Easter III - April 6th, AD 2006

Meadowvale Lutheran Church

Mississauga Pastor Peter Lisinski

"COMPANIONSHIP WITH JESUS"

One of the recurring questions on my mind in these days is "Why is the Christian church growing in the world's poorer nations and declining in richer nations?  The answer I came up with -- and I think it's true to the witness of the Bible, as well as church history -- is that the church only grows where Jesus Christ is present.  And Jesus promises to be present among the poor -- not because the poor are better, or more deserving of God's love than the rich, but simply because the poor suffer more than the rich. The more people suffer, the snore open we are to God's presence; and the more open we are to God's presence, the more we will love one another; and the more we love one another, the more we will reflect God's love in the world; and the more we reflect God's love in the world, the more we will grow as a community of faith.

Of course all human beings suffer.  We suffer fatigue, we suffer grief, we suffer hunger and thirst, we suffer the aches and pains of aging, we suffer stress and anxiety, we suffer sickness and disease, we suffer doubt about God's love and, believe it or not, some day all of us will also suffer death!  All human beings, rich or poor, suffer.  Suffering is the very essence of the human condition.  That's why the cross is so central to the hope of the Christian Gospel -- as well as a unique message among the world's great religions!  The message of the cross -- a foolish message, according to St. Paul -- proclaims that God, in Jesus Christ, is present with us, to share our suffering, to relieve our suf­fering, and to free us from our suffering -- the ultimate expression of which is death itself!

But, in addition to the natural suffering common to all human beings, the poor are also more vulnerable to the injustices inflicted on them by the rich!  Sometimes the injustice we in­flict on the poor is intentional -- like violating land treaties with our First Nations brothers and sisters, or refusing to for­give Third World debt!  Sometimes the injustice we inflict on the poor is unintentional -- like drinking name-brand coffee, or shopping at Wal-Mart simply because it saves us a few dollars. But, intentional or not, the rich oppress the poor for the simple reason that we want to avoid, or reduce, or limit our own suf­fering!  And the less we suffer, the less we need God.

IN sacrificing himself for us all, Jesus Christ reveals that the willingness to requires the willingness to suffer with and for those who suffer.  The word of the risen Jesus' suffering love burned in the hearts of the two grief-stricken disciples who met him on the road to Emmaus -- the word he himself interpreted for them in the pages of the scriptures:  "Was it was not necessary that the Messiah should suffer...and then enter his glory?"  Not until they recognized him in the breaking of the bread – the body of Christ, broken for them, for you, for us -- did they un­derstand that, yes, Jesus' suffering was necessary for their salvation -- for your salvation, for our salvation, for the sal­vation of the whole world -- which is the very glory into which he longed to enter, and into which he longs to lead us!

True love means to risk being hurt, to risk failure, to accept the shortcomings of others even as we confess our own, to make the personal sacrifices necessary to establish human and humane relationships, to live in Holy Communion with God and neighbour, apart from whom we cannot grow to the fullness of our God-given value and destiny.  Jesus calls all those who hope to share in the glory of his salvation to share his suffering as well, by taking up the cross and entering with him into the suffering of the world, to risk our own suffering, to share one another's suffering, and the suffering of our poorest neighbours -- around the corner, and around the world.  Just as we recognize the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread, we also recognize one another as children of God in the breaking of the bread.  And in the recognition of our common humanity, relationships of love planted in hope, rooted in justice and growing toward peace, begin to blossom and bloom.

That's the holy communion Jesus Christ calls his church to be; and the church that strives to become the holy communion Jesus Christ calls us to be, is a church where Jesus Christ is present; and the church where Jesus Christ is present, is a church that grows -- in faith toward God, in fervent love toward one another, and in the number of members our first lesson describes as "devoted to the apostles' teaching and companionship, to the breaking of the bread and worship."