Tunnels
Commentary
Your authors love the Blue Ridge Parkway. It twists and turns down the uppermost level of the Appalachian mountains from Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains. The Parkway was literally carved out of the mountains and is dotted with tunnels. Tunnels, of course, are necessities for travel through mountainous terrain. They slit through gigantic mountains that are nearly impassable. To avoid a tunnel, you would have to travel a great distance to find a way around the mountain. A tunnel is a way through, a passage from one side of a mountain to the other, and it is provided to travelers for their access to the other side.
Holy Week is about a tunnel. The passion narrative is a way to Christ's glorious resurrection. There is no other route to the glory of that event, except through the dark tunnel of suffering and shame. There is no glory except through the cross. Each year, that brutal fact forces us to relive the passion of our Lord, beginning on this Sunday and continuing through Good Friday.
The Sunday which we used to call Palm Sunday is now most often celebrated as Passion Sunday, and for good reason. To jump from that glorious parade into Jerusalem to Easter Sunday does violence to the Gospels' passion stories. It is like finding a way over the mountain without passing through the tunnel. Many of you may choose simply to read or have read the whole of the passion story in Mark (14:1--15:47) and allow it to be the proclamation of the gospel for this Sunday. Some may supplement the reading of the passion story with a short homily. Others of you will choose to preach a full sermon and read the crucifixion story from Mark 15. Whichever you choose, we invite you to think about this Sunday as the entrance into a tunnel which is the only way to the other side of the mountain and to the glory of the resurrection.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Suffering and persecution comprised the tunnel through which the "suffering servant" of Second Isaiah had to pass. His faithfulness gave him no option. This passage is a portion of the third of the passages in which this anonymous prophet-servant speaks. (For the others see 42: 1-9; 49:1-6; and 52:13--53:12.) The servant's identity remains a mystery, and theories to solve the mystery are abundant. The absence of the servant's specific identity may allow us more readily to identify ourselves in his words and experiences. The context of this passage is a speech in which God asks why no one has responded to the divine offers of salvation (50:1-3). Following God's speech the servant speaks in verses 4-11. In the next chapter another prophetic voice offers Israel comfort and assurance (51:1-8).
This servant song stresses the servant's role as a teacher (vv. 4-5) and the persecution he will suffer (vv. 6-9a). Verse 9b presents the destiny of his opponents. In the last two verses the servant-prophet asks his listeners which of them will obey. Our reading cuts the song off after verse 9a: "It is the Lord God who helps me."
The servant has been given "the tongue of a teacher" in order to comfort the exiles in their misery and self-doubt. However, as a teacher, God wakens the servant's ear to listen to those he is teaching! The word for the weary is possible only after one has listened carefully to those weary souls. God alone enables him to listen as he must. Isn't it interesting that listening plays such a key role in the servant's teaching?
The prophet does not resist the Lord's actions in his life, but he must endure terrible persecution. "I gave my back ... and my cheeks" and "I did not hide my face" depict one who submits to persecution without resistance. He is struck; his beard is torn out; he is insulted and spat upon.
In verse 7 the poem suddenly takes up the prophet's source of strength in this persecution. All the blows and pains are not enough to "disgrace" him, because God is his helper. With this kind of help, he can withstand the persecution and not be shamed by it. However, God is more than a helper, more than a strength. The servant is confident that this treatment is not the final conclusion. God will have the last word, and it will vindicate the servant. The injustice he suffers will be redressed. With such confidence in God, there is nothing he need fear. No adversary is too powerful, no opponent too dangerous. Even though he suffers, there is no one who can find him guilty and deserving such punishment. All this because God is his helper (see Psalm 121).
The message in the servant's submission to persecution and his confident faith is that Israel must not lose faith in their Lord, even in the face of persecution. The servant is the model of one who can bear suffering because of the strength and confidence God gives him. The servant claims that his help is both present and future. God strengthens him in the midst of his suffering and will eventually vindicate him. Yet he must pass through the darkness of suffering because of his mission. His role as a teacher, as one who is called to bring a word of strength to the weary, requires that he pass through the tunnel of suffering. The suffering servant is a model on which we can understand Christ's suffering even as the first Christians did. Above all, he models a courage that does not allow suffering to bring disgrace and shame.
Philippians 2:5-11
The place of suffering in the Jesus story is at the heart of this early Christian hymn, which Paul incorporates in his letter to the Philippians. The Apostle does not include it strictly to help the readers think more clearly about Christ's identity and work. He evokes it as a model for the Christian life-style. Paul is trying to encourage the Philippians in their moral life when he suddenly inserts the Christ model: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus ..." The word translated "mind" means something more than intellectual comprehension. It refers to what we would call attitude or a way of thinking. The Christ story is a standard for our Christian life-style.
