Mark 14:1 to 15:47
Dear Friends, Over the centuries, we have had many different interpretations of a most basic truth of our faith: Jesus died to save us. We say in the Nicene Creed every Sunday, “for our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day.”St. Anselm taught us that the Father was not looking for some bloody sacrifice to appease his justice. Christ was sent into the world to live perfectly as a human being. In this way, being free and perfect in His humanity, He saved us.
There were many options Jesus could have used to accomplish our salvation. There were no limits to his power. In the view of St. Anselm, Jesus chose to respond to evil in love that was expressed in his renunciation of power. This powerlessness was seen in his refusal to drawn into evil. His response was the ultimate expression of freedom. It was completely devoid of self-interest. It was the expression of humanity in its most perfect state.
What is pleasing to the Father is not the suffering and death of Jesus. It was that Jesus chose his freedom to express his full and complete sharing in the human reality to save us. The consequence of this choice was his death on the Cross.
It was love for the Father that led Jesus to the way of humiliation and total rejection of power to save us by love, mercy and self-sacrifice.
The four Passion narratives amazingly have almost no description of great physical pain. None of the Evangelists even mention Jesus was nailed to the cross. Only afterward, in John’s story about Thomas is this implied.
Likewise, none of the four Gospels tell us of the crucifixion in a complete sentence. In Matthew and Mark, the second part of the sentence is about the division of his garments. In Luke and John, it is about the two thieves.
The Gospels are a bit clearer about the psychological suffering. Jesus sees the apparent failure of his life’s work with the disciples. He had to face Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denials and the flight of the rest in fear and anxiety. Only a few woman disciples were at Golgotha to the end. He faced the total rejection of the Jewish leaders, the people’s choice of Barabbas over him and the further disgrace of being placed between the two thieves. Throughout the Passion there was constant ridicule and scorn: from the trial before the Jewish leaders, Pilate’s soldiers, the crowd, the leaders and finally the two thieves mock him mercilessly.
Likewise, there was the silence of the adoring crowd that just a few days before hailed him with the Hosannas on his entry into Jerusalem. Nor were there any defenders among the thousands he healed and fed.
In the entire panorama of suffering, physical and psychological, Jesus was faithful to his purpose, the salvation of all by his commitment to being human in the sinful reality that is our world. In every step along the way, Jesus chose not to use his power. He chose to show the power of love that surpasses each expression of evil and sin. Jesus chose, in this way, to share in the suffering and death of all people. Jesus chose in this way to reveal the power of the Father’s love as the final expression of reality, the victory of life and love over death and sin.
The Father’s love was proclaimed in Jesus’ faithfulness even to the Cross. In this event we learn that his death gives way to the Resurrection. Jesus’ powerlessness led to his sharing all manner of human suffering. Jesus invites us to share his way of love in confronting all the forces that continue to dehumanize and degrade our brothers and sisters. In our commitment to the Crucified Christ, the final word is the victory of love over hatred, justice over injustice and reconciliation over division, isolation and prejudice. God has spoken. The seeds of peace and true community have been sown in Christ Crucified and Chris Risen. The seeds will continue to blossom as we learn to die for one another in love and service.
Jesus’ rejection of power shows us that He was not above us but among us. All through the Gospel of Mark he told the people to keep the secret of the wonders he worked. Now, finally, in the total disgrace of the Cross, his true presence is proclaimed. ‘When the centurion who stood facing him saw he breathed his last he said, ‘Truly this man was the son of God.’” (Mk 15:39) We are asked to accept Jesus on the Cross as the full and decisive revelation of God.
Now we are invited to see Jesus in the totality of his truth, crucified in his complete sharing of our broken world and broken lives. This is our invitation into the Mystery of Love. Our passage is the faithfulness of heart surrendering to love just as Jesus did. This will be our death to our selfishness. In this death, we, like Jesus, will find true life. That true life begins now when we walk with Jesus in love!
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