Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday C March 20, 2016
Is. 50: 4-9a Ps. 31: 9-16
Phil. 2:5-11 Luke 23:1-49
By following our Palm Sunday Procession with the Passion Sunday liturgy, we perhaps pack too much into one Sunday. The events highlight two opposing crowds. One crowd, the friends of Jesus formed a parade and proclaimed him as a king. The other crowd gathered by the parties of those resident in the Jerusalem rallied at his sentencing and shouted "Crucify him, he can't be a king because we have no king but Caesar."
As you know, I have the ability to take a straight forward reading of the Gospel and make it very complicated by looking into the actual time when the Gospels were written.
True to my habit I will do the same for us today and I would like to look at three different ways of reading the Passion Gospel. I would also like to show the various consequences of reading the Passion Gospels in different ways.
The three ways of reading are the following: First, an immediate face-value reading of the Passion. Second, the reading of Passion Gospel with information about when and why it was written. And finally, reading the Passion Gospel as a way of making specific connections with our lives today.
First, a face value reading of this Passion presentation involves treating it as if it had happened exactly in the way in which we have read it. Let us be aware that writing is a form of time lapsing long before time-lapsed photography. The Passion Gospel presents events which took place over a couple of days and we can read them in less than five minutes. The Passion Gospel is time lapsed. Literary art time lapses and it is magically an illusion because if the magic is successful it emotionally transports us to be there. It is the illusion of events "as if" they actually happened. But all writing of history or a story is a "time-lapsed" presentation of something that is done presented in written words. Events are reduced to words upon a page. And yet these artistic words can so engage our participation that we can imagine ourselves into an emotional presence with the events themselves. This "as if" magic evokes some emotional responses from us. And we make judgments, we feel empathy and we may even get angry. We may get angry at Pilate, or at Herod or at the Jews who are presented as those who plotted the arrest and conviction of Jesus. We get angry at Judas for his betrayal and we think, "let Judas be an everlasting symbol of betrayal." We are put off or mildly amused at the blow hard Peter who was so confident and yet denies Jesus out of fear of what identification with Jesus might cost him. We look at the irony of the women being those who are unafraid and who stay with Jesus during his Passion.
We see that the face value reading has the value of arousing emotion, feeling and passions. Those feelings can be beneficial if they promote our empathy and identification with the "all too human" characters who are presented in the Passion Story.
But the face value reading which stokes the fires of emotions can also be dangerous. Historically, the reading of Passion led to victimization of the Jews. The reading of the Passion has in various times and places of Christian history led to Christians mobs under the emotions of a face value reading of the Passion Gospel to go out and persecute the Jews. Angry people transfer their anger response to the story and have persecuted Jews who lived long after Jesus. And this indeed is the irony of evil; the Christ who loves and forgives from the cross is used as an excuse to promote persecution and violence.
Let us accept the immediate face value reading as evocative, but remember we still are responsible for how we react emotionally to the Passion Reading.
The second level of reading of the Passion involves giving some historical context for the writing of the Passion Gospel. This second level of reading can in fact actually falsify the face-value reading because the context of writing contradicts the meanings of the face-value reading.
Let me explain. The Passion Gospels were written after the writings of St. Paul; they were written after the destruction of Jerusalem. They were written after St. Paul encouraged the church to pray for the Roman authorities and regard them to be as God's agents. The Passion Gospels were written after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ. If these post resurrection appearances had not happened, the accounts of the death of Jesus never would have been written. The Passion Gospels were written when the Christian communities had become separated from the synagogue and when more Christians were Roman Gentile citizens than they were Jews. The Passion Gospels were written after the often painful and angry separation of Christianity from Judaism. This accounts for the fact that the Passion Gospels make it seem as though the Jews had more power to crucify Jesus than did the Roman governor in Palestine. This Passion accounts were written to ameliorate the Gentile and Roman Christians who had become members of the churches and so in the Passion Gospel there is subtle displacing of the blame, implicating the Jews more than the Roman authorities. This Passion Gospel was written after the Cross had become a glorious event of power for the churches of St. Paul. and others. St. Paul said that he was crucified with Christ. So the crucifixion was changed into a metaphor of spiritual transformation, far from the bloody and gory details of the actual event. The cross as a metaphor of spiritual transformation meant that the Passion Gospel was written as a necessary event of God's providence in bringing the experience of spiritual transformation to the lives of all people.