The hymn takes us through Christ's self-humbling in verses 6-8 and then through his exaltation in verses 9-11. We cannot know for sure whether verses 6-8 describe Christ's pre-existence and descent into the world as a human or whether they depict only Jesus' earthly life. We think the former is more likely. The first verses suggest that Christ was like God but did not grasp at becoming equal to God. Another way of reading the verse is suggested by the translation "something to be exploited." Christ would not use his equality with God for his own benefit. The Greek word has the sense of "seizing" or "grasping." Some see here a contrast with Adam, who sought to exploit his likeness to God. Whatever "form of God" means, it parallels and represents the very opposite of "form of a slave." Christ, however, "emptied himself" of all the benefits of his relationship with God (or "divested himself of his privileges"), all the power and authority that were his. He did so that he might become simply human and a slave. Even in human form, Christ put aside his own will to be totally obedient to God. His radical obedience led even to his death. His death on a cross was then the ultimate act of humble obedience.
The two parts (strophes) of the hymn are linked with one powerful word: "therefore." As a result of his self-emptying and total obedience, God first placed him in the highest of stations. The word that is translated "highly exalted" is literally "super-exalted." Second, God gives Christ a new name. Remember name indicates one's essence, so Christ's new station necessitates that he have a new name: "Lord." But this is an extraordinary name, for it elicits worship from the whole of the cosmos. Not just humans, but all the powers in the heavens recognize Jesus as their Lord. Worship includes confessing that Jesus is Lord so that God may forever be praised and honored. Ironically Christ would not seize lordship for himself (v. 6b), but it is bestowed upon him precisely because he did not seek it.
From humble submission to super-exaltation. That is the Jesus story; that is the story of the passion and resurrection. The highest title available, Lord, is given to one who did not pretend to lord it over anyone. Instead, he obeyed God to his last breath on the cross. Obedient suffering is the tunnel to lordship for Christ. This model (humble submission to exaltation) is the pattern Christians are to take for their lives. Exaltation is not accessible without the prerequisite humility and obedience. Christ's tunnel is ours as well.
Mark 14:1--15:47 or Mark 15:1-39
Mark tells the story of Jesus' final self-emptying obedience, which fleshes out the first part of the Philippian hymn. The Markan passion story became the model for the versions found in Matthew and Luke and may have even influenced John. We don't know if Mark inherited this narrative tracing Jesus' final days from arrest to burial. Many believe that was the case. Others, however, argued that the evangelist constructed it out of bits and pieces in the tradition. What we can determine is that Mark's passion story is harsh and brutal. This evangelist doubtless understood the story of Jesus' death as a means by which the Gospel's first readers could endure their own suffering.
The shorter reading picks the story up at the point of Jesus' religious trial, which follows on the heels of his condemnation by the Sanhedrin and Peter's denials (14:53-79). Even earlier, however, Mark has begun to lead readers deep into the tunnel of Jesus' suffering and death. We can discern the steps in his gradual and inevitable movement toward the cross.
First, let's recall the steadily increasing experience of rejection, which begins Jesus' route to death. It rears its ugly head first in Judas' plot to betray him, which Jesus announces in the intimacy of the last supper (14:17-25). Prediction of his betrayal combines with his sense that Peter will not remain faithful to him (14:26-31). Then the inner circle of disciples -- Peter, James and John -- seem entirely oblivious to his agony in the nearness of his death, and they sleep through his torturous prayers in Gethsemane (14:32-42). When the betrayer does his dastardly deed, Jesus is arrested (14:43-49), and all of his disciples "deserted him and fled" (14:50). The rejection continues when the Sanhedrin accuses him of blasphemy and its guards take him and beat him (14:53-65). While that is going on, one of the closest of his followers denies that he even knows Jesus (14:66-72).
Our shorter passage flows out of this wave of rejection and continues it. Jesus suffers a double rejection as a result of his trial before Pilate. Of course, the crowds reject him. The rejection of the religious leaders was perhaps to be expected. Now, however, the very people he came to serve cry out to have him crucified. They prefer the release of a murderous insurrectionist to Jesus' release. To make it all the worse, the Roman prefect doesn't have the courage to oppose the will of the crowd and orders Jesus crucified, even though he thinks the Galilean is innocent (15:1-13).
This torrent of rejection accelerates into mockery and humiliation at the hands of the Roman guards (15:15-24). At this stage, Jesus is not able even to carry his own cross, and Simon of Cyrene is forced into the task. Simon was apparently a Hellenistic Jew or a Gentile convert to Judaism who was in Jerusalem for Passover. The cross he carries was probably the cross beam, which eventually would be attached to permanent vertical poles planted in the ground.
