A Better Focus

Carol was raised in a broken home. She still bears the mental scars to prove it. The emotional bruises --which cause constant pain -- led her into a string of failed relationships. Sex and partying were her hope -- but they failed her -- leaving her lonelier than ever before. But one day she read a book that promised her it didn't have to be that way. The author had discovered the secret of life -- through "positive thinking." With meditation techniques and the centering of her soul, she now succeeds in ascending to a communion with the greater divinity that is all around her and all inside of her. Carol believes you can be good and "find god."

Carl started drinking in high school. At first it was just at parties, but by the time he dropped out of college his sophomore year, he was carrying a flask wherever he went. Broke and despairing, he hit rock bottom. But then one day a friend told him that it wasn't too late to discover his purpose in life. He only needed to learn how to look for it. He followed a counselor's fivefold path to enlightenment and was able to set right goals for himself. He got cleaned up. He found work. He tells people that if he cleaned up his act, they can, too. Carl believes you can "find god" and be good.

Carol and Carl sound like people we know. They even sound a little like us. Who could argue with bettering yourself and becoming a benefit to society? All you have to do is focus on the greater good, focus on the inner self, focus on being good. People like you better when you're good. The kind of goodness that's easy for the world to judge. The kind of goodness that doesn't discriminate whether you are a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu or a Wiccan. So, then it doesn't matter which god you find, as long as you're good.

This all sounds great, doesn't it? Being good, for goodness' sake? But this kind of goodness -- being good, looking good, acting good -- is not the only goodness there is. More important, it's not even the best kind of goodness there is. Not only is it weak, coming and going with the moment, but as much as we pursue it, we never seem capable of reaching it completely. This is because we're missing the better kind of goodness.

This is an outlook toward goodness that infects all of us. For example, teens sincerely want to be better people. They want to tick off their parents less, roll their eyes at their teachers fewer times, and be nicer to their siblings. And they can ... for a while. But then the back talk, the eye rolls, and the disparaging remarks come back with full vengeance. Why? Because their focus is all wrong. They're focusing on their goodness instead of their God.

As an employee, you want to be humble in the workplace, but then the loud braggarts get all the praises and raises. As a spouse, you want to put the needs of your spouse ahead of your own, but then you feel like you're being taken advantage of by the person you love most in the world. As a retiree, you still want to lead a productive life, but you're just so tired and bored all the time. As a citizen, you want to get along with people in the other political party, but their political stance is just so stupid. We try to be good, apart from God's goodness.

Whether we're children or adults, whether we're Christians or pagans, we tend to believe that if we just concentrate more and work harder, then we'll rid ourselves of all those bad things that keep dragging us down into the muck and mire. But we can't. Fellow sinners, as we stand on the precipice of Holy Week, we must see that we cannot do anything to make ourselves better. Sin is not just what we do or fail to do. Sin is part of who we are.

We cannot overcome sin by working harder or concentrating more or finding goodness within ourselves. There's only one way to throw off everything that hinders and throw away the sin that so easily entangles. That's Jesus. Rather than focusing on ourselves, focusing on shaping up our lives, focusing on our goodness, we have a better focus -- Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.

There's a better kind of goodness, but it's not of this world. It's not the goodness of what you or I do, but the goodness of who we are made to be in Christ Jesus. The source of this goodness is always and only the one true God and whom he says we are in relation to him.

One of the first lessons taught in children's swimming classes is what to do in an emergency. When a swimmer gets a cramp and begins to drown, the lifeguard will dive in and pull the swimmer out. But in that saving act there is one thing the drowning swimmer must absolutely never do. Once the lifeguard has him, he must stop trying to swim. If he doesn't -- if he thrashes about insisting he can somehow save himself, or even help at all in the rescue -- he'll not only succeed in drowning but will drown the lifeguard, too.

This is what the original sinner must learn to believe. The thrashing arms of the drowning sinner are the attempts to make those good things the source of salvation, whether in whole or in part. Pursuing civil, active goodness will not drown your faith. But insisting this lesser goodness is what real, ultimate goodness is all about, certainly will.