Now that we appreciate something of these first two ways of reading the Passion Gospel, where does that leave us today in how we can find correspondences in our own lives today? First we don't to be angry at the Jews like the Gospel writers were who had been excommunicated from the synagogues. We can accept the fact that Jewish mission in this world is different from the Christian mission, even while we can share many common religious and spiritual values with them. Next we approach the death of Jesus and all events of hurtful death and loss from the perspective of the resurrection. We live with faith to know that we are holding a trump card to play in the game of life when all of the cards which have been played seem to point to our loss and demise. Slam. We play the resurrection card and all of those bad cards lose their threat. I am not suggesting that we ever deny or minimize or avoid the poignant experiences of loss and death; I am suggesting that we can have the experience of faith which means that no matter what happens there will be something "after" the events of loss and death and that ultimately the afterlife of Christ will give a different perspective on everything which happened before the afterlife. You and I need this imagination of faith to help us to live today with a continuing sense of hope in the face of the the great losses in life, especially the great loss known as death.
We can embrace today the theology of the cross that St. Paul used when he said, "I am crucified with Christ, yet I live, yet not I, for Christ lives within me." We can look to the Cross of Christ for the real power to actually check our egos at the door so as to give us the ability to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as our selves.
Finally, we can project upon all of the characters in the Passion Gospel since it was also written as a Parable of the early church to illustrate the personality types in various phases of spiritual progression. We can be betrayers of Christ by our life styles, unwitting accusers just like St. Paul had been in his former life, mob shouters who can change with political crowds with great fickleness, we can be those who represent the banality of evil like Pilate and Herod who were just doing their Roman jobs in ridding Jerusalem of this Jesus who could draw a crowd. Or we could be those women who were faithful even when their hero and his heroic values seemed to be losing. We also can know that Christ is still on the cross when all who love justice get sacrificed by people, governments, and powerful people who get rid of people who pose a threat to those who exploit others for their own advantage.
There are plenty of insights and meanings for us to find in our readings of the Passion Gospel today. Let us be those who are committed to the path of spiritual transformation and who seek this inner power to overcome evil with good. And may we find the ability to apply the power of the death of Christ to everything in ourselves which would hinder our spiritual transformation.
May each of us be able to say today, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, but not I, for Christ lives within me." Amen.
As you know, I have the ability to take a straight forward reading of the Gospel and make it very complicated by looking into the actual time when the Gospels were written.
True to my habit I will do the same for us today and I would like to look at three different ways of reading the Passion Gospel. I would also like to show the various consequences of reading the Passion Gospels in different ways.
The three ways of reading are the following: First, an immediate face-value reading of the Passion. Second, the reading of Passion Gospel with information about when and why it was written. And finally, reading the Passion Gospel as a way of making specific connections with our lives today.
First, a face value reading of this Passion presentation involves treating it as if it had happened exactly in the way in which we have read it. Let us be aware that writing is a form of time lapsing long before time-lapsed photography. The Passion Gospel presents events which took place over a couple of days and we can read them in less than five minutes. The Passion Gospel is time lapsed. Literary art time lapses and it is magically an illusion because if the magic is successful it emotionally transports us to be there. It is the illusion of events "as if" they actually happened. But all writing of history or a story is a "time-lapsed" presentation of something that is done presented in written words. Events are reduced to words upon a page. And yet these artistic words can so engage our participation that we can imagine ourselves into an emotional presence with the events themselves. This "as if" magic evokes some emotional responses from us. And we make judgments, we feel empathy and we may even get angry. We may get angry at Pilate, or at Herod or at the Jews who are presented as those who plotted the arrest and conviction of Jesus. We get angry at Judas for his betrayal and we think, "let Judas be an everlasting symbol of betrayal." We are put off or mildly amused at the blow hard Peter who was so confident and yet denies Jesus out of fear of what identification with Jesus might cost him. We look at the irony of the women being those who are unafraid and who stay with Jesus during his Passion.
We see that the face value reading has the value of arousing emotion, feeling and passions. Those feelings can be beneficial if they promote our empathy and identification with the "all too human" characters who are presented in the Passion Story.