The climax of this long and bitter tunnel is his execution as a common criminal (15:22-24). The word "Golgotha" appears twice in the Old Testament with its literal meaning "skull" (Judges 9:53 and 2 Kings 9:35). As a place name, it was probably outside of the city walls, but we can only speculate about the reason for its name. Hanging there on the cross, Jesus suffers the humiliation of having the guards gamble for his meager clothing. Then he is taunted by the crowd, the religious leaders, and his executioners (15:25-32).
Most tragic of all, in his final hour Jesus experiences abandonment and separation from his God (15:33-36). This "cry of dereliction" is deeply troubling for some. How can our Lord, the Son of God, feel that God has abandoned him? Some propose that Jesus, like any pious Jew of the time, is reciting a Psalm -- in this case 22:1. They propose that his intention was to recite, at least in his mind, the whole of the Psalm which ends in triumphant faith. Others, however, believe that at this moment Jesus is fully and completely identified with humanity, and as such, he experiences the absence and silence of God. Theologically this means that Jesus shared without exception human death fully and completely. Whatever its meaning, this passage is one of the rare sayings of Jesus preserved in the Aramaic and for that reason seems very authentic.
Finally, after suffering rejection, humiliation, mockery, taunting, and abandonment, Jesus dies and is buried (15:37 and 42-47). Nothing is spared in depicting the ugliness of his death. He gives a final cry, and his life-breath leaves him. The early church and the four evangelists make it impossible to diminish the reality of his death. There is nothing phoney or partial about it. Jesus really dies. However, his death is the conclusion of a long and painful journey.
Within this progressively tragic story, filled with cruelty and agony, however, Mark shows us indications of something more happening below the surface. Without subduing or compromising the tragedy of this story, the evangelist drops hints and in some cases clear affirmations that tragedy is not the final word in this story. Throughout the trial, the beatings, and the mockery, Jesus remains strangely poised and curiously quiet. The story implies that Jesus is submissive to the terrible development of events.
Nor will Mark allow Jesus to die without implying the significance of this death. Nature is convulsed as the final moments approach (15:33). When death finally comes, the curtain of the Temple is ripped in two (15:38). The meaning of this consequence of Jesus' death is not explained. The story leaves it to the reader to conclude why it is that this death affects the Temple in such a dire way. Does it mean the Temple and its practices are judged by Jesus' death? Or, is this feature of the story suggestive of the accessibility of God by virtue of Jesus' death. God is no longer hidden in the Holy of Holies in the Temple and accessible only to the priests. The way to God is now opened up.
Mark has another way of tinting this tragic story with hope. The story is filled with ironic touches. In this case, irony describes a statement or an act which on its surface means one thing but on another level hints at a quite different meaning. The charge against Jesus and Pilate's sign on the cross, "The King of the Jews," is the most obvious case of irony. Jesus' accusers and Pilate don't realize that this crucified one is actually king of both Jews and Gentiles. The people taunt him, "Save yourself." Ironically, Jesus is saving them by his death. In verse 32 the religious leaders say, "Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Indeed, Jesus will come down from the cross when he is risen and appears to others so that they "may see and believe" in him.
Most important, Mark's story of the crucifixion states that Jesus' real identity is revealed in the crucifixion. Having watched Jesus die, the centurion declares, "Truly, this man was God's Son" (15:39). For the first time in Mark, a human recognizes and confesses what the evangelist has told us on several occasions (for example, 1:1, 11 and 9:7) but which only the demons had seen before this (for example, 1:24). This agonizing and terrible death, this passage into the tunnel of suffering, reveals its secret to one who has witnessed it. This dying Galilean prophet is more than a man. He is God's special agent and Son. Yet the one who sees through his suffering to Jesus' true identity is a foreigner, a Gentile, and one of Jesus' executioners.
Finally, Mark tantalizes readers with several other indications that this is not the last scene of the story. Although the male disciples have fled and denied him, a number of women remain at the foot of the cross until the very end (15:40-41). Moreover, they witness the burial of the body, and we are told they now know where his tomb is (15:42-47). In the very next episode (16:1-8), we learn why it is important that these female disciples know where Jesus is buried.
Jesus passes through the tunnel of suffering and death in order to arrive on the other side. This terrible passageway travels through human death, sin and evil, in order to free everyone from their powers. This tunnel is the only way to the resurrection, but it is also the only way toward the liberation from those forces that oppress us. We don't understand how Jesus' passage through this tunnel saves us, and we never will. However, in faith we know that the tunnel of Jesus' suffering and death is a passageway to life for us.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage is the stated text for Passion or Palm Sunday in all three cycles of the three-year lectionary. The preacher may therefore want to refer back to the expositions of this passage in previous issues of Emphasis.
