exists throughout the Bible. It’s like a person already standing in the room and God knows, you can’t tell stories about people and their relationships without examining how people influence each other for better or worse, unless you totally don’t care how people are affected by what happens between them.

Because I try to counteract the effects of media and storytelling that intend to rile emotions or merely dull them. Words people exchange and the feelings they convey change the course of history. Psychology helps us understand the conversation and interaction between Jesus and two criminals that ultimately affects persons and all of history.

In the portrait of Jesus on a hill called Golgotha we are asked to look at the entire scene: individuals in the foreground, those exchanging garments for money below, those in power above, and those witnessing the event around the main character, Jesus.

Psychology examines elements of color, composition, and artistry in paintings that’ve hung on walls for years. It helps reinterpret obvious objects in the foreground routinely pointed out. It helps draw new conclusions that may have been literally overlooked.

According to the book, humans are driven by two distinct life forces with seemingly opposite goals: a drive toward togetherness and the pursuit of individuality. Think about how these two forces are at work every Sunday morning.

A drive toward togetherness brings some folks to church. Pursuit of individual needs keeps others watching online or takes them elsewhere. Togetherness brings you in the door, but once you enter, choosing a seat becomes a matter of relative need for either togetherness or individuality.

Somewhere on the spectrum, you take your “regular seat” or adjust, trying to remember who sits where. The questions are always, ”Should I sit next to familiar faces or a certain distance from the rear, end of the aisle or front, among others or on the fringe?”

The biggest decisions you’ve already made today were driven by forces of togetherness and individuality. Individual needs and the degree that we take others into consideration influence everything we say and do. Whether you’re watching from home or here in person, Jesus on the cross or a criminal being brought to justice, your individual needs, consideration for others (or a lack thereof) brings you into today’s gospel scene. Let’s keep looking at it.

Associated with the driving forces of togetherness and individuality are four interrelated emotional needs: To be safe. To Belong. To have power/ability. To have value/significance.*

Listen as threats to all these needs are mentioned in today’s first reading. A lack of safety and belonging exists in the form of destruction. Harm is caused by scattering and driving people away. How does God address these threats? By meeting the emotional needs of both nations. Listen.

The Lord, God of Israel and shepherd of Judah, offers this remedy: To gather and bring them back. Because they belong, none shall fear, be dismayed or missing. Because a righteous king will reign, which means will deal wisely and execute justice, the flock of Judah will be saved. Israel will live in safety. Emotional needs for safety and belonging are met through divine provision by Christ the King.

Things that resonate throughout today’s psalm describe God as refuge and strength, very present help, a powerful stronghold able to resist threats and actively redirect outcomes. Therefore we will not fear or be shaken though mountains tremble and the earth be moved.

God is in the midst, offering help to an entire city, though nations rage and kingdoms shake. God works, bringing desolation and destruction to end wars, breaking, shattering and burning weapons, resulting in stillness and a feeling that God is with us.

We are safe and belong. God uses power to place value and significance to both creation and humankind. Be still and know God, exalted among the nations of earth, with us, as Lord of angel armies. Our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Now look at this God according to St. Luke. He’s lost all semblance of togetherness, his flock has deserted him. He hangs innocent and alone among two guilty criminals who at least have each other. The three suffer together, all crucified in the same way though Jesus endured special humiliation.

He was reminded of his powerlessness. He was reminded that claims of him being able to save and rule as king were laughable now as leaders laughed and people stood by. Jesus was surrounded by a crowd that literally stood apart and away accentuating the fact he didn’t belong and most certainly was not safe.

Last Saturday, Steve and I attended an all day session of training on anti-racism called A Long Talk. The bottom line was, “Create empathy that inspires action.” Without empathy, there will never be connection. Without empathy, there will never be a desire to speak up. Without empathy, no one will try and do anything that makes a real difference.

Create empathy that inspires action.

Like the first criminal, we must realize who Jesus is and who we are: whether we belong where we end up and what responsibility we have. In a broad sense, truthfully examine the plight of everyone, whether they share a fate similar to ours or not. And after identifying our own part in the grand scheme of things, call out to the one we recognize as being truly righteous, regardless of how society judges or mocks them.

A degree of self-differentiation allows one criminal to better understand interior and exterior moods, the crowd and peers, to act independently and engage Jesus directly.

One of the guilty, not the righteous, recognizes God, seeing in Jesus, an anointing. He takes a stand but never breaks connection with other guilty ones, though they refuse to acknowledge faults and refuse to agree. Defining his own need for safety and belonging helps him leap toward faith in a personal savior.

I use that phrase in this way. Jesus isn’t a personal savior because he belongs to any one person, but because he came in person to suffer and identify with everyone.

