Crucifixion, circa 1957. Roy de Maistre, 1894-1968. England-Australia.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Phiiippians 2:5-11
Mark 15:1-39
The question raised by today’s Scripture readings is fairly simple: Why must the
innocent suffer? What sense do death and bloodshed make?
The reading from Isaiah poses the problem, Philippians provides a solution in the
reaches of eternity, and the passion of Christ according to Mark lies somewhere in
between. The prophet Isaiah says he never shirked his duty, never turned back. People
beat him, buffeted him, pulled at his beard and he did not so much as shield his face.
That was how sure he was that his help was in the LORD.
The second reading is probably an early Christian hymn. It tells how the tory of the
passion ended for those who believe in Christ. His humanness was real, not a sham.
Consequently, he faced death when it came in the ordinary way of a man who cannot
do anything about it. What came of this was exaltation and reverence – even divine
honours. The one who emptied himself was filled. His name became the highest name.
Jesus is Lord.
The passion according to Mark contains the same dreary account you might find on any
police blotter or jailer’s files if they bothered to record these things. Someone is picked
up, questioned. Hearsay evidence is dealt with as if it made a real charge. Nothing is
uncovered, so Jesus is scourged on principle. The soldiers are bored stiff in this outpost
of empire far from their homes in Britain, Africa, and Greece. They hear that the
prisoner thinks he is a king. To Pilate this religious claim has serious civic overtones, but
the soldiers find it merely amusing. They have a mad Jew on their hands and they treat
him accordingly.
The story of Jesus’ passion is the story of our times. There is ignorance and frustration
everywhere: people trapped in ghettoes, in armies in foreign wars, in political systems
they cannot respect. Power stands aloof making money from the conflict, from the
miseries of the poor. Pictures come to us of chaplains, both Russian and Ukrainian,
celebrating the Eucharist for their troops before they return to the slaughter. A
blasphemy: to celebrate the body of Christ in the midst of those who broken bodies are
the body of Christ.
Soldiers are taught to call their enemies by various sorts of slurs. Killing is an endurable
business if you can classify people as somehow subhuman, a breed less than yourself,
totally different in their needs and desires. You can kill a population you don’t recognize
as human. You would lose your mind if you began to think of them as people like
yourself.
Jesus reminds us of what it is to be human. And a world of inhumanity can have nothing
to do with any policy as mad as that.
Kevin+
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