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Kant's Three Questions
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Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
March
16, 2008; Palm/Passion Sunday, Year A
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary
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The philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that all our questions
of human reason and speculation combine into three questions: "What can I know? What ought I to do? What
may I hope?" (Critique of Pure Reason, 1787)
As we hear the moving and tragic story of the Passion
of Jesus, we know that this is a picture of human tragedy and evil. What does Jesus do? He hangs there, suspended
between heaven and earth, between life and death. He does nothing but hang there, suffering. But that is a lot.
He does not return the cursing; he does not attack his attackers. He hangs there trusting God, and living as he has
lived his whole life, returning compassion for injury, love for hate, pardon for offense. He dies, apparently abandoned,
without hope -- the words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" giving expression to the depths of his suffering.
In 1981, a high school student from Catholic Cathedral High in Natchez, Mississippi was walking with his date to the
annual prom: tuxedo and formal gown. Without warning, another young man, about the same age, snatched the date's
purse and ran down the sidewalk. The boy in the tuxedo gave chase. He ran track for Cathedral, and eventually
he caught up with the purse-snatcher. As he reached to retrieve the purse, the other boy turned, pointed a pistol and
shot him in the stomach. He died.
Saturday a week ago, our youth were on a fun trip to Devil's
Den for an overnight workshop about dreams. They were in a circle throwing a frisbee back and forth, when Andrew Kilgore,
one of the adults who volunteers with our youth, threw a sloppy toss that landed a few feet in front of him. His competitive
spirit rose, and he wanted that frisbee back to give it a better toss. He ran quickly toward it, tripped and fell suddenly,
face first to the ground. His head snapped back violently, bruising his spinal cord. He couldn't move most
of his limbs. Andrew graduated into HeathSouth Rehabilitation Friday, where he is slowly regaining his functions, facing
a long, uncertain road back to mobility.
Immanuel Kant asks, "What can I know?" I know that life
is difficult. Very difficult. I know that terrible things happen, sometimes as accidents, sometimes as evil.
"What ought I do to?" Hang in there. As Andrew begins the slow work that has interrupted his
life... What will he learn? What will he see? It's too early to know how this will turn out. But
you can see the emotional spine and character that is strong and resilient as Andrew does his part in the healing of his physical
spine.
"What ought I to do?" Hang in there. Hang in there, trusting God. I was teaching
Ethics to the class of high school seniors at the Episcopal school in Natchez when that young man was shot. They all
knew the boy who had died. They talked about their feelings. Why did he chase? Just let him have the stupid
purse? But they were also proud of him, for doing the right thing, for standing up for his girl and against theft.
Some were angry at the boy who shot their friend: I hope he fries. But others thought, What about his life? He
would end up in prison, maybe forever. Or worse. And his family? They've lost a child too.
"Where was Jesus in this?" they asked me. He was there, was all I could say. He was there absorbing
that bullet into his own stomach, dying again with their friend, just as he had died on the cross. He was there, grieving
with helpless love as another of his beloved children lost himself and pulled the trigger. He is there, with the family
and friends like you, with us, to absorb the and pain and loss in the tragedy of human evil and stupidity, just as he was
absorbing pain and loss in the evil and stupidity of his own tragic death.
Standing at the ruins of his
Gulfport church just days after Katrina, my friend Bo Roberts choked back tears as he said of the hurricane, "God doesn't
send 'em; God doesn't stop 'em. But he gives us strength and faith to overcome 'em." His
church never missed a Sunday.
Dorothy Sayers said it nicely, "God did not abolish the fact of evil.
God transformed it. God did not stop the crucifixion. He rose from the dead."
"What can I
know?" Life is difficult, sometimes tragic and evil.
"What ought I to do?" Hang
in there, with courage and trust, returning compassion for injury, love for hate, pardon for offense, as best we can.
"What may I hope?" That God is with us. Christ knows our circumstances. The evil we suffer
and the evil we do. Out of that suffering and evil, God brings new life -- resurrection.
We're
not there yet. It's still Passion Sunday. We've still got a way to go, through Maundy Thursday and Good
Friday. But the hope of Easter is out there. Just beyond the horizon of our vision. Jesus is with us.
Hang in there. What God does best is resurrection.
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_________________________________________________________________________ The Passion according to Matthew
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you
the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he
did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?" But he gave
him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time
they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want
me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?" For he realized that it was out of jealousy
that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to
do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him." Now the chief priests
and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, "Which
of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." Pilate said to them, "Then what
should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" All of them said, "Let him be crucified!" Then he asked,
"Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified!"
So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water
and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." Then
the people as a whole answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" So he released Barabbas for them; and
after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the
soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put
a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on him,
and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on
him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they
came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called
Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would
not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down
there and kept watch over him. Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, "This is Jesus, the King of
the Jews." Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his
right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the
temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." In the same way
the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save
himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let
God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, `I am God's Son.'" The bandits who were crucified with him
also taunted him in the same way. From noon on, darkness came over
the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema
sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they
said, "This man is calling for Elijah." At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put
it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him."
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two,
from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who
had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to
many. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place,
they were terrified and said, "Truly this man was God's Son!
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The
Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance and
love.
For information about St. Paul's Episcopal Church and it's life and mission, please contact us at P.O. Box 1190; Fayetteville, AR 72701 479/442-7373 Visit our web partners at www.explorefaith.org
Copyright 2008, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
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