He is the central figure who experiences all swirling human emotions, all physical and psychic needs, all experiences of exhilaration and defeat, everything… including joy, the need to be saved, anxiety about loss and death, the spectrum of togetherness and individuality, needs that trigger fears.

Jesus offers one remedy for all, for everything happening in the people around him, every actor and member of the crowd in this scene: Forgiveness that makes belonging possible.

Jesus knew emotions were at play, that emotions motivated what people said and did, defending their held positions, causing separations and not creating empathy, but competition. Jesus knew that forgiveness that made belonging possible was the first step toward anyone being able to put themselves in the place of another and then act on their behalf.

Jesus proves that the greatest antidote to competition isn’t winning or losing, but creating empathy. Between the two criminals, one stands apart from the other by emphasizing their commonality first: saying, “Look, you and I are guilty. We belong here. Soon we’ll be dead, separated from our bodies and everyone around us. Where will we belong then?”

Jesus answered, “You belong with me in Paradise, today.” Of course that was somewhat of a figurative statement. It couldn’t have literally been that day if theologically we believe Jesus spent days visiting the dead in the land called Hades. And why did he go there? To tell those people they belong in Paradise with him, too. Today basically means, “You’ll be there with me, as soon as I arrive.”

Not unlike the scene of today’s gospel text, during A Long Talk, we saw familiar images of faces in crowds also gathered to witness the hanging of men. A few young adults in the crowd cropped apart from the gruesome appearance of hanging bodies up above bore smiling faces that might have been captioned, Spring Break 33 AD. Social media existed even back then, when photos became postcards and captured images for time immemorial. From the photo, it was clear who was safe, who belonged, who had power, and who had value.

According to the facilitator of A Long Talk about racism in America, people of color seek empathy, not revenge. They seek to be acknowledged for what they’ve suffered, a thing Jesus always does without exception.

When Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they’re doing,” it is the most audacious request in all of history. It’s a surprise; it’s risky, it’s unreasonable coming from the lips of a victim. It seems disrespectful and impudent considering forgiveness relies on generosity extended by the offended.

This is exactly Jesus’ point. He is both the one offended and the one offering forgiveness through God, his Father. It is not humanly possible without asking God to overcome human emotion or human tendencies to focus on personal need. It is not humanly possible without God’s help to remain connected to our own kind, as the criminal did, while advocating on behalf of another’s cause.

Do we claim the innocence of Christ or acknowledge our own participation in a system that favors some regardless of pure merit? What Jesus says and does during his entire lifetime and from the cross advocates restoration and repair, giving afforded by generosity, identifying everyone as able to belong without deserving. That’s the nature of forgiveness, of reestablishing fairness and enabling equality without separation.

How can anyone but Christ claim superiority or merit in a scene where all face death equally?

Christ the King transcends Jesus the shepherd. He goes beyond the herd’s range and rises above all people. He cuts across all fields to gather his flock which includes others who hang. Christ the King surpasses what’s possible, making it possible for humans to achieve what’s otherwise impossible.

Let’s look at one example: It seems impossible for everyone to agree that Black Lives Matter without asserting that other lives matter, too. The facilitator of ALongTalk noted that during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, no one objects to pink fountains at municipal buildings or protests that other cancers matter too, as if bringing awareness to one feels like a rebuke of others.

Today’s gospel text reminds us that no one, especially the guilty, wants to identify with doing wrong. We all want to be right. But Jesus wants the truth. He doesn’t want to hear stories told in certain ways meant to manipulate what people believe or to maintain power only in certain hands. The purpose of the gospel is to spread good news, not only to those who believe or do the right thing, but to those in the wrong, to bystanders witnessing what’s happening not only to themselves, but to those close at hand, even among the crowds.

May we expand our view to include everyone in every scene. May we know ourselves and be honest, especially if guilt allows us to identify with Jesus and become more like him. Christianity is more than privately held beliefs. It’s about being self-aware, then speaking up; advocating on behalf of others so everyone can feel safe, like they belong, like they have power, are deemed valuable and significant*.

No one escapes the larger scene by claiming they’re not in the foreground. We cannot pretend others don’t exist when the artist intentionally painted us all onto the same canvas. Let us pray.

Lord, help us to recognize ourselves in the grand scheme of things, where we are in relationship to you and others. Grant forgiveness to those who sin against you and each other. Heal the wounds of hatred and violence and join together people and nations. You are God, king and shepherd who saves and intends all to live in safety. Thank you for sharing your power and esteeming the guilty. And last but not least, for including us in those who belong while continuing to gather those who’ve been scattered. In your holy name we pray, Amen.

* Noted many times throughout the book Discovering Your True Self: A Guide for the Journey by Steve Langford, WestBow Press (2020).

https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Your-True-Self-Journey/dp/1973692414