A colonel in the army of a Central American nation who took his 9-year old boy out for a drive. While driving a man drove by him brandishing a pistol. The colonel forced the other driver off the road, took a pistol out of his own car, and shot the other driver on the spot. It was ruled self-defense. He told his young son, “Never show your weapon without using it.” An empty threat simply displays weakness, don’t waste your time with them. This man was a colonel in a world where power makes all the difference. He knew how to manipulate the power of force, predicated on fear and anger. After a violent political shift occurred in the country, this man was forced into hiding and then into a very powerless retirement.

That boy grew up to be a friend of mine. He is also a powerful man. He does not threaten, he carries no weapon. His actions are never ruled self-defense, because he does not defend himself. Yet people listen to what he says and strive to do as he advises. He is a Christian priest. No political changes of fortune will force him into a powerless retirement. No one is afraid of him nor does it take anger to get him to do what he must do. He wields the power of service driven by the love of God. The father was a prince of a kingdom of this world, the son is a prince of the Kingdom of heaven.

Paul writes in the Epistle lesson today, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” What is this mind? “Being in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” The Incarnation is a scandal philosophers and thinkers around the globe have come to deny. It seems incomprehensible, even impossible that One so great would stoop so low of His own accord, to be with creatures so lowly in comparison. Yet this is the mind of Christ, service driven by the love of God.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” This One submitted to the death of the worst of criminals, but it was humanity at its worst that crucified Him. Pilate spoke the truth: “nothing deserving death has been done by him,” and yet we cried out, “Crucify!” We crucified Him BECAUSE He was the Son of God, and He willingly walked into it, praying for the daughters of Jerusalem, and dying to purchase our redemption. This is the mind of Christ, service driven by the love of God.

The way of the servant’s heart who is willing to sacrifice all for another is the mind of Christ. My priest friend has the mind of Christ. Though it looks powerless in the eyes of the world, and our skeptical minds quickly cite a hundred examples of servant-hood abused and rendered ridiculous, these humiliations only appear so appalling because of short-sightedness: “Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” All will acknowledge the Servant of all to be Lord of all. In the end the way of the servant is the more powerful way.

If son, then the prayer we read at the door of the Church challenges us deeply: “Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Can we, too, find the way of the cross, the way of humility, the way of the servant, the way that looks so powerless, to be the way of life and peace? In a military town do we even dare say so out loud? Yes, we do, because we see beyond the affairs of state to the eternal truth that in the end this way will be vindicated. That vindication will not come through military accomplishments or militant posturing of self-righteous Christians. It will come in God’s way and in God’s time, in such a way that the power of evil will be thoroughly and completely crushed. To that end the Church is called to look, to pray, to preach and to act. How do we act? We willingly participate in the Good Friday/Easter Sunday cycle. Palm Sunday is the doorway into Holy Week, the week of the Passion of Christ, right up to Good Friday. But Good Friday merely leads to Easter Sunday. We believe that every good Friday, large or small, leads to it’s Easter Sunday, and the greater the disaster of Good Friday, the greater the triumph of Easter! So what does that say about our living?

It says that the way of the world is not the last word, the way of the Cross is. In every painful situation there is hope. Even the highest wave is only on the water’s surface, underneath the water is calm. No matter what the Church is going through, God has the final word, and His plans for His Church lead to life, not death. It is always wisest to focus on Easter and not get overly caught up in the temporal issues that surround us.

It says that honest humility will always be vindicated. Honest humility leaves nothing to hide and nothing to defend, and opens heart to God and others. Humble service for the love of God will always be rewarded. A cup of water given in His name will not go unrewarded. Every person we meet gives us an opportunity to serve.

It says that the circumstances don’t dictate the future, the will of God does. The weatherman describes his best guess. God, on the other hand, sees the future. Actions rooted in faith will always be rewarded, and if we get it slightly wrong, God takes even our inadequacies and our brokenness and builds His Kingdom. We cannot mess God’s plan up so much that He cannot bring about His will. We can step out bravely in the faith that God is leading, and He will accomplish His will.

Holy Week describes for us the core of our faith. It carries us bravely through the power-driven worst of our human existence to the redemption God brings through it and because of it. Yes, it’s dark and gloomy at first, but how often are our lives that way? The message of Holy Week is that in the midst of our turmoil and struggle God walks with us. Powerless though it seems, it is in the end the most powerful, the wisest and most compassionate path. Walk bravely, then, brothers and sisters, that together we may see the Easter light.

Fr. Paul Moore+