25th
Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle A
September 21, 2014 10:30am and 12:00 noon
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
The Crucifix
On
Tuesday September 9, this crucifix was carried into our church.
The
corpus or image of Christ was designed and made by an artist in Colombia, South
America. It was then shipped to
Pennsylvania where the cross itself was made.
Obviously,
this is a work of religious art and it is an expression of the artist. That is why there is a variety of crucifixes
– different ways of depicting Christ on the cross.
The Face
I am
especially taken by the face of Christ on this crucifix.
As you
can see, Jesus has not yet died. His
head is held high and his eyes are looking up to the heavens.
I
imagine Jesus at this moment speaking the first verse of Psalm 22 that we hear
in the gospels: “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?” This psalm is a
Jewish lament, a prayer to God in times of trouble.
It
starts with those words of desperate crying out, and then ends with trust in
God. Jesus might have prayed this entire
psalm from the cross.
Or
maybe at this moment, Jesus is looking up to the Father and saying: “Father, into your hands I commend my
spirit.” I see these possibilities
in the look of Jesus’ eyes here.
By the
way, when we look at the crucifix from farther back in the church, it seems as
if Jesus is looking at all of us. And,
in that way, his eyes express the embrace of his arms – Jesus’ love for us and
his awareness that he is giving his life for us.
The Vineyard Owner
That gets to the point of today’s gospel.
This vineyard owner pays the same amount to those who work
just a few hours as he pays to those who work the entire day. Now, let’s be clear, this is not a teaching
about management practices or fair wages – not at all!
But it is a teaching about God’s generous love for all of
humanity. The idea is that no matter
when we turn to the Lord and start living for the Lord, God will reward us and
treat us well.
That is the mystery of God’s divine generosity. We see that generosity in Jesus on the cross
– giving his life for us.
The Side Panels
I want to comment on the side panels that flank the center
gold panel.
There is lots of color and light here: the four liturgical
colors – white, green, red, and purple.
And then there is yellow – flowing out from the gold center panel – and blue
– hinting of both the waters of baptism and the heavens.
The artist drew these colors out of our stained glass
windows. The design is intended to
convey movement and energy and is taken from the stained glass windows in
gallery that leads to the baptistery.
The idea is that the life and love and light of God are
moving and even surging out from the dying Jesus to the entire world. So the crucifixion is not an end, but the
beginning of new life, new love, and new light.
The Risen Christ
I want to make
sure you notice the new location of the image of the Risen Christ – hanging
right in front of the organ pipes.
The idea is that
when we receive Communion, Christ comes to us and is alive within us. And so, when we turn to leave, we can see
this image as a reminder of that.
We are now to live
the life of the Risen Christ. We are to
allow him to empower us in all that we do in everyday life.
“My Ways…My Thoughts…”
Finally, one of our
Catholic Sisters writes that the crucifix teaches us not just about God, but
also about ourselves.
It reveals who we
are to become. Who would ever think that
Jesus on the cross is an image of who or what we want to become?
It seems to go
against our instincts. I think of God’s
words in today’s first reading: “My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”
The cross is God’s
way. Surprisingly, the way of giving is
the way of receiving and the way of losing is the way of gaining.
That is the
paradox and the challenge of the crucifix.
Seeing Jesus on the cross brings us back to God’s ways which are our way
to salvation and the fullness of life.
