Caravaggio’s Head (S13 Episode24)

There are just over four weeks until we find ourselves at Good Friday and Easter, and as we continue to travel the Jesus Path, we find ourselves firmly within the hilly landscape of Jesus' cross. We will spend the next four Sundays traversing this terrain, paying close attention to how Jesus' cross is more than just an event in time, but a way of life we are called to follow.

To do that, we begin with a story—of a painter—and what he was looking for when he created his masterpiece, David with the Head of Goliath. His story mirrors our own and will take us into the uncomfortable realm of sin, and forgiveness. Those two words are uncomfortable to many, but such is the nature of walking a path. We don't get to choose where it heads, our task is simply to follow. The path now takes us there. But fret not friends, we won't be talking about sin in all the cliché and predictable ways we have become accustomed. Rather, I plan to give sin the treatment it deserves—earthy, gritty, perhaps even slightly crass, and irreverent. (As such, fair warning: This Sunday's sermon is PG-13 and contains language that may be inappropriate for pre-teenagers and that some might find offensive. Discretion is advised.)

Why the need for that? Quite frankly, I am tired of "sin" being ignored or triggering, so let's just talk honestly about it, in plain language. The Jesus Path takes us there so there is no point in trying to avoid it. After all, as the brilliant art critic Simon Schama says, "If we are ever to hope for redemption, we have to begin with the recognition that in all of us, the Goliath competes with the David."