Father Tim Lemlin
Then a very special thing happened, perhaps the only thing that could have made a difference and broken the ice. President Jimmy Carter, who was in the White House at that time, came into the room. Before he was seated, he saw Nixon over against the wall, all by himself. He went over to him as though he were greeting a family member, stuck out his hand to the former president, and smiled broadly. Everyone was surprised and then stunned as the two of them embraced each other, and they could hear Carter say, "Welcome home, Mr. President! Welcome home!"
When I was young, I was vacationing at an aunt and uncle's house when my Dad, who was a truck driver, stopped to ask if I wanted to ride with him. It came as such a surprise that my initial response was, "No." A few moments later my response changed but it was too late. My Dad had already left. I remember looking through the glass window of the second floor apartment wanting somehow to get a message to him that I did want to ride with him.
Years later this experience became symbolic of my relationship with God. A pane of glass allowed me to see God but I couldn't touch God or be touched by God. Being able to see God made me believe that I knew God. This is dangerous. It can lead to a false sense of wellbeing and a distorted expression of our faith that we sometimes call religion. Our rites and rituals - our sacraments - can put us in touch with God or they can act as a pane of glass, allowing us to see God but not be touched by God.
Fear is usually the motivating force that places us behind a pane of glass. It is insidious because most often we believe that everything is good. We can clearly see God. We can clearly see other people. We can relate effectively. We simply can't be intimate. Our lives are lived on the surface. We can have friends. We can be married. We can be a religious. We can be an advocate for peace and justice and for the poor. We can even appear holy because externally we are fulfilling all of the rites and rituals. Fear, however, is the driving force and not love.
Fear is what drove the religious and political leaders to crucify Jesus. Love did not allow him to remain in the tomb. Fear prevents us from separating the sin from the sinner. Both are condemned. Love doesn't ignore the wrong that people have done, it simply is in touch with something beyond the external.
When President Carter greets Richard Nixon in the way that he does, it leads Newsweek magazine to assert, "If there was a turning point in Nixon's long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion." Only someone who is touching and being touched by God - someone who knows love - would have the freedom to risk being associated with a man considered a leper in American society.
Jesus associates with everyone. He excludes no one. He is accused of being a drunkard and a glutton. He is condemned as a blasphemer. Once arrested, everyone abandons him. No one wants to even look at him never mind speak with him. He dies the death of an enemy of the state.
Then, an extraordinary thing happens, Jesus is sought out by the One who is love, and this love conquers death and life is restored.
The cross represents God's commitment to us. No matter how disgusting we become. No matter how self-centered we are. No matter how much we pervert God's image with our own image. No matter how many layers of glass surround us. God will continue to find ways in which we can participate in God's love.
