if Jesus wore an 80's tee shirt

First Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8; Psalm 63:9-11; Psalm 98 Second Psalm: Psalm 103
Old Testament: Daniel 9:3-10 New Testament: Hebrews 2:10-18
Gospel: John 12:44-50

 Bartel's and James...."Thank you for your support"

Valley Girl..."gag me with a spoon"
Hans and Frans..."where going to pump you up!"
Everybody..."no pain, no gain!"

Iconic words to live by? Perhaps not, but if you are a child who lived through the 80's you heard them and come on, admit it, you mimicked them all to often. We'd lift a drink as Ed Bartells, toss our hair as a valley girl and stick our fingers in our mouths, flex and clap as Hans. And well, no pain no gain? 

So if Jesus wore an 80's tee shirt, today's readings tell us for sure it would read no pain, no gain. Or perhaps it might make more sense to us if it read "my pain, your gain".

See, we got all messed up in the 80's, and I don't just mean because cocaine was the drug of choice for Wall Street and the back street, not because people took pictures of the Flock of Seagulls to the barber and said "I want to look like that". Not because steroids brought instant gratification.  No, we became fooled into believing that our suffering would bring rewards for us. If we worked hard enough, we could accomplish anything!

The generations before us would agree that hard work was good, but the focus was on others not themselves. The 80's told us that we are worth it. All of if.  We could fix every thing if we had a big concert with a lot of bands and televised it. It was the generation of "us-aid".

And Jesus, dang it, messes all that up in the readings today. Your pain, he tells us, cannot fix your pain. Only my pain can. He was made like us so that he could taste and take the temptations and sufferings that we could not. We couldn't drink from his cup, the cup of wrath that was to be poured out on all flesh.(Jer. 25:15-28). We can share in his sufferings we are told though. What does that mean? We, who are in Christ can benefit from his work. Those who have found that they are like the skinny dude on the back of the comic book getting sand kicked their faces and not the muscle-dude who has the girl hanging on his arm actually win!

So I would argue that indeed, no gain, no gain.


Still trying to pump yourself up? Find yourself gagging on what you are spooning into your mouth? Trying to gain the world by sacrificing your life?

Stop it, for the love of God. His pain, is your gain.  He was made perfect in his suffering so that we would be too.