As is well known, the text forms the third of the four Servant Songs that are found in the prophecies of Second Isaiah. Some scholars have maintained that the songs are later additions to the material, but rhetorical analysis has revealed that the songs are an integral and indispensable part of Second Isaiah's message. The whole, made up of Isaiah 40-55, was delivered to the Israelite exiles in Babylonia, sometime between 550 and 538 B.C.
In the prophet's original understanding, the Servant of the Lord here was intended as the corporate figure of Israel, not as Israel presently was, but as the Servant whom the Lord called Israel to be -- indeed, Israel as the Lord would transform Israel to be. The Word of God through this prophet summoned the exiles to give their lives in faith for the sake of the salvation of the nations. Israel would suffer, but in the end be vindicated by the Lord. (See next Sunday's Old Testament lesson.)
At the same time, it cannot be denied that this text also reflects some of Second Isaiah's own prophetic experience. He tells us how he receives his message from the Lord. God opens his ears and teaches him his words. The prophet is like a pupil, listening to a beloved teacher morning by morning. And the words that Second Isaiah is given are comforting words for his fellow exiles, words that will sustain Israel in its weary time of captivity to Babylonia, when so many of them have lost all hope (vv. 4-5a).
Faithfully, the prophet passes on those comforting words to the exiles. But it costs him. It costs him ridicule, abuse, and suffering -- perhaps from the Babylonians, perhaps from unfaithful exiles themselves, who do not believe what Second Isaiah is saying (vv. 5b-6). Yet, the prophet remains a faithful messenger of his God, delivering the message given to him in the stubborn certainty that in the end, God's word will come to pass and his message will be shown to be true. Always he finds God near to him, strengthening and guiding him, and he knows that his adversaries will not prevail (vv. 7-9).
It is no accident, of course, that you and I can read this Servant Song only with our Lord Jesus Christ in mind, because God does in fact fulfill those words which he has spoken through his prophets. And so the portrayal of the Servant that we have in our text becomes the fulfilling portrait that we find of Christ in the New Testament. In the ongoing work of God, Christ takes upon himself the role of the perfect Suffering Servant and becomes everything of which Second Isaiah prophesied. Jesus is the one who listens to his Father and speaks only that which the Father gives him to speak (cf. John 14:10). He is the one who is subjected to scorn, to spitting and reviling, and finally to execution because of those words (Matthew 26:67; 27:30; Mark 15:19). Jesus is the Servant of the Lord who set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem and to death (Luke 9:51). And he is the Son who trusts his Father's will, even though a cross looms up before him (Matthew 26:39). Our Lord, as he subjects himself to the agony of his passion, believes as the Servant of Second Isaiah believes, that God will vindicate him, that his words will be shown to be true and that God's way, incarnate in him, will finally prevail.
Prevail it did, did it not? The suffering, the spitting and the scorn, the agonizing death at the hands of human evil -- those were not the last word, were they? Human sin, violence, betrayal, the grave did not and cannot defeat God's purpose. On Easter morn, we shall celebrate in this sanctuary the resurrection of our victorious Lord.
But first comes this Passion Week, good Christians. First come the careful listening to God's Word, the commitment to follow and to speak it, the consequent scorn and suffering brought on by such a commitment, and yet the clinging to the certain faith that God's ways and words will triumph.
During this week, can you and I also take on that role of the servants of the Lord? Oh, we are by no means the Servant, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are bidden by the scriptures to make him our model for our lives, aren't we? And it is the role of every Christian, no matter what our circumstances and ability, to strive to become like Christ in our everyday living. Therefore, will you, with me, every morning open your ears and eyes and hearts to listen to the Word of God? Will you read the scriptures and listen to God speaking to you through them? Will you be eager pupils of your Master, absorbing every word that he teaches you? And then will you live according to that word and speak of it to your family and neighbors and associates? Will you let them see Christ living in you?
But then, to be more like Christ, will you be willing to bear any scorn or perhaps suffering that may come upon you because you are a Christian? We Christians here in the United States don't often find ourselves faced with the necessity of dying for our faith, but there are a lot of our fellow believers in Third World countries who suffer that necessity. Yet, there is always suffering involved in following our Lord. Most of the media in this country don't think much of believers and they characterize us as did The Washington Post, as poor, ignorant, and easily led. Most university campuses in the U.S. will listen to any form of religion except that of the Christian faith. And any Christian who will not adopt the materialism, self-serving, and fight for status and power that are characteristic of our society is very likely to be called a wimp who definitely is not "with it." Our society wants nothing to do with suffering for our faith. It wants comfort, wealth, power, and sex, and if you don't seek those, you just don't "get it."
But if you trust your Lord Christ and want to be like him, will you also hold fast to his trust in his Father? Will you be absolutely certain, no matter what happens, in plenty and in want, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, in turmoil and in peace, in joy and in sorrow, that God's word and way will prevail, and that finally his will be the victory over all this world's wanton ways?
