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Texts of the Readings
April 9,
2006
Passion Sunday (B)
Terrance Callan
Is 50:4-7
X
Phil
2:6-11 X
Mark 14:1-15:47
As we begin Holy Week, we focus our attention more and more on
the passion and death of Jesus.
The reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah can be seen as a
prediction of Jesus suffering and death. In this reading the servant of
God describes the suffering he endured because he spoke to the weary a word
that will rouse them. The servant says, I gave my back to those who beat
me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from
buffets and spitting.
The reading from St. Pauls letter to the Philippians outlines
the career of Christ, including his suffering and death. He emptied himself
to become a man and then humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. Because of this God has now highly exalted
him and made him the recipient of universal worship.
The reading from the gospel according to Mark is Marks passion
narrative, his detailed description of the last days of Jesus life. Each
of the four gospels includes a passion narrative. While they all tell the
same story, each has unique elements that reveal the evangelists own
perspective on the death of Jesus.
Mark
emphasizes the paradox that Jesus was the Messiah precisely in his suffering
and death, i.e., at the moment he least appeared to be the Messiah. Mark
shows in several ways how little Jesus appeared to be the Messiah when he
died. First, Mark presents Jesus death as the result of his rejection by
the chief priests and scribes. They did not believe he was the promised
Messiah and wanted to arrest and kill him, probably so that he would not
cause problems with the Romans (see John 11:47-53). Second, Mark says that
at the time of his death Jesus was forsaken by his followers. Judas
betrayed him. When Jesus was arrested, he was abandoned by the rest of his
disciples; one of them was so eager to escape that he left his clothes in
the hands of those who seized him, and ran off naked. Peter denied Jesus
three times. At Jesus crucifixion only a few women followers were present,
looking on from a distance. And third, Mark suggests that Jesus felt
abandoned even by God. Jesus cried out from the cross, My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?
At the same time Mark tells us that contrary to appearances,
Jesus was the Messiah as he suffered and died. At his trial Jesus was
asked, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus answered, I
am. And the Roman centurion, who had watched Jesus die, said, Truly this
man was the Son of God!
As Jesus hung on the cross, the chief priests and scribes
jeered, He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King
of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. We
can understand their point of view; Jesus did not seem to be the Messiah as
he hung before them, abandoned and about to die. But as we read about the
rejection of Jesus by his enemies and abandonment by his friends, we realize
that we do not share their attitudes; despite appearances we believe that
Jesus is the Messiah. Like the Roman centurion, we look at Jesus crucified
and see the Messiah. As we ponder our own mysterious belief that Jesus is
the Messiah, we realize that God has somehow revealed it to us.
Let us give thanks for the mysterious gift of our own faith and
strive to grow in it.
©Terrance
Callan
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