We read today the Gospel from John’s account. As we learned last night, John’s gospel has a different emphasis compared to the other gospels who also tell the story of Jesus’ Passion.

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus took long journeys throughout Israel and the surrounding region, all of which ended in Jerusalem. However, John’s gospel is located almost entirely in Jerusalem and its Temple. The city itself is a thematic focal point even for the Passion of Christ (Shaia & Gaugy, 2021).

During one of the midweek Evening Prayer services this past Lent, we prayed for the victims of both sides of the violence in Gaza. Soon after this war on Gaza began last October, an ecumenical group of Palestinian Christian leaders sent an open letter to the Western Church. Here are some excerpts:

“Words fail to express our shock and grief to the on-going violence and war in our land. We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people. We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies …

“We find courage in the solidarity we receive from the crucified Christ, and we find hope in the empty tomb. We are steadfast in our hope, resilient in our witness, and continue to be committed to the Gospel of faith, hope, and love, in the face of tyranny and darkness. In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope.”

A working group from the United Church of Canada, the Mennonite Central Committee, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, Roman Catholic groups, the Anglican Church of Canada, and other ecumenical groups created a response to the Open Letter from the Palestinian Church.

In addition, Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) wrote a letter last week to Bishop Azar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Lands (ELCJHL). Here is an excerpt from that letter:

 “I write to you today on behalf of the bishops, clergy and lay members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. As we approach Holy Week, we want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. As we follow our Lord’s journey from the table to the cross, we think of his suffering, and we remember your suffering, and the suffering and deaths of so many in Gaza.

“May we together be strengthened by the joy and hope that is found in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his assurance that he still walks with us all – in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, in Gaza, in Canada and indeed around the world.

“In the meantime, please know we accompany you, we are your partners, we pray for you, we advocate for peace in Gaza and the West Bank with our government and we continue to collect funds for your need.….” (Johnson, 2024).

Our advocacy for the victims of violence transcends divisions we have justified. Both sides. The Germans in World War One wore belt buckles with the inscription on them, Gott mit uns [God with us]. But God is in the foxholes of both sides. Both sides in every war. God is with all people crying out in their pain (Rohr, 2023 July 21).

“Deliver us from evil …”

When religion is used as a political tool for aggression, sin happens. Dividing people, separating them, forcibly by walls and using religion as a tool of war, that is evil. Evil is the result of division.

“Deliver us from evil …” we pray every time we gather as a church. The Cross of Christ, today’s focus, is the primary symbol of Christianity, a reminder of God’s victory over evil by becoming a victim of it. Evil, sin, violence, division—separation from God, separation from each other, separation from the earth — is overcome by the Cross. The Cross is the answer to our petition: “Deliver us from evil …”

In traditional Christian baptism the candidate answers three questions of renunciation: First, “Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?” Second, “Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?” Third, “Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?” (ELW, 2006, p. 229, emphasis mine).

Notice that only the last of the three questions focuses on individual sins. And yet, when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer for forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil I suspect we tend to focus mainly on individual acts of sin. But the individual is only part of how evil is expressed.

Saint Paul himself spoke of “principalities and powers” (Ephesians 6:12). He equated sin and evil with systems in the world, ways in which we operate, things we take for granted, cultures and behaviours that we hardly notice half the time but which affect us immensely and even defend.

On Good Friday we read from the Gospel of John. The Cross joins two cross beams, two opposing directions. It can be a metaphor for the struggles we must endure, the divisions within us that we confess.

A clue to reconciling the paradox in the Cross of Christ lies in John’s unique emphasis in writing his Gospel. You see, by the time the Gospel of John was written, Jerusalem had become desolate and deserted. It had been largely abandoned after its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.

However, it’s significance was not lost on people of faith. It continued as a symbol—one of the most powerful in biblical lore. After all, it was King David’s great accomplishment. In short, Jerusalem represented the historical, emotional, and spiritual centre of the Hebrew faith. It was the location of the First and Second temples.

The name of the city, too, has enduring significance. Jeru-Shalom translates as the City of Peace. However, the peace of shalom is complex, differing greatly from our normal English sense of the word.

Shalom comes from a root word that means “wholeness” (Shaia & Gaugy, 2021, p. 240). In the Hebrew language shalom has the connotation of joining opposites. That is the reason shalom is used as a greeting when meeting as well as leaving someone—occasions that contain both beginning and end, coming and going. Shalom unifies opposites, brings them together.

Jeru-Shalom, in its deepest meaning, is the preeminent symbol for “communion”—a place where all tribes, not just Jews, could live in harmony. Jerusalem is a place where opposites can reconcile and a new vitality reign.

A lasting impression that Jerusalem made on me when I visited the City of Peace many years ago was how close together, physically at least, peace-abiding Jews and Muslims and Christians actually lived, worked and worshipped. I witnessed a peaceful co-existence.

I met Palestinians who were Christian, and Israelis who didn’t agree with their government’s occupation of the West Bank. Not all Muslims are extremists. Just like not all Christians are extremists. Because there are peace-loving Muslims, as well as peace-loving Jews and Christians who continue to make the vision of peace a goal and a way of life not only in the holy lands but everywhere.

Jesus’ sacrifice was one of love for all people, on every side of every division. Jesus’ sacrifice breaks the oppressors rod because Jesus does not play by that game. He introduces a third way, a new way—a way for peace, hope and new life for all. A way of unconditional love. Thanks be to God.

References:

Evangelical Lutheran Worship Book. (2006). Augsburg Fortress.

Johnson, S. (2024). https://elcic.ca/2024/03/20/elcic-national-bishop-writes-pastoral-letter-of-support-to-elcjhl/

Rohr, R. (2023, July 21). God is on the side of pain. Daily Meditations. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/god-is-on-the-side-of-pain-2023-07-21/

Shaia, A. J. & Gaugy, M. L. (2021). Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation. Quadratos LLC.