If you will -- if you will -- in trust and surrender to your Lord, then perhaps the Father will finally say to us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant ... enter into the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:21).
Holy Week is about a tunnel. The passion narrative is a way to Christ's glorious resurrection. There is no other route to the glory of that event, except through the dark tunnel of suffering and shame. There is no glory except through the cross. Each year, that brutal fact forces us to relive the passion of our Lord, beginning on this Sunday and continuing through Good Friday.
The Sunday which we used to call Palm Sunday is now most often celebrated as Passion Sunday, and for good reason. To jump from that glorious parade into Jerusalem to Easter Sunday does violence to the Gospels' passion stories. It is like finding a way over the mountain without passing through the tunnel. Many of you may choose simply to read or have read the whole of the passion story in Mark (14:1--15:47) and allow it to be the proclamation of the gospel for this Sunday. Some may supplement the reading of the passion story with a short homily. Others of you will choose to preach a full sermon and read the crucifixion story from Mark 15. Whichever you choose, we invite you to think about this Sunday as the entrance into a tunnel which is the only way to the other side of the mountain and to the glory of the resurrection.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Suffering and persecution comprised the tunnel through which the "suffering servant" of Second Isaiah had to pass. His faithfulness gave him no option. This passage is a portion of the third of the passages in which this anonymous prophet-servant speaks. (For the others see 42: 1-9; 49:1-6; and 52:13--53:12.) The servant's identity remains a mystery, and theories to solve the mystery are abundant. The absence of the servant's specific identity may allow us more readily to identify ourselves in his words and experiences. The context of this passage is a speech in which God asks why no one has responded to the divine offers of salvation (50:1-3). Following God's speech the servant speaks in verses 4-11. In the next chapter another prophetic voice offers Israel comfort and assurance (51:1-8).
This servant song stresses the servant's role as a teacher (vv. 4-5) and the persecution he will suffer (vv. 6-9a). Verse 9b presents the destiny of his opponents. In the last two verses the servant-prophet asks his listeners which of them will obey. Our reading cuts the song off after verse 9a: "It is the Lord God who helps me."
The servant has been given "the tongue of a teacher" in order to comfort the exiles in their misery and self-doubt. However, as a teacher, God wakens the servant's ear to listen to those he is teaching! The word for the weary is possible only after one has listened carefully to those weary souls. God alone enables him to listen as he must. Isn't it interesting that listening plays such a key role in the servant's teaching?
The prophet does not resist the Lord's actions in his life, but he must endure terrible persecution. "I gave my back ... and my cheeks" and "I did not hide my face" depict one who submits to persecution without resistance. He is struck; his beard is torn out; he is insulted and spat upon.
In verse 7 the poem suddenly takes up the prophet's source of strength in this persecution. All the blows and pains are not enough to "disgrace" him, because God is his helper. With this kind of help, he can withstand the persecution and not be shamed by it. However, God is more than a helper, more than a strength. The servant is confident that this treatment is not the final conclusion. God will have the last word, and it will vindicate the servant. The injustice he suffers will be redressed. With such confidence in God, there is nothing he need fear. No adversary is too powerful, no opponent too dangerous. Even though he suffers, there is no one who can find him guilty and deserving such punishment. All this because God is his helper (see Psalm 121).
The message in the servant's submission to persecution and his confident faith is that Israel must not lose faith in their Lord, even in the face of persecution. The servant is the model of one who can bear suffering because of the strength and confidence God gives him. The servant claims that his help is both present and future. God strengthens him in the midst of his suffering and will eventually vindicate him. Yet he must pass through the darkness of suffering because of his mission. His role as a teacher, as one who is called to bring a word of strength to the weary, requires that he pass through the tunnel of suffering. The suffering servant is a model on which we can understand Christ's suffering even as the first Christians did. Above all, he models a courage that does not allow suffering to bring disgrace and shame.
Philippians 2:5-11
The place of suffering in the Jesus story is at the heart of this early Christian hymn, which Paul incorporates in his letter to the Philippians. The Apostle does not include it strictly to help the readers think more clearly about Christ's identity and work. He evokes it as a model for the Christian life-style. Paul is trying to encourage the Philippians in their moral life when he suddenly inserts the Christ model: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus ..." The word translated "mind" means something more than intellectual comprehension. It refers to what we would call attitude or a way of thinking. The Christ story is a standard for our Christian life-style.
