I like to think that our world is so much more civilized today, than it was back in the first century, in the days when Jesus was born, lived and died. After all we have gone to the moon, we can operate on a person without pain, we can send a letter from one side of the world to another in a few seconds, we can heat and eat a full meal that came in a cardboard box and which took no preparation; frozen one minute, steaming the next. It may taste like the box, but you can still eat it, and it’s amazing… just how many people do eat them.
But back in the days of Jesus they were on a roll too and the Romans had just introduced the binding of pages and were moving away from the scroll, to the codex, which is Latin for “block of wood” or as we call it … the book. The world had begun using water wheels and pumps. People were describing the water cycle, meteorology, and mapping the stars. Bellows had been invented for use in furnaces and steam pumps were first invented in Alexandria in the north of Egypt. All of these things we still use in various forms today.
I like to think that our world is so much more civilized today, less barbaric, working for the greater good, more capable, less hostile, than we might feel life was like 2000 years ago, and especially as it is reflected in today’s passage describing the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But then when we consider Haiti, the Gaza Strip, Afghanistan, the Congo, the divide between rich and poor, our health issues, political turmoils and divisions, our present inventions are just those of our time, our barbarity just as real, and our response to God and the life of Jesus, seems very similar. A parallel era. A reflection of time.
And the words that struck me in today’s passage, as Jesus was lead out to die on the cross, as the guards divided his clothes, as the two criminals on either side bickered, are about a response to God, and they are the words of Luke… “And the people stood by, watching…”
Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent in the life of the church and every year on this Sunday, on Sunday before Advent, there is a reading about the death of Jesus on the cross. It may seem somewhat strange that just before we reflect on the expectation of the birth of Jesus we are talking about his death. But put together, they remind us that this is a time when quite starkly we are all, along with our community, and our world, invited to reflect upon our response to the enormity of the life of Jesus; his birth, and his death. And together we are invited to consider to what extent we find ourselves, our community, our world, as Luke put it, just standing by, watching. “And the people stood by, watching…”
In the 1st century there was a Jewish historian, whose name was Josephus and he wrote a huge amount of the history of that time. I find his work fascinating and I have read for you before other excerpts from his writing (I think the last one was on the Romans attacking Jerusalem in 66AD). Josephus was a Jew, he was also sympathetic towards both the Romans and the Christians. In many ways he was a person who reflected upon his age and part of the world; its people, its influences, it politics. And this is his brief account of Jesus, written by Josephus nearly 2000 years ago…
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” [Antiquities 18: 3: 63-64.]
This is one man’s reflection on who Jesus was, on his life, his death.
Of course many other people have written their own statements about who Jesus was too and it may surprise you that Van Gogh, the great 19th. Century Post Impressionist painter, in a letter he wrote to one of his friends made is own statement of faith.
“It is a very good thing that you read the Bible… The Bible is Christ, for the Old Testament leads up to this culminating point… Christ alone… has affirmed as a principal certainty, eternal life, the infinity of time, the nothingness of death, the necessity and the raison d’être of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as a greater artist than all other artists, despising marble and clay as well as colour, working in living flesh. That is to say, this matchless artist… made neither statues nor pictures nor books; he loudly proclaimed that he made… living men, immortals.”
Of course like any personal statement of faith, those words of Van Gogh’s reflect his own belief and understanding.
So now as we read today about the death of Jesus, just a week before we begin Advent and reflect upon the coming birth of Jesus, as we live in a world where we are all, as Luke put it, “standing by, watching”, I wonder, if we were writing our own little history, our own statement of the life of Jesus, our own statement of belief, as Josephus did, as Van Gogh did, about who this Jesus was, what we would write. Us, you, me. The people in the Market place. Our leaders. Our neighbours. Our family members. What would we write?
Our world is very different in ways, the 1st Century compared with the 21st. Century. But in other ways it is very similar. I am reminded that Luke’s words are just as true today; “and the people stood by, watching”.
As we draw closer to Christmas, every year I am reminded of how we are all making some response to Christ, either intentionally or without even knowing it. I am reminded how distracted we are and how for many the inclusion of Christ as part of this time of the year is not even a consideration. Luke was right, many people would have “stood by, watching”, but it would have been true that many people were absent too; busy, working, fearful, ignorant, or even just pleased that this man Jesus was finally being put to death. I think when now and then you finally see, a small image of the Christ child, or a small nativity, set amongst all the hubbub and noise, sparkle and gloss, that it is a true reflection of the place of Christ amongst our lives.
For our church this year, as we sit amongst the people in the market place, as we live in the midst of much and many, the thing that we can do, and do well as a congregation, is to remind people, announce to people, share with people, the place of Christ amongst our lives and our world and the significance of both his birth and his death for us all.
Today we stand watching, and see the shadow of the cross, just as we are about to embark on a time of expectation and waiting, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. You might like to think some more about your own statement of faith. You might like to ponder just how you witness people standing by, watching. Or the world, standing by, watching. You might like to think about how you can help share, announce, the life of Christ, his birth, his death, with others, as we find ourselves on the doorstep of celebrating Jesus Christ once more.
Let us pray.
Lord you were born,
Lord you died,
You rose,
For us. Let our watching turn to sharing. Our looking turn to action. As we celebrate your coming amongst us.
Amen.