This is the theology on which Christianity lives or dies. It's the total reversal of everything that is taught in our world. To natural mankind and natural religion, to the mind of original sin, it makes no sense. It is an affront to pride and glory and everything important about Me. It is the proclamation that about Me needs to die. About Me must be killed, crucified, and buried -- and all this has already happened in the body of Jesus Christ.

Bursting forth from the tomb on the third day, it is the Christ in Christianity that changes everything. Now, religion is not about doing but about being done. Now you are free to never need to find God, to never need to please God, to never need to explain yourself to God. In Jesus, God has found you. In Jesus, God is already pleased with you. In Jesus' words, God explains yourself to you -- both your old self and your new self -- both killed and raised with Christ. In Jesus, God finds you, washes you, and feeds you with himself, purging your sins and redeeming your soul.

This is the only theology that frees you to not have to be about Me. Though you are never free from the imperfections and weaknesses and sins that so easily entangle, Christianity creates in you a you that is no longer focused inward.

We may not like to admit it, but you and I love to look inward. We would rather be energized with works of our own doing than be bored with the forgiveness of sins that is all God's doing. We flee from theology of Law and Gospel, believing that we can overcome if we just try harder, do more, get better. We hunger for the approval of the world and ignore the approval of God that is ours in Christ. With this kind of understanding, the Church is nothing more than a worldwide reformatory school and our Sunday School is nothing more than lessons that promote ethical behavior.

But how different when we open our eyes to focus on Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). Look away from yourself for a moment and really look at the One who became flesh to furnish your salvation. He's the One who authors and continues to bring your faith to perfection. From A to Z, he is both the object and the cause of our faith, giving us something to believe, and the faith to do so.

Jesus "endured the cross." The cross with its torture and curse was no light load for our Lord, but he held up under it. The shame involved was far outweighed by the joy he found in completing the work of salvation and sitting down in triumph at God's right hand. Jesus went through all the pain, all the suffering, all the entanglements of this world ... for us. The cross and the tomb were all for us.

When your eyes are opened by the fact that because of what Jesus has done for you, you do won't need to spend your days and nights justifying yourself to God. For the first time, you can stop looking at Me, take a gander around, and pay attention to where you really are. With eyes fixed on what Jesus, your eyes are opened to see you are not the only one kneeling at the foot of Christ's cross. There are other sinners here, too -- men, women and children, just like you -- trapped by the inbred need to justify ourselves, but freed by Christ to believe we are already justified in him.

The author reminds us, "Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us" (Hebrews 12:1). These men, women, and children who are all around you are the great cloud of witnesses who surround us. They are all around us to run the race of life with us. They have fallen and you can help them get up. When you fall, they'll help you up. Alongside all of us is Jesus, who is matching each of us stride for stride. He's by our side to lift us up, to speak words of encouragement, to help us to our ultimate goal -- not being good, but being made good in him.

Take your eyes off yourself. Repent. Look at Jesus. He is the much better focus. The author encourages, "Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:3).

The object of our Christian faith is Jesus -- the person, work, and words of Jesus. Jesus -- the God-man born in Bethlehem, raised in Egypt and Nazareth, and testified by his enemies as a miracle-worker. Jesus, who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, who was cheered by the crowd and jeered by the mob, who was betrayed by one friend and deserted by the rest of his friends, who was crucified by the Roman governor, and buried in a sealed tomb. This is the hostility Jesus endured from sinful people. Yet, three days later, the eternal heir to the Hebrew King David's greater throne was seen alive once again.

Brothers and sisters, always focus on Jesus. Today we begin that special Holy Week where we can focus on Jesus coming to us in his Sacrament on Holy Thursday; his dying our death on Good Friday; his Sabbath rest in the tomb during the Easter Vigil; and then his glorious resurrection on Easter morning. You cannot find God out there. You cannot find God in here (yourself). You find God in his Word and Sacraments. That is his triumphal entry into your life. Throw down your cloaks. Wave your palm branches. Shout your Hosannas to the Lord. You find God in his Son, Jesus Christ.

Today, this week, and throughout the race of your life, take your eyes off yourself. There is a better focus, a better goodness, a better Savior. Amen.