The hymn takes us through Christ's self-humbling in verses 6-8 and then through his exaltation in verses 9-11. We cannot know for sure whether verses 6-8 describe Christ's pre-existence and descent into the world as a human or whether they depict only Jesus' earthly life. We think the former is more likely. The first verses suggest that Christ was like God but did not grasp at becoming equal to God. Another way of reading the verse is suggested by the translation "something to be exploited." Christ would not use his equality with God for his own benefit. The Greek word has the sense of "seizing" or "grasping." Some see here a contrast with Adam, who sought to exploit his likeness to God. Whatever "form of God" means, it parallels and represents the very opposite of "form of a slave." Christ, however, "emptied himself" of all the benefits of his relationship with God (or "divested himself of his privileges"), all the power and authority that were his. He did so that he might become simply human and a slave. Even in human form, Christ put aside his own will to be totally obedient to God. His radical obedience led even to his death. His death on a cross was then the ultimate act of humble obedience.
The two parts (strophes) of the hymn are linked with one powerful word: "therefore." As a result of his self-emptying and total obedience, God first placed him in the highest of stations. The word that is translated "highly exalted" is literally "super-exalted." Second, God gives Christ a new name. Remember name indicates one's essence, so Christ's new station necessitates that he have a new name: "Lord." But this is an extraordinary name, for it elicits worship from the whole of the cosmos. Not just humans, but all the powers in the heavens recognize Jesus as their Lord. Worship includes confessing that Jesus is Lord so that God may forever be praised and honored. Ironically Christ would not seize lordship for himself (v. 6b), but it is bestowed upon him precisely because he did not seek it.
From humble submission to super-exaltation. That is the Jesus story; that is the story of the passion and resurrection. The highest title available, Lord, is given to one who did not pretend to lord it over anyone. Instead, he obeyed God to his last breath on the cross. Obedient suffering is the tunnel to lordship for Christ. This model (humble submission to exaltation) is the pattern Christians are to take for their lives. Exaltation is not accessible without the prerequisite humility and obedience. Christ's tunnel is ours as well.
Mark 14:1--15:47 or Mark 15:1-39
Mark tells the story of Jesus' final self-emptying obedience, which fleshes out the first part of the Philippian hymn. The Markan passion story became the model for the versions found in Matthew and Luke and may have even influenced John. We don't know if Mark inherited this narrative tracing Jesus' final days from arrest to burial. Many believe that was the case. Others, however, argued that the evangelist constructed it out of bits and pieces in the tradition. What we can determine is that Mark's passion story is harsh and brutal. This evangelist doubtless understood the story of Jesus' death as a means by which the Gospel's first readers could endure their own suffering.
The shorter reading picks the story up at the point of Jesus' religious trial, which follows on the heels of his condemnation by the Sanhedrin and Peter's denials (14:53-79). Even earlier, however, Mark has begun to lead readers deep into the tunnel of Jesus' suffering and death. We can discern the steps in his gradual and inevitable movement toward the cross.
First, let's recall the steadily increasing experience of rejection, which begins Jesus' route to death. It rears its ugly head first in Judas' plot to betray him, which Jesus announces in the intimacy of the last supper (14:17-25). Prediction of his betrayal combines with his sense that Peter will not remain faithful to him (14:26-31). Then the inner circle of disciples -- Peter, James and John -- seem entirely oblivious to his agony in the nearness of his death, and they sleep through his torturous prayers in Gethsemane (14:32-42). When the betrayer does his dastardly deed, Jesus is arrested (14:43-49), and all of his disciples "deserted him and fled" (14:50). The rejection continues when the Sanhedrin accuses him of blasphemy and its guards take him and beat him (14:53-65). While that is going on, one of the closest of his followers denies that he even knows Jesus (14:66-72).
Our shorter passage flows out of this wave of rejection and continues it. Jesus suffers a double rejection as a result of his trial before Pilate. Of course, the crowds reject him. The rejection of the religious leaders was perhaps to be expected. Now, however, the very people he came to serve cry out to have him crucified. They prefer the release of a murderous insurrectionist to Jesus' release. To make it all the worse, the Roman prefect doesn't have the courage to oppose the will of the crowd and orders Jesus crucified, even though he thinks the Galilean is innocent (15:1-13).
This torrent of rejection accelerates into mockery and humiliation at the hands of the Roman guards (15:15-24). At this stage, Jesus is not able even to carry his own cross, and Simon of Cyrene is forced into the task. Simon was apparently a Hellenistic Jew or a Gentile convert to Judaism who was in Jerusalem for Passover. The cross he carries was probably the cross beam, which eventually would be attached to permanent vertical poles planted in the ground.
The climax of this long and bitter tunnel is his execution as a common criminal (15:22-24). The word "Golgotha" appears twice in the Old Testament with its literal meaning "skull" (Judges 9:53 and 2 Kings 9:35). As a place name, it was probably outside of the city walls, but we can only speculate about the reason for its name. Hanging there on the cross, Jesus suffers the humiliation of having the guards gamble for his meager clothing. Then he is taunted by the crowd, the religious leaders, and his executioners (15:25-32).
