We’ve just heard what is probably the
lengthiest Gospel reading of the year. I’m always a bit surprised people don’t
slip out for a cup of coffee or suddenly remember they need to check their
tires or change their baby. It’s easy to let our attention wander, especially
when we’re hearing a story we know so well. I’m as guilty of it as anyone.
Despite participating in the Gospel reading, I sometimes find myself thinking
about the rest of Holy Week, or what will happen Easter Sunday, or other
details. I’ve been blessed though, that each year I’ve received a gift of one
thing that has stood out for me that recalls the Passion of Jesus. Some times
it’s a material thing, often it’s a quote, a poem, or what someone has said to
me. A couple of years ago it was Honey Maid Graham Crackers.
You may not even like graham crackers,
nor may you care about a calculated and clever ad campaign on the part of the
company that owns the Honey Maid brand.[1]
Some of you may remember this story. It certainly had plenty of media play in
2014. The gist of the story is this. Honey Maid Graham Crackers decided to run
ads about the wholesomeness of their product. The ad campaign was called, “This
is Wholesome.” To demonstrate wholesomeness, the ads showed various parents and
children enjoying graham crackers. Among the people shown are a biracial
couple, a gay couple, and a single male parent. The ads released a backlash
among people who opposed same-sex or biracial marriage, or both.
In yet another calculated move, Honey
Maid decided to respond by embracing the issues via social media. In the first
couple of weeks after it ran, their social media response, which you can still
watch on YouTube, had more than 1.5 million hits or views on Facebook.[2] Honey Maid responded, of course, because they
are knowledgeable enough to know that a large part of their customer base is
exactly what they portrayed in the advertisements.
The company hired a pair of artists to do something with the
negative responses to the ads. The artists rolled the printed complaints into
tubes and glued the upright tubes together to spell the word “love.” And it
appears on the ad as though once that was done, the artists walked away. But
the voice-over tells you that Honey Maid received more than ten times as many
positive comments as negative. As the camera slowly pans away, you see the negative
responses are totally surrounded by the positive comments.
Andrew Solomon, in his article in the New Yorker online
wrote, “The first half turns hatred into love, the second half provides
evidence of love itself.”[3]
I think that’s precisely what we need to take away from the
Passion Story of Jesus. The first half – the story we heard just now, is the
story of hatred turned into love.
Today we heard the story of Jesus turning hatred into love
by giving himself up to death on the cross. This story of hatred turned into
love on the cross, is for us to hear and absorb today and in Holy Week, before
we get to the second half. We tend to rush the second half of the story in our
anxiety to have a better ending. If we rush to the ending, we miss what occurs
on Jesus’ journey to the cross: the deep and compelling evidence of love. Be
patient. Be watchful. Evidence of the love itself surrounding and outweighing the
suffering and death comes at Easter. AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2016
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