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Readings: Isaiah 50:4-7 -- Philippians 2:6-11 -- Mark 14:1
- 15:47
Paul today quotes a hymn that recalls the
divinity and the humanity of Jesus. Three different words are
used to emphasize Christ's humanity
and thus his solidarity with the entire human race. He speaks of
Christ's humility, of his emptying of his self, a voluntary
oblation of love.
Such a contrast is this kenosis to the demands of this era for
self-aggrandizement. In the modern world, Jesus would be advised
to get a
PR coach, a FB page, and to learn how to properly promote
himself. But Jesus, who is God, chooses not to claim an earthly
throne by the force of power. There's no doubt that the
crowds of Jerusalem were on his side this day. They were tired
of the
Romans, weary of oppression, they longed for the rebirth of
their nation, they would certainly have taken up arms against
the Romans
if Jesus had called them to do so. Instead of earthly
honors and political powers, Christ comes with servant
leadership, calling us to follow his example.
What? Servant leadership? What good is
that? Give us the head of the Roman procurator, that's
what we want! It's not a surprise that only a few days
after hailing Jesus as King, the street is crying out, "Crucify
him, crucify him!" The way of the world is violence, the
way of the Lord
is justice and peace. It's not easy to understand or accept,
then or now.
Why can't we have a nice violent revolution and
get rid of the Romans? Well, actually, the Jews did get
that, twice over the next 100 years, and the end
result was the extirpation of the Jewish community in Israel,
the destruction of the Temple, and the Diaspora.
One of the things we learn in catechism class is
you can't seek a good end by an immoral means. It is
always tempting, but it always fails.
Consider our own violent Revolution in 1776. That ushered
in 200+ years of state violence. There has not been a single
year of our history
that the American state has not been killing someone somewhere
for something. That's not something we like to confront, but it
is historical truth.
Mark's Passion narrative, which we read in all of
its excrutiating reality at the liturgy of Palm Sunday, is among
the most epic prose of the Christian scriptures.
We often say that Jesus "suffered and died," but what really
happened was he was tortured and murdered. Here we see the
unjust exercise of authority, the condemnation of the innocent,
the open face of evil, the betrayal of friends
and the conspiracies of ruling religious, political, and
economic elites organizing mob violence against an innocent man.
We watch a cowardly politician condemn an innocent man, driven
by his own lack of concern for truth and justice and his
worries
about the local mob and his own reputation with Caesar. Life was
cheap in the old Roman Empire.
We certainly haven't learned much in the
intervening 2000 years. Life in the American Empire is as dirt
cheap as it was in ancient Rome.
The corpses of any number of dead Iraqi and Afghan civilians,
not to forget the soldiers, tell the truth of this tale. These
human persons
are seen as cheap toys by the politicians and the corporations
on both sides of the war who profit from the slaughter.
That's why we have so much slaughter, there's money to be made
in death, and we truly get what we pay for.
As we read of the passion and death of Jesus of
Nazareth, we are reminded that the works of justice and
peace are hard works. They are human actions that are rooted in
the incarnation and voluntary self-giving of Jesus.
While Pilate models the unjust exercise of authority, Christ
models the just servant leadership that is a model for
all who would do the works of justice and peace.
The pyramids of bodies erected in the sands of the Middle
East by our imperial greed for oil and power call us to repent
of our
own willing participation in the structures of sin that make
this evil possible. Now is a time to pray and work for peace.
Our prayer
gives us a renewed resolve to heal the wounds of war with the
power of love and Christian example, one life at a time, one
moment at a time.
The Lord calls us to works of reparations for the moral
cowardice of our bishops and other religious leaders who
conspire with Pilate
to crucify Jesus in our own time.
Today the final days of this Lenten journey
begin. Events start moving in close succession. Christ calls us
together
in the time and place of Holy Week to celebrate these deep
mysteries, to receive our God in the Holy Eucharist,
to welcome new pilgrims to join our journey. As the liturgies of
Holy Week unfold, it is as though each of us in
attendance is present at the original events that we recall. At
the end we will find joy and peace, but the road that goes there
passes
first through the valley of the shadow of death. We will fear no
evil, because God is with us.
+ For all the people of God, that we will find in
the example of Christ's voluntary self-offering of his entire
life,
strength and inspiration for the journeys God is calling us to,
we pray to the Lord.
+ Bring your Rice Bowl offering to the church and
present it to help feed the hungry, or if you are not Catholic,
give to a relief fund that helps
the poor throughout the world.
Holy Week Home Page + 2012 Year of Social
Justice + HOME