Most tragic of all, in his final hour Jesus experiences abandonment and separation from his God (15:33-36). This "cry of dereliction" is deeply troubling for some. How can our Lord, the Son of God, feel that God has abandoned him? Some propose that Jesus, like any pious Jew of the time, is reciting a Psalm -- in this case 22:1. They propose that his intention was to recite, at least in his mind, the whole of the Psalm which ends in triumphant faith. Others, however, believe that at this moment Jesus is fully and completely identified with humanity, and as such, he experiences the absence and silence of God. Theologically this means that Jesus shared without exception human death fully and completely. Whatever its meaning, this passage is one of the rare sayings of Jesus preserved in the Aramaic and for that reason seems very authentic.
Finally, after suffering rejection, humiliation, mockery, taunting, and abandonment, Jesus dies and is buried (15:37 and 42-47). Nothing is spared in depicting the ugliness of his death. He gives a final cry, and his life-breath leaves him. The early church and the four evangelists make it impossible to diminish the reality of his death. There is nothing phoney or partial about it. Jesus really dies. However, his death is the conclusion of a long and painful journey.
Within this progressively tragic story, filled with cruelty and agony, however, Mark shows us indications of something more happening below the surface. Without subduing or compromising the tragedy of this story, the evangelist drops hints and in some cases clear affirmations that tragedy is not the final word in this story. Throughout the trial, the beatings, and the mockery, Jesus remains strangely poised and curiously quiet. The story implies that Jesus is submissive to the terrible development of events.
Nor will Mark allow Jesus to die without implying the significance of this death. Nature is convulsed as the final moments approach (15:33). When death finally comes, the curtain of the Temple is ripped in two (15:38). The meaning of this consequence of Jesus' death is not explained. The story leaves it to the reader to conclude why it is that this death affects the Temple in such a dire way. Does it mean the Temple and its practices are judged by Jesus' death? Or, is this feature of the story suggestive of the accessibility of God by virtue of Jesus' death. God is no longer hidden in the Holy of Holies in the Temple and accessible only to the priests. The way to God is now opened up.
Mark has another way of tinting this tragic story with hope. The story is filled with ironic touches. In this case, irony describes a statement or an act which on its surface means one thing but on another level hints at a quite different meaning. The charge against Jesus and Pilate's sign on the cross, "The King of the Jews," is the most obvious case of irony. Jesus' accusers and Pilate don't realize that this crucified one is actually king of both Jews and Gentiles. The people taunt him, "Save yourself." Ironically, Jesus is saving them by his death. In verse 32 the religious leaders say, "Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Indeed, Jesus will come down from the cross when he is risen and appears to others so that they "may see and believe" in him.
Most important, Mark's story of the crucifixion states that Jesus' real identity is revealed in the crucifixion. Having watched Jesus die, the centurion declares, "Truly, this man was God's Son" (15:39). For the first time in Mark, a human recognizes and confesses what the evangelist has told us on several occasions (for example, 1:1, 11 and 9:7) but which only the demons had seen before this (for example, 1:24). This agonizing and terrible death, this passage into the tunnel of suffering, reveals its secret to one who has witnessed it. This dying Galilean prophet is more than a man. He is God's special agent and Son. Yet the one who sees through his suffering to Jesus' true identity is a foreigner, a Gentile, and one of Jesus' executioners.
Finally, Mark tantalizes readers with several other indications that this is not the last scene of the story. Although the male disciples have fled and denied him, a number of women remain at the foot of the cross until the very end (15:40-41). Moreover, they witness the burial of the body, and we are told they now know where his tomb is (15:42-47). In the very next episode (16:1-8), we learn why it is important that these female disciples know where Jesus is buried.
Jesus passes through the tunnel of suffering and death in order to arrive on the other side. This terrible passageway travels through human death, sin and evil, in order to free everyone from their powers. This tunnel is the only way to the resurrection, but it is also the only way toward the liberation from those forces that oppress us. We don't understand how Jesus' passage through this tunnel saves us, and we never will. However, in faith we know that the tunnel of Jesus' suffering and death is a passageway to life for us.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage is the stated text for Passion or Palm Sunday in all three cycles of the three-year lectionary. The preacher may therefore want to refer back to the expositions of this passage in previous issues of Emphasis.
As is well known, the text forms the third of the four Servant Songs that are found in the prophecies of Second Isaiah. Some scholars have maintained that the songs are later additions to the material, but rhetorical analysis has revealed that the songs are an integral and indispensable part of Second Isaiah's message. The whole, made up of Isaiah 40-55, was delivered to the Israelite exiles in Babylonia, sometime between 550 and 538 B.C.
