The Cathedral Church of the Advent (the "Advent") is where I learned grace. The Advent was God's instrument of grace for saving my marriage, my career, and even my life. The Advent has faithfully called preacher after preacher who actually understand and proclaim the Gospel. This proclamation is God's instrument of salvation.
Yesterday, one of the preachers whose Gospel explication meant so much to me, came back to preach at the Lenten series at the Advent. As one of my law partners, Ed Ashton, said: "Paul Walker never disappoints." In ushering in the Lenten season, Paul referred back to a letter which he received from the priest who officiated him into the Episcopal church. Paul recalled anxiously opening the letter to glean the wisdom of a man who had been in the ministry for 30 plus years. He began it with: "Don't give up beer for Lent." This may seem odd, at best, but it's actually deeply profound. For, as Paul preached, giving up beer or chocolate or whatever is okay, but it isn't sufficient, not anywhere near sufficient. It isn't our actions, our minor addictions, which need to be remedied--it's our hearts. Our hearts which are the root of anger, lust, control, self-righteousness, judgmental attitudes, and all other manifestations of evil--that's what needs mending, and there's only one solution--the Gospel.
Before Paul came to town, I listened to one of his recent sermons on the Mockingpulpit entitled: "Let's Get it Started in Here," which dealt with the parable of the ten vestal virgins--those who went into the party with the bridegroom and those who didn't. Paul ended his sermon in a way that left me floored by God's grace. Paul said that Judas was at the party--the great eternal party with his friend and savior Jesus. Now, I've know of only one other person who takes the position that Judas is in heaven--Garry Wills. Quite frankly, although I love Wills' writing, I thought Garry was going too far when he called him: Saint Judas. Now, I don't. Now, I think that Paul and Garry are right--he is Saint Judas.
At the end of this sermon, Paul read the lyrics to a song: "The Judas Tree." The song tells that, per the Apostles' Creed, Jesus descended into Hell after he was crucified. The song says that Jesus cut Judas down from the tree on which he had hung himself and liberated Judas from Hell. Could this be? Could the person who committed the most grievous sin in the history of man be at the eternal banquet with God? Like Garry and Paul, I think so.
Garry points out that, when Judas sold out Jesus, he likely had no idea that Jesus would be killed. The Jewish authorities had no authority to commit anyone to death--without the say of the Romans. That's why he hung himself--he was so aggrieved that his selling out of Jesus had ramifications far beyond what he had imagined. Judas thought his sin would have certain repercussions (which he was prepared to deal with), but he had no idea that his sin would result in the death of his friend.
What we learn from the Judas Tree is that the world is a deeply broken place. The world can take our lesser sins and wreak devastating, never intended or imagined, consequences. This is one tree that we should consider entering into Lent--into the season where we contemplate the human condition and then God's response. The Judas Tree reflects that this world is not our home--it is not friendly towards us--it can be damn unfriendly--wars, rumors of wars, the plague, ebola, famine, hunger, murder, adultery, incest, crimes committed in the name of religion, etc. The list of problems with the world is endless.
The second tree--the Cross--is the primary focus of Lent. The Cross first diagnoses the condition of the human heart. We are bloodthirsty. We are bloodthirsty like ISIS. As my current pastor said: "Jihad was committed against Jesus." The religious fervor of man caused them to spill the blood of an innocent man, and we are no different. We are all jihadists in our flawed religious hearts.
But, the Gospel doesn't end with the diagnosis of the world and the human heart--it flips to God's grace. God's grace is borne out by these two trees. God has triumphed over the world and over our hearts. God raised His son from the dead. God liberated Judas, and indeed all of us, from the Hell of this world and the eternal Hell.
As I enter into Lent, I have hope for God's salvation. I've long said that, if God saved me, He could be saving anyone and everyone. If there's hope for me and Judas, then there's hope for mankind--hope for liberation from the vagaries of this world and our inward-looking, twisted hearts.
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