Freedom
Back in October 2000, Laura, Chip Thullbery and I traveled to Washington DC for the 25th Annual Marine Corp Marathon. The marathon starts and finishes in Arlington National Cemetery, with the finish line at the Iwo Jima Monument.
As we entered the cemetery grounds, I became overwhelmed at the site. A sea of white crosses as far as the eye could see filled the landscape, perfect rows, and diagonals. They continued along a road, which made a large circle and eventually came to the monument area. I did a little research and I have come to know that there are 400,000 crosses. This scene affected me deeply, I think for the first time in my life, I saw the bitter reminder of the cost of freedom. The hard reality, that the price of freedom is blood.
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Why Jesus Died
Back when I was a CPA, my favorite client was a bank. The bank had an officer named Jeanne who worked the front desk and answered the phone. By the time I showed up, she had been there well over 30 years and was clearly the matriarch of the bank. Her nickname was “Mother.” Even the bank president, who had started his career working under her supervision before moving on then coming back, wisely honored and valued her wisdom and influence. She ruled over all she surveyed in the lobby and she held court daily in the break room.
In the break room, her influence was visible. She had post-it notes stuck all over the place. Notes like, “If you make a mess, clean it up!” “If you pour the last cup, please make a new pot.” “Please make sure the refrigerator is closed.” “Anything left in here over a week will be thrown away.” And my personal favorite, “Your mother does not live here. Wash your own dishes.”
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5th Sunday in Lent - Pastor Susan Smith
Jesus has come from the home of his friend Lazarus and his sisters where he raised Lazarus from the dead and now is in Jerusalem for Passover - for the last time. The crowds who are following him have grown and in this passage we hear of Greeks who have come to Jesus’ disciple Philip saying, “Sir we wish to see Jesus.” The gospel doesn’t tell us why they wish to see Jesus. Are they curious about his message or parables? Are they hoping to see Jesus perform a miracle? Maybe they want to become followers of his.
On the face of it this is such a simple request – “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” - but it cuts to the heart of the question we need to ask ourselves: when we look at Jesus, who/what do we see? Because the gospel of John is the last gospel written, this was probably a question asked by those in the early church.
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