In the prophet's original understanding, the Servant of the Lord here was intended as the corporate figure of Israel, not as Israel presently was, but as the Servant whom the Lord called Israel to be -- indeed, Israel as the Lord would transform Israel to be. The Word of God through this prophet summoned the exiles to give their lives in faith for the sake of the salvation of the nations. Israel would suffer, but in the end be vindicated by the Lord. (See next Sunday's Old Testament lesson.)
At the same time, it cannot be denied that this text also reflects some of Second Isaiah's own prophetic experience. He tells us how he receives his message from the Lord. God opens his ears and teaches him his words. The prophet is like a pupil, listening to a beloved teacher morning by morning. And the words that Second Isaiah is given are comforting words for his fellow exiles, words that will sustain Israel in its weary time of captivity to Babylonia, when so many of them have lost all hope (vv. 4-5a).
Faithfully, the prophet passes on those comforting words to the exiles. But it costs him. It costs him ridicule, abuse, and suffering -- perhaps from the Babylonians, perhaps from unfaithful exiles themselves, who do not believe what Second Isaiah is saying (vv. 5b-6). Yet, the prophet remains a faithful messenger of his God, delivering the message given to him in the stubborn certainty that in the end, God's word will come to pass and his message will be shown to be true. Always he finds God near to him, strengthening and guiding him, and he knows that his adversaries will not prevail (vv. 7-9).
It is no accident, of course, that you and I can read this Servant Song only with our Lord Jesus Christ in mind, because God does in fact fulfill those words which he has spoken through his prophets. And so the portrayal of the Servant that we have in our text becomes the fulfilling portrait that we find of Christ in the New Testament. In the ongoing work of God, Christ takes upon himself the role of the perfect Suffering Servant and becomes everything of which Second Isaiah prophesied. Jesus is the one who listens to his Father and speaks only that which the Father gives him to speak (cf. John 14:10). He is the one who is subjected to scorn, to spitting and reviling, and finally to execution because of those words (Matthew 26:67; 27:30; Mark 15:19). Jesus is the Servant of the Lord who set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem and to death (Luke 9:51). And he is the Son who trusts his Father's will, even though a cross looms up before him (Matthew 26:39). Our Lord, as he subjects himself to the agony of his passion, believes as the Servant of Second Isaiah believes, that God will vindicate him, that his words will be shown to be true and that God's way, incarnate in him, will finally prevail.
Prevail it did, did it not? The suffering, the spitting and the scorn, the agonizing death at the hands of human evil -- those were not the last word, were they? Human sin, violence, betrayal, the grave did not and cannot defeat God's purpose. On Easter morn, we shall celebrate in this sanctuary the resurrection of our victorious Lord.
But first comes this Passion Week, good Christians. First come the careful listening to God's Word, the commitment to follow and to speak it, the consequent scorn and suffering brought on by such a commitment, and yet the clinging to the certain faith that God's ways and words will triumph.
During this week, can you and I also take on that role of the servants of the Lord? Oh, we are by no means the Servant, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are bidden by the scriptures to make him our model for our lives, aren't we? And it is the role of every Christian, no matter what our circumstances and ability, to strive to become like Christ in our everyday living. Therefore, will you, with me, every morning open your ears and eyes and hearts to listen to the Word of God? Will you read the scriptures and listen to God speaking to you through them? Will you be eager pupils of your Master, absorbing every word that he teaches you? And then will you live according to that word and speak of it to your family and neighbors and associates? Will you let them see Christ living in you?
But then, to be more like Christ, will you be willing to bear any scorn or perhaps suffering that may come upon you because you are a Christian? We Christians here in the United States don't often find ourselves faced with the necessity of dying for our faith, but there are a lot of our fellow believers in Third World countries who suffer that necessity. Yet, there is always suffering involved in following our Lord. Most of the media in this country don't think much of believers and they characterize us as did The Washington Post, as poor, ignorant, and easily led. Most university campuses in the U.S. will listen to any form of religion except that of the Christian faith. And any Christian who will not adopt the materialism, self-serving, and fight for status and power that are characteristic of our society is very likely to be called a wimp who definitely is not "with it." Our society wants nothing to do with suffering for our faith. It wants comfort, wealth, power, and sex, and if you don't seek those, you just don't "get it."
But if you trust your Lord Christ and want to be like him, will you also hold fast to his trust in his Father? Will you be absolutely certain, no matter what happens, in plenty and in want, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, in turmoil and in peace, in joy and in sorrow, that God's word and way will prevail, and that finally his will be the victory over all this world's wanton ways?
If you will -- if you will -- in trust and surrender to your Lord, then perhaps the Father will finally say to us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant ... enter into the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:21).
