The third word is broken - broken for you. As we celebrate Maundy Thursday this word takes special meaning. Jesus tells us that his body is broken for us - his children. We are starting to see how Jesus gives everything he has, including his own life (which we remember tomorrow esp.) for us and to us.
But I think there is another part to this. We too are broken - in two ways. First we are broken people. None of us are perfect. We have parts of our lives and parts of our bodies that are in need of healing. It may be something physical, emotional, or even spiritual. We are broken in many and various ways, and we need God's healing hand to touch us and make us whole once again.
The second way we are broken is in that there are parts of our lives that need to be broken out of us. Our desires for power and control, our wants to put ourselves above others - to get ahead of the Jones'. In other words, we need to be humbled. We need to be reminded that there has only been one perfect person in the world, and we hung him up to die on the cross with our sins.
And yes, we are broken down at times in our lives so that we may be humbled and see God in a new light. Luther referred to this often as the "theology of the cross." We meet God at the lowest place possible - we meet God in the pits and valleys of life for it is here that our eyes are opened to the amazing power and love that God has for us - even though we are broken. God gets down and dirty, he meets us in the pits of life, and then he pulls us up with his grace and love for us.
Isn't it amazing that the God who created all, who has such power, is also one who cares so much about us - little creatures that we are - that he is willing to die for us?
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The Lenten services this year were especially enjoyable and creative. Placing Judas Iscariot on trial and hearing the "testimony" of various Biblical personages brought the story to life.
At the last Wedneday service, the congregation, (the jury, if you will) was asked to come to a verdict. Did Judas deserve eternal damnation, or did he, too, deserve God's grace?
To be honest, I had never thought of Judas as being important before. Raised with the notion that to kill oneself places you irrevocably in hell, I paid him little mind, and long ago wrote him off as merely "a necessary presence of evil" in the Easter story. Necessary to the story, for it is only through his actions that Jesus is brought to the cross.
But Judas is no more broken than any of us is. None of us comes even close to the glory of God. On my ballot, I wrote the comment, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," and therefore found for the defense in the trial. Surely even Judas deserves forgiveness for his brokenness. If we cannot forgive him, how can WE be forgiven?
On this Maundy Thursday, I thank God for the weekly reminder of his Holy Communion, his reminder to us of his grace and mercy, despite our brokenness.
You're right! We're all broken. We all mess up again and again and Jesus keeps finding us, lifts us up and loves us anyway.
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