Dear Preachers:
Today the gospel is announced as, “The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.” After hearing the title one would expect an opening scene in the garden of Gethsemane or in Pilate’s courtroom where Jesus receives his sentence, is then tortured and taken off to Calvary for his execution. But that’s not what we hear first.
Instead there is a long narrative about Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper. Judging from incidents around that table I imagine Jesus’ passion has already begun: a passion of discouragement, frustration and failure. After being with him for three years the disciples still don’t understand what he has been teaching them about service and sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom of God.
At the table with his closest disciples Jesus tells them, “The one who is to betray me is with me on the table.” As he sees his end coming Jesus has to address what is happening around the table among his inner circle. A debate breaks out about who would betray him. The conflict among the disciples deteriorates further as they argue which of them “should be regarded as the greatest.” Jesus has to repeat one more time the lesson he has taught them throughout his ministry about being a servant to the others. He then predicts Peter’s denial and when he warns them to be prepared for the worse, they take them literally, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.” In frustration Jesus responds, “It is enough.”
Jesus leaves and goes to the Mount of Olives with his disciples trailing after him. Can you feel his discouragement over the ones who just shared the Passover meal, those to whom he is entrusting his mission? Pain and suffering are not only physical. Surely Jesus is already suffering mental anguish over what he sees about to happen. Added to that is the letdown he must be experiencing because of his inadequate, petty and distracted disciples who still do not understand him or his message.
When they arrive at the garden Jesus’ emotional state is fragile as he prays to his Father, “Take this cup away from me.” Luke, the physician, notes his dire emotional state, “He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like the drops of blood falling on the ground.” Michael F. Patella ( “New Collegeville Bible commentary: The Gospel According to Luke”: Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2005, p. 143) notes a rare medical condition called “hematidrosis,”
which is a bloody sweat that occurs in people under extreme duress.
The disciples are of no comfort and when he returns to them they are asleep.
I wonder if Jesus drew some comfort from the promise God made to the suffering servant through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading, “The Lord God is my life, therefore I am not disgraced.” Jesus is briefly comforted by divine assistance. But he realizes he will have to suffer completely and alone. His disciples were of no comfort to him. His only strength and encouragement lay in his relationship to his loving Father. God will not turn away from Jesus in is hour of need. Jesus is arrested and brought before the high priest. Those closest to Jesus prove undependable, shown dramatically when Peter denies knowing him. As we said, the Passion begins early and the pain inflicted is caused by those closest to the Lord.
As children we were taught in our catechism class about how much pain Jesus endured for us: the crown of thorns, scourging, carrying his cross, the beatings on the way to Golgotha, the nails to his hands and feet, hanging for hours on the cross and then being pierced in the side. I remember a book I read when I was in college, “A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ As Described by a Surgeon.” Pierre Barbet, M.D., the author, was a forensic pathologist and described in great detail the excruciating pain Jesus’ body would have endured.
But it is clear from Luke’s Gospel account that, besides the physical pain, Jesus would have also endured another intense form of pain — emotional and psychological. That pain starts early in the account, even before Golgotha, as Jesus experiences defeat, discouragement, abandonment, disappointment and frustration. Will those suffering from similar interior distress who hear the Passion narