By his hands, for our sake: A Good Friday Meditation

A sermon I preached at the Community Good Friday Service based upon Isaiah 52 and 53

Hands – hands with opposing thumbs set us apart from other mammals. Our hands receive a newborn baby or hold a crying child. Our hands show affection to a hurting friend and reach out to help an elderly person stand firmly on the ground. Our hands build homes in places where wind and water, mud and fire destroy a place of memories and safety. We can mold a lump of clay into beautiful bowls and plates or weave exquisite patterns with reeds or cloth. With our hands we can paint a masterpiece or build the Cathedral of Notre Dame for all the ages. Our hands fix an automobile, prepare a meal, program a computer, and throw a ball. Our hands with opposing thumbs are beautiful and creative, durable and empowering, a work of art that only one as divine as our Creator could imagine and create. By our hands and for the sake of God and one another, we can boast of the creative and loving things our hands have done. 

"See my servant shall be exalted and lifted up on high…” (Is. 52:13) What could this mean? “Many were astonished…because so marred was the appearance… of my servant”, “…marred beyond the form of a mortal…” (Is. 52:14) What could this mean? “There is nothing in his appearance that we should desire him…” (Is. 53:2) What can this mean? Who could this be? This servant is “…despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with grief and suffering…” (Is. 53:3) What can this mean? Who could this be? This servant is “…despised and is of no account…”  (Is. 53:3). By our hands and for our sake?

 

Hands – hands with opposing thumbs set us apart from other mammals. Our hands can make a fist and knock some unconscious. Our hands can pull a trigger, releasing rounds of death bullets or wield knives that maim or even kill.  Our hands with opposing thumbs can write venomous and violent letters that are filled with lies and sarcasm, and words of hatred and ignorance. Our hands can start forest fires, toss empty plastic bottles into the sea, or bludgeon endangered animals and birds to satisfy our selfish wants and attempt to satisfy our unquenchable desire more.  Our hands are able to throw stones and grenades, execute innocent people and bully the one who is odd, or strange, or different. Our hands, with opposing thumbs, can break windows, destroy property or become the preferred instruments to torture and abuse.  By our hands we can destroy life. 

This week has been a week of hands that love and hands that hate. With his hands he broke the bread and poured the wine. With his hands, Judas betrayed Jesus and with his hands threw the money in the courtyard. With his hands, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and folded his hands in prayer. With hands, the disciples wielded a sword, cutting off the ear of soldier and with his hand he healed the ear of the soldier. With a whip in his hand, he sent the merchants and moneychangers out of the temple and with whip in hand they beat the back of our savior. With water, Pilate washed his hands, released Barabbas, and turned Jesus over to his accusers. They were the hands of Simon of Cyrene that carried the cross when Jesus could carry it no longer.  The hands of soldiers rolled dice to win the robe of Jesus and strong and mighty hands nailed the hands of Jesus to the cross and thrust the spear into his side. They were the hands of Christ who welcomed the criminal into paradise and reaches out to a sinner such as me with hands of love and grace. 

“Surely he knows our weakness” and by his hands and for our sake reaches out in love. He was “… wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and punished for the mistakes I have made.” For our sake, “…he was oppressed and afflicted….” Our hands “… crushed him with pain, his life an offering for my sin…” By our hands and for our sake he died that we might have life. 

Our hands have the power to give life and to take it. Whose hands betrayed our Savior? Whose hands wielded the whip that scarred our Savior’s flesh? Whose hands stripped our Savior of all dignity, tossed die to win his clothing, thrust the crown of thorns upon his head, and drove the nails into his hands and feet? Could it be? Or perhaps it was the centurion? Will we wash our hands, as Pilate washed his? Will we wield the hammer of sin and disgrace? Could it be us – or maybe it was someone else. What do you believe? 

