The Terrible Cure
Palm Sunday
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
One Sunday I went home feeling great about the services that morning. The hymns and offertory music were beautiful and on point. The readers read well. The prayers were earnest. Attendance was strong and the sermon seemed to have hit home well. It was a very blessed day. After almost everyone had left, I went to my office to take care a few things before heading home. But there was trouble. A nasty computer virus had entered my computer.
Viruses are bad, but this one really scared me because the message said: Infected registry. That’s really bad. Here’s why. Everything we do with a computer, all the programs and documents, are in the operating system. The registry is all the stuff your computer does right when you turn it on, before your home screen even pops up.
My anti-virus program identified this virus but didn’t stop it and it didn’t clean it. Their next suggested method didn’t clean it. I tried another anti-virus software I had used before. That didn’t work. Then another (Norton, McAfee, Avast and Malware Bytes). Nothing worked.
I did some further research. It showed this was a dangerous virus and might require reformatting my hard drive. That would wipe out all my programs and all my work (which I had not backed up!) But even that might not cure it, because it was in the registry.
I called my friend Sid, who had a computer service and repair company. He suggested another pair of programs. The first one worked! The second one confirmed the cure was complete. My anti-virus software confirmed it as well.
Relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Computer viruses are similar to our struggles with human sin. For most of our behaviors, actions and inactions, we can look at various influences and causes. We can trace where we picked up a bad habit or attitude, where our character developed or didn’t and needs repair. I’ve worked with children a lot, in churches, at Camp Wingmann, El Hogar in Honduras, in Cub Scouts, coaching sports teams, as a band parent, etc. I’ve found that when a child cannot function in a group or on a team, or won’t behave, there’s always a cause – either medical or some very hard situation at home that is beyond the child’s capacity to control.
As we shift into adulthood, somewhere between 18 and 25 for most of us, we have to take responsibility for our lives and overcome our past, taking charge of our lives as best we can. We try to break bad habits, establish good ones and as Meg says, “Just deal.” Our faith is a huge benefit that way. The teaching and example of Jesus Christ is by far the best we can find. Love God; Love your neighbor.
But the truth is our sin isn’t transactional. It isn’t just about this or that decision. It goes way deeper than that. Humanity has a problem.
We call it original sin – which is illustrated by Adam and Eve before they actually taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is illustrated by their joint decision to go against God’s will before the first bite. Something is wrong in our registry – before we ever boot up to our home screen; before we wake up; before we ever get out of bed in the morning.
God desires relationship with us, and true relationship, true love, has to be voluntary. It cannot be forced. God has given us the independence to choose relationship with him or not, and far too often we choose not, even when we agree that we are wrong. We cherish freedom, but given a choice, people chafe against rules – even those set forth by God himself.
Something is wrong in our registry.
Often our failures are small or hidden. They hurt us and the people who depend upon us. When a good person falls, evil spreads like cancer.
Our very notion of justice points to the deeper principle of atonement. Where someone or society has been wronged, it must be righted through judgment and sacrifice. The sacrifice is usually in constraining freedom through prison or probation, restitution or a fine to atone for crimes and property or money judgments in civil suits. That’s how we balance the scales of justice. And we all accept that. We even judge the imperfections of our justice system by its failure to reach that goal.
And while our criminal justice system does affect crime rates, we draw more boundaries. We lock our doors and we gate our driveways and communities where we never did before. Parents barely let their children play outside anymore. This is the richest country in the history of the world. We’ve had over 100 years of compulsory education. Satisfied?
That’s when we sin against each other. Sin against God requires atonement, too. That scale needs to be balanced. For centuries Israel used animal and grain sacrifices as a means of atonement for sin against God. Giving of one’s harvest, the produce of one’s life and labor – one’s right action – offset the debt incurred by one’s wrong action, balancing the scales of justice.
This is an eternal problem. How can we possibly fix our operating systems when our registry is so infected?
And so, in his infinite love, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, God in his infinite mercy, sent Jesus Christ, his only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to him, the God and Father of us all.
Suffering himself to live in a mortal body for a time was a sacrifice. Suffering the sneering disdain of the Pharisees and Sadducees and other leaders was a sacrifice. Suffering the ignorance and indifference of most people was a sacrifice. Enduring people’s fear, opposition and betrayal was a sacrifice.
Jesus offered himself, perfect in every way, to serve as the atoning sacrifice for all who would call upon his name, proclaim him as Lord and follow him.
His sacrifice was real. It was impossibly difficult. His physical pain was beyond measure. The mental strain was extreme. The grief of his spirit was greater still. We can scarcely look upon it; some of us cannot bear even a glance at it.
At the very peak of his suffering, he shared the most loving words ever spoken, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.”
That’s why we call this The Passion: it is God’s unyielding love poured out for us in atonement at terrifying cost for our eternal reconciliation with him. Look long and hard at the terrible cure, the terrible cost, and see his love for you; love, love on the cross.
That, that, has fixed our registries. The Kairos weekend at Avon Park Correctional is closing today. Lots of convicted felons are getting their registries fixed right now. Oh, our operating systems still get fouled up. We have to unplug and reboot from time to time. But take a deep, hard look at yourself this week in light of what Jesus did for you centuries ago. Invite him into your registry. Invite the Holy Spirit into your registry.
AMEN