But the face value reading which stokes the fires of emotions can also be dangerous. Historically, the reading of Passion led to victimization of the Jews. The reading of the Passion has in various times and places of Christian history led to Christians mobs under the emotions of a face value reading of the Passion Gospel to go out and persecute the Jews. Angry people transfer their anger response to the story and have persecuted Jews who lived long after Jesus. And this indeed is the irony of evil; the Christ who loves and forgives from the cross is used as an excuse to promote persecution and violence.
Let us accept the immediate face value reading as evocative, but remember we still are responsible for how we react emotionally to the Passion Reading.
The second level of reading of the Passion involves giving some historical context for the writing of the Passion Gospel. This second level of reading can in fact actually falsify the face-value reading because the context of writing contradicts the meanings of the face-value reading.
Let me explain. The Passion Gospels were written after the writings of St. Paul; they were written after the destruction of Jerusalem. They were written after St. Paul encouraged the church to pray for the Roman authorities and regard them to be as God's agents. The Passion Gospels were written after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ. If these post resurrection appearances had not happened, the accounts of the death of Jesus never would have been written. The Passion Gospels were written when the Christian communities had become separated from the synagogue and when more Christians were Roman Gentile citizens than they were Jews. The Passion Gospels were written after the often painful and angry separation of Christianity from Judaism. This accounts for the fact that the Passion Gospels make it seem as though the Jews had more power to crucify Jesus than did the Roman governor in Palestine. This Passion accounts were written to ameliorate the Gentile and Roman Christians who had become members of the churches and so in the Passion Gospel there is subtle displacing of the blame, implicating the Jews more than the Roman authorities. This Passion Gospel was written after the Cross had become a glorious event of power for the churches of St. Paul. and others. St. Paul said that he was crucified with Christ. So the crucifixion was changed into a metaphor of spiritual transformation, far from the bloody and gory details of the actual event. The cross as a metaphor of spiritual transformation meant that the Passion Gospel was written as a necessary event of God's providence in bringing the experience of spiritual transformation to the lives of all people.
Now that we appreciate something of these first two ways of reading the Passion Gospel, where does that leave us today in how we can find correspondences in our own lives today? First we don't to be angry at the Jews like the Gospel writers were who had been excommunicated from the synagogues. We can accept the fact that Jewish mission in this world is different from the Christian mission, even while we can share many common religious and spiritual values with them. Next we approach the death of Jesus and all events of hurtful death and loss from the perspective of the resurrection. We live with faith to know that we are holding a trump card to play in the game of life when all of the cards which have been played seem to point to our loss and demise. Slam. We play the resurrection card and all of those bad cards lose their threat. I am not suggesting that we ever deny or minimize or avoid the poignant experiences of loss and death; I am suggesting that we can have the experience of faith which means that no matter what happens there will be something "after" the events of loss and death and that ultimately the afterlife of Christ will give a different perspective on everything which happened before the afterlife. You and I need this imagination of faith to help us to live today with a continuing sense of hope in the face of the the great losses in life, especially the great loss known as death.
We can embrace today the theology of the cross that St. Paul used when he said, "I am crucified with Christ, yet I live, yet not I, for Christ lives within me." We can look to the Cross of Christ for the real power to actually check our egos at the door so as to give us the ability to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as our selves.
Finally, we can project upon all of the characters in the Passion Gospel since it was also written as a Parable of the early church to illustrate the personality types in various phases of spiritual progression. We can be betrayers of Christ by our life styles, unwitting accusers just like St. Paul had been in his former life, mob shouters who can change with political crowds with great fickleness, we can be those who represent the banality of evil like Pilate and Herod who were just doing their Roman jobs in ridding Jerusalem of this Jesus who could draw a crowd. Or we could be those women who were faithful even when their hero and his heroic values seemed to be losing. We also can know that Christ is still on the cross when all who love justice get sacrificed by people, governments, and powerful people who get rid of people who pose a threat to those who exploit others for their own advantage.
There are plenty of insights and meanings for us to find in our readings of the Passion Gospel today. Let us be those who are committed to the path of spiritual transformation and who seek this inner power to overcome evil with good. And may we find the ability to apply the power of the death of Christ to everything in ourselves which would hinder our spiritual transformation.
May each of us be able to say today, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, but not I, for Christ lives within me." Amen.
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