12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street and the Sins of Capitalism

Not long ago, I posted on my Facebook status that I had just watched 12 Years a Slave and would soon be watching my second selection, The Wolf of Wall Street. A colleague and friend commented on my status telling me how tragic the movie, 12 Years a Slave was in both movie form and in real life. Indeed it was a tragedy – Solomon Northrup is a freed slave living with his educated wife and family in Saratoga, New York. He, himself is educated and makes a living as a fiddle player. He is tricked into a drunken state and soon Solomon Northrup finds himself a slave and is no longer called Solomon Northrup, but Platt. For twelve years he tries to survive, keeping a modicum of self-respect, patiently waiting for a chance to reclaim his freedom and return to New York where his wife and children are awaiting his return. Northrup ends up on the plantation of Mr. Epps who reads the bible daily to his ‘property’, but is himself a sinful drunken sadist who believes in the corrupt principles of capitalism. It is a tragic story.

Through the power of media, the movie Twelve Years a Slave, reminds us once again of that dark and terrible time in our life as a nation.  Forcing any human being to perform under the threat of severe beatings or even death is a terrible thing. It is terrible to think that there was a time in our history where it was acceptable to own human beings, treating them as property, nothing more than a beast of burden to do our work, helping the owner to become rich. How terrible it is that there was a time in our history when there was no humanity, no conscious, and no remorse for the way we treated other human beings all for the sake of earning a dollar and living the American dream of earning more and more capital. It is a tragic story.

We fought a war, brother against brother, and family against family to end this tragedy. For the north, perhaps we fought this war on the grounds of a moral imperative that slaves were human too and no human being, under the threat of severe beatings and sub-human conditions should be used to line the pockets of wealthy landowners. For the south, the Civil War was about economics, the right to own human beings, and the right to make money, no matter the cost. 1840 was a long time ago and the Civil War ended with the emancipation of the slaves – no more would it be acceptable to own human beings as property. Fast forward to The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie about a stockbroker who in the early 1990's starts a brokerage firm and grows the company from 20 people to a staff of 250. Their status, as a trading company and as stockbrokers grows exponentially. Jordan Belfort becomes known as the wolf of Wall Street and through lies, trading schemes and lavish parties becomes filthy rich. As his fortunes continue to grow, Jordan Belfort falls into more lies, more deceit, and soon spirals, uncontrollably, into substance abuse that destroys his family and ultimately his fortune; all this deception and craziness because he believed in the American dream of getting rich and the sins of capitalism. It is a tragic story.

I am struck by the differences, yet similarities of these two stories. Although set in different eras, they are both tragic stories that I believe expose, clearly, the sins of capitalism. A scene in Twelve Years a slave showed the owner, Mr. Epps presiding over the weighing of the cotton brought in from the fields by his property, the slaves.  If Mr. Epps was not satisfied with the yield that was brought in by the slaves, he would instruct them to be beaten. Likewise, in the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, the sentiment was the same – you stay on the phone until the person at the other end either dies or buys shares. Jordan Belfort gives motivational speeches to his team to sell, sell, and sell some more. If you do not meet the goal for the company, you are bullied and humiliated by Jordan and his staff. Sell at all cost. No conscious, no remorse, and no excuses.  It is a tragic story.

Still, we have much to learn. I tune in the radio in my car. I am a captive audience and for ten minutes, commercial after commercial, inform me that it is my duty as an American to earn and spend money. I was told of many opportunities in which to spend my money and why wouldn’t you want to spend money on yourself? After all, you deserve it.  I was chastised for keeping my cars for 10 years and encouraged to replace my ‘old clunker’ with something newer, fresher, and more exciting model – the kind that will make my buddies jealous. The holy voice from on high informed me that it was a good time to buy a house and that their realtors were ready to serve you – to get you into your new home in 30 days or less. The commercials go on and on and tell us a tragic story about capitalism that is self-indulgent, self-centered, and reckless. As I see it, all of this commercial hype is contrary to the values of serious Christians practicing their faith. I have a dream for America too and it fights mightily against the demons of capitalism. Yes, 12 Years a Slave and the Wolf of Wall Street are tragic stories, and sadly, so is the American dream. Perhaps, one day, we’ll see more clearly the sins of capitalism.