Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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The story “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” by Neil Gaiman combines one of my favorite writers with one of my favorite characters- Batman. In the story, Batman is at a funeral, his own, where all his friends and enemies come up and tell stories about it, except that each story tells a different way Batman died.
All this time, Batman feels a presence there, watching this all unfold with him. It turns out this presence is his mother, and she helps Batman in figuring out who he really is: a person who will save others no matter what. She helps him, at the end of the story, to let go and say goodbye in a picture book sort of way reminiscent of Goodnight Moon.
Then the most interesting part happens. As the cover closes, hands appear and they pick up baby Bruce and place him in his mother’s arms.
Batman’s story folds around on itself. Part of that is because what makes Bruce Wayne’s birth important is the end, for Bruce Wayne is Batman and part of that role is to help others until the very end.
That folding around beginning to end is really what is going on here today. It is what is going on with the end of this liturgical season and the beginning of the next one, and it is what is going on in our readings as well.
Many of you probably find it odd that on this final Sunday after Pentecost right before we go into Advent and prepare for the celebration of the Nativity that we are talking about Jesus’ death. That is a topic that seems more suited for Lent or Holy Week.
Lest we forget, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the reasons we are all here. Jesus dying on the cross and His rising to new life show His purpose in the world. You cannot have the Resurrection without the Incarnation, that is true, but there would be no Incarnation if God did not need to die for us to raise us to new life again.
All this time, Batman feels a presence there, watching this all unfold with him. It turns out this presence is his mother, and she helps Batman in figuring out who he really is: a person who will save others no matter what. She helps him, at the end of the story, to let go and say goodbye in a picture book sort of way reminiscent of Goodnight Moon.
Then the most interesting part happens. As the cover closes, hands appear and they pick up baby Bruce and place him in his mother’s arms.
Batman’s story folds around on itself. Part of that is because what makes Bruce Wayne’s birth important is the end, for Bruce Wayne is Batman and part of that role is to help others until the very end.
That folding around beginning to end is really what is going on here today. It is what is going on with the end of this liturgical season and the beginning of the next one, and it is what is going on in our readings as well.
Many of you probably find it odd that on this final Sunday after Pentecost right before we go into Advent and prepare for the celebration of the Nativity that we are talking about Jesus’ death. That is a topic that seems more suited for Lent or Holy Week.
Lest we forget, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the reasons we are all here. Jesus dying on the cross and His rising to new life show His purpose in the world. You cannot have the Resurrection without the Incarnation, that is true, but there would be no Incarnation if God did not need to die for us to raise us to new life again.
We also should not forget that the preparation of Advent historically has not just been a preparation for Christmas, the feast of the Nativity and Incarnation, but Advent has also served to prepare us for the return of Jesus Christ in this world- The Second Coming. Jesus’ Death, Resurrection, and Ascension are the starting points for that waiting and expectation we have for Jesus’ return. Really, we should always be looking towards allowing God more fully into our hearts.
By hearing the story of Jesus’ death, we are reminding ourselves of many things. The simplest is that this is the end of one season, but really this is a transition into another. We go from the death to the birth because, just as with Batman, the point of Jesus’ birth is the death, but only because that death leads to the Resurrection of Christ Jesus and us all. Today reminds us that the Death and Resurrection are the actual “reason for the season”.
Really, the Death and Resurrection are the reason for our faith. We have the hope that we can expectantly wait for Jesus to not only come back into this world but to enter into our hearts each and every day.
As we end the season after Pentecost and as we enter the Advent season of preparation, it is a good time for us to reflect on these core tenets of our faith. What we are preparing for isn’t just the celebration of a birth, but the starting point of our salvation in this world. We aren’t just preparing for Jesus’ return in this world, but also for the return of Jesus in our hearts as well. Most of all for us as Christians, death never has the final word, for death for us always leads to life.