The Finger Incident - A Sermon for Sunday March 22, 2026

Did I ever tell you about how I met my wife, Juanita?

It was 1988 at Highwood Lutheran Church.

Probably in Sunday School.

I was seven years old,

I don’t remember what happened.

It's not much of a story

But I do remember one fateful evening

a couple years later.

There was a junior youth group event at the church,

ages 11-13 or so.

I brought a friend of mine along.

Juanita was there with her friends.

We were playing a game of Sardines;

which if you don’t know,

it was the best youth group game ever.

Sardines is like hide and seek,

but in the dark,

and when you find the person hiding,

you have to hide with them

until the last person finds the group,

stuffed together like sardines in a can.

It’s so much fun.

Not that night.

My friend and I were looking around

for whoever was hiding,

and Juanita went into a storage room to look around.

My friend and I thought it would be funny

to shut the door on her and trap her.

So I shut the door.

Moments later we heard crying.

pft, that’s fake!

You’re pretending!

It turns out she wasn’t pretending.

I slammed the door on her pinky finger

and it cut off the tip.

She left for the hospital,

and the rest of the night is a blur.

I felt terrible.

Later that evening,

my parents encouraged me to call and apologize.

So I did.

I don’t remember much of the call,

except for her soft voice “Oh, It’s okay.”

It turns out she was high on pain drugs when I called,

but she remembers it.

We didn’t start dating until 7 or 8 years later,

but some have said that it was just meant to be

after the finger incident.

When I think back on the finger incident,

I don’t think it was a good thing

that her finger was slammed in the door.

I don’t think God wanted that to happen.

I know Juanita didn’t exactly enjoy

the weeks that followed.

God didn’t want me to try to get a laugh

at her expense.

But God is in the resurrection and redemption business.

I do believe God used the finger incident for good.

So, I don’t exactly regret my mistake that night

because it was formative for making me who I am,

and it gave my wife and I a unique connection

years before we were an item.

God took the outcome of my mistake,

my foolishness,

my lack of regard,

my sin,

and turned it into something beautiful.

That’s what God does.

God takes what is broken and mends it.

God takes what is dirty and makes it clean.

God takes what is failed and redeems it.

God turns our ashes into beauty,

and we can wear forgiveness like a crown.

Today we hear part of the story

of the greatest example

of God taking what is broken,

what is dirty,

what is failed

and bringing about new life.

Last week, and continuing today,

we hear John’s account of the trial

between Jesus and Pilate,

and hear the demands of the

Jewish religious leaders.

(Invite Reader)

Let us rise and welcome the Gospel

with the Gospel acclamation.

READING: John 19:1-16a

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him." 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him." 7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God." 8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor." 13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" 15 They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

God does not require violence to make things right.

I’m convinced of this.

Jesus was not sent into the world just to die.

Some believe otherwise.

For some, God is wrathful,

and because of our sin,

God demanded blood and violence.

That’s not exactly consistent with the God I know

in Jesus Christ,

who came not for judgment and condemnation,

but who came to save.

To know God, we look to Jesus,

God in the flesh.

If we want to know what God is doing,

we look at what Jesus does;

what Jesus says.

In Luke’s gospel,

at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry,

there is a story of Jesus reading from the Isaiah scroll

at the synagogue.

He reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Jesus did not say “I am here because God needs blood.”

Jesus took the words of Isaiah,

words from Leviticus -

and Jesus said this is what I’m all about,

this is what my ministry is all about:

good news to the poor,

release to the captives,

recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is the life Jesus lived

including during this trial with Pilate.

Pilate, Ciaphas, Annas, the scribes,

- those gathered to accuse Jesus -

aren’t interested.

They end up killing God in the flesh.

But our God is a God of resurrection and new life.

God takes the messes that we make

and brings about good news.

After I cut off Juanita’s finger that fateful night;

she didn’t make the community basketball team.

The rejection hurt,

but it lit a flame under her.

She didn’t just try out for the grade 9 school basketball team,

she became the MVP = the most valuable player.

But God used the infamous finger event for redemption,

and with God’s weird sense of humour,

she even ended up marrying the culprit!

Now that’s redemption.

I’m not glad I cut her finger,

but I’m sure glad God was at work with it.

You could say that the work of the Christian,

the call of the faithful,

is to point to Jesus:

to Jesus’ presence in the world,

to point to those moments of resurrection.

God’s command,

God’s will,

is everlasting life,

and so long as we are surrounded by death,

it means God brings resurrection.

I can see resurrection in Juanita’s finger,

and in my own head and heart following.

Where have you seen resurrection?

Sometimes resurrection happens

in the community ravaged by tragedy,

as the people come to each others aid,

and they rebuild.

They’d never wish for the tragedy again,

but they have found new life.

I pray for resurrection in Tumbler Ridge.

God is at work in that community.

God is at work in these students and people,

moving them to stand up for justice,

for change,

for safety.

God is at work in the hospitals

giving victims new life.

But when God sees oppression,

God stands with the oppressed.

When God sees poverty,

God stands with the poor.

God stands with the blind,

the hungry,

the bowed down,

the righteous,

the persecuted

the prisoners,

In the kingdom of God,

God brings about justice for them.

That’s who God is.

That’s what God does.

When I think about Jesus’ passion,

I’m not glad it happened.

I think it is terrible,

appalling,

and shameful

that people like me killed Jesus.

I am culpable,

I am responsible,

and I am sorry.

But I tell you,

I can’t imagine life

without resurrection and redemption

I don’t believe God sent Jesus, the Son,

into the world just to die.

But I do believe God knew death was inevitable,

and God came in the flesh anyway.

Jesus didn’t fight it.

God faced what was and is

beyond broken,

beyond shameful,

beyond sinful

and changed the world through it,

with grace, with truth, with peace, with love.

As I reflect on the night that Jesus was betrayed,

Jesus knew his death was imminent.

He knew he was to be betrayed.

He knew he was about to be denied.

But Jesus didn’t seek to be consoled;

rather Jesus consoled his friends,

his disciples.

Jesus took bread and wine -

simple food,

and made it something miraculous.

Jesus brought about a new Passover feast

for all those who believe.

Jesus promised forgiveness,

Jesus promised new life,

Jesus promised salvation

though this gift of Holy Communion.

Just as death passed over Israel

under bondage to Egypt,

so were Jesus’ disciples promised

that death would pass over them

under bondage to Rome and their persecutors.

Still today,

because of Jesus’ life and death,

and because of Jesus’ resurrection,

you and I can share in forgiveness,

new life and salvation at this table.

Indeed God is in the resurrection business.

So let us rise.

Thanks be to God. Amen.