21 October 2018
Isaiah 53. 4-12
What the world sees as defeat, the church believes is victory.
Knute Rockne! Player! Coach! The name itself means football! And at the University of Notre Dame, it’s the closest thing to heaven, this side of the pearly gates! Knute Rockne! There’s, even, a movie about him that costarred a president! Knute Rockne, All American! It’s the one where the line “Win one for the Gipper” comes from! But there, at the beginning, at least for a little while, he was one of us! Born in Norway! Baptized in the Lutheran church! But later, after he’d been at Notre Dame, of course, he was rebaptized by the Roman Catholics. Knute Rockne! All American!
Anyway, this week, after reading the passage from Isaiah, I got to thinking about something Knute said. “All the world loves a winner!” And we Americans have taken those words to heart. We love winners! We’re crazy about them! We adore, idolize them! When we talk, it’s always in the superlative! The biggest! The brightest! The best! That’s why all the competition! To prove who’s the fastest and the strongest and the most talented, most committed! Like the whole world, we love winners! We applaud them! We reward them! We honor them! With Ribbons! Trophies! Plaques! Statues! Just like we did good, old Knute! “All the world loves a winner!” The words challenge us, dare us, to be our best! To try our hardest!
Well, I googled the quote, just to make sure I remembered it right. And right away, I was sorry I did. As if it wasn’t bad enough all by itself, I discovered there’s a second half. A half that adds insult to injury. “All the world loves a winner and has no time for a loser!” “And has no time for a loser!” As much as we love winners, we hate, we despise, we loathe, losers, as well. They’re not worth our time or trouble. They aren’t worth our effort or energy. And unfortunately, that quote – that entire quote – has become the unofficial motto of the U.S. Nothing matters, anymore, as long as you win. “Everyone loves a winner and has no time for a loser!” Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing!” “Show me a gracious loser,” Rockne, at another time, “and I’ll show you a failure.” And then, there’s Isaiah, chapter fifty-three. “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases. . .” Struck down. . . afflicted. . . wounded. . . crushed. . . oppressed. . . taken away. . . cut off. . . stricken. . . . For all intents and purposes, god’s servant isn’t a winner, but a loser!
These words that we read, today – this fourth servant song – we read only one other time during the church year. Good Friday. Each and every Friday of the cross. When god’s servant suffers. . . and dies. . . and is buried. . . and descends to the dead. . . . And Good Friday is the least attended service of the entire year. But Knute nailed it. All the world loves a winner and has no time for – no time for and no interest in – a loser. And so, even as a church, here in America, we turn and we walk away and we don’t give it a second thought.
But fortunately, Isaiah isn’t Knute. And what Isaiah says is astounding. He looks at the servant battered and bloodied. He looks at this “loser” and says, “This! This is the will and the work, of god!” “He was despised,” Isaiah says, “despised, rejected; a person of suffering, acquainted with infirmity.” And just like all losers, no one held him of any account. We had no time for him. And yet, it was, it is, that servant, this loser, who changed the world!
Sure, there’s the Jesus in heaven. The Jesus seated at the right hand. The Jesus on the throne. Wearing the crown. The Jesus surrounded by thousands upon thousands of angels. And yes, there’s the Jesus of the “second coming.” All powerful. All mighty. Walking on the clouds. Coming to conquer. To vanquish. To judge. To condemn. But these are the winning Jesuses. And oh, how we love winners.
But Jesus on the cross? Battered. Broken. Bloodied. “Show me a gracious loser,” the world says. And so, we bounce from the hosannas of one Sunday to the alleluias of the next, blind to all that lies in between. “All the world loves a winner and has no time for a loser!” But we never stop and think. The reason Jesus looks like a loser is because he loves us! Loves us not simply to the moon and back, but loves us more than life itself. Loves us to the cross and to the grave and, then, he just keeps on loving! For us, the cross isn’t the sign of weakness. For us, the cross isn’t the sign of failure. For us, the cross isn’t the sign of defeat. For us, this is love! It’s what love looks like! And sounds like! And feels like! This, for us, is the kingdom and the power and the glory! This may not be the way to win football games. But it is the way to transform lives and to change worlds! That’s what makes grace so amazing! The very stone rejected becomes the cornerstone, becomes the keystone!
Look, again, at that image. This is our god! Our king! And he’s a total contradiction, the complete opposite, of what the world looks for! Not served but serving! Not taking life, but giving it as a ransom! For many! For all! This is the Gospel! The Good News! Of Christ and Christ crucified! The Gospel, the Good News of the Church and the Church crucified!
We are called, called and sent, to be losers! To be losers just like our god! Losers just like Jesus! Losers for the sake of the world! Turning the other! Going the extra! Doing unto! Forgiving! Not just once or twice, but always, forever! Like a lamb, a sheep, we, too, trade our life for the lives of others! As Americans, we may love winners, just like all the world. But as Christians, as Christians we are reborn, we are born again, believing in what god has done. That Friday afternoon. On the hilltop. Outside the walls of Jerusalem. Believing in and praying that we may go and do the same! The world may never love us for do it. The world may never thank us. But this is the will of god! The will of god for Jesus! And the will of god for Jesus’ people!