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The Sunday of the Passion confronts us with a different kind of challenge. The appointed text is two chapters of Mark's Gospel. Mark's "passion narrative" is filled with narrative connections to the earlier chapters of his Gospel. Time after time throughout this work we have moved from Markan texts to sections of Mark 14 and 15 which stand in narrative analogy to them. The woman in Mark 14:3-9 who breaks open an alabaster jar of ointment is elsewhere in these chapters spoken of in analogy to the "tearing open of the heavens" (1:10) and the "tearing open" of the temple curtain (15:38). The fact that this woman understands that Jesus has come to die has been seen analogously to the disciples, who never did understand this reality. We might also note the narrative analogy between this story and the story of the resurrection. The story of Jesus' passion is surrounded (bookended) by stories of women anointing Jesus' body (Mark 14:8 and 16:1).

There is no way that we can begin to do justice to the narrative analogy that occurs in these chapters. Such a task might be useful if one were to preach on these chapters for a Lenten series. For a single Sunday, however, there is just too much going on here.

How shall we preach on such a lengthy and vital text? We cannot! Not in a single Sunday sermon. Our recommendation is that we find a variety of ways of telling this story to our people. Tell the story using a variety of art forms if possible. Tell it. Don't explain it! Let the story stand and work its own power. Let the Holy Spirit work with this powerful story, applying it to a variety of needs in the human hearts present for the telling.


Begin an annual tradition of telling this story on the Sunday of the Passion. Expand it each year until it fills the whole Sunday service. You will probably need to sit down with musicians, Sunday School teachers, artists, dramatists and any other creative people in order to plan out a variety of ways of telling the heart of Mark's story.

There is a grand variety of ways in which this story can be told. It might begin with the "plot synopsis" of Part Two of Mark's Gospel (Mark 12:1-11) and proceed with Mark 14:1. Different storytelling approaches can be used for different parts of the story. One of the simplest ways of telling this story is to memorize parts of it for the telling. There is much power in biblical stories told in this way. What you should not do is read parts of the story. An exception here would be if you have a reader who can truly convey the drama of it all. That takes a person with some training in oral interpretation.

There are many ways of communicating these marvelous stories. Some of them have been set to music old and new. The masters have written wonderful Passion music that can be used in some places. There is good contemporary music as well. There are powerful pieces from Jesus Christ Superstar, for example. If you have a talented musician, some music could be written for the occasion. The hymnal has wonderful songs for some of the Passion events. In this way the congregation is a participant in the story telling.

You can use drama for some of the stories. Some would work well acted out by young people. Each Sunday School class could work on a portion of the whole. Children can also pantomime stories as they are told verbally. Adults, too, can take part in dramatic presentations. The trials of Peter and Jesus fit dramatic presentation very well (Mark 14:53-72). Use the Bible for your basic script. Both of these men are on trial. Jesus remains faithful when interrogated by a representative of the greatest power on earth. Peter is faithless when interrogated by a simple maid. These stories feed powerfully off each other.

These stories can also be put to choral readings. They can be rewritten in rap form. There are great films available on the days of the Passion. Use one or two film clips as a way to tell some of these stories. Use slides as a backdrop to some of the storytelling. Have an artist sketch scenes on a large sheet of paper. Use instrumental music as background music for many of the scenes. Artwork can be shown. Liturgical dance can be very effective. What is important is to appeal to as many of our five senses as possible. From watching television, our members are experienced at seeing and hearing several things at one time! Multi-media telling of stories, therefore, is also possible and perhaps even demanded by contemporary post-literate people.

As a backdrop to the work of telling these stories we shall hear a word from Werner Kelber about the tone of that which lies before us:

Mark's passion narrative is shrouded in darkness, gloom, and tragedy. More than in Matthew, Luke, and John, his is the story of an execution, of the victim's God-forsakenness, and of the demise of the victim's closest followers. There is an oppressive air hovering over the final days, and almost no relief from the horror of death. Divine intervention is not forthcoming during Jesus' hours of suffering ƒ There is ƒ no resurrection appearance to lighten up and overcome the anguish.1


Donald Juel sets the scene like this:

There will be no spectacle, no escape from death. With one final cry, Jesus breathes out his spirit. The would-be-King is dead, his movement in shambles. He committed his cause to God, and God abandoned him ƒ Mark chooses to stress the incongruity, the scandal ƒ The only means of providing insight into the "reality" of such a story is by means of irony. Mark constructs a world in which a chasm separates reality from appearance ƒ He attempts in narrative form a "theology of the cross" „ a glimpse of realty that takes as its point of departure the execution of the King of the Jews. If Jesus is the promised Messiah, this is how the world must be „ and this is the only way the story can be told!2


Kelber and Juel help us find our way into the mood of these stories. We need to be faithful to this mood in our story telling. May God bless you and all who work with you in recreating the heart of the "greatest story ever told."

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1. Werner H. Kelber, Mark's Story of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979), p. 71.

2. Donald H. Juel, Mark (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1990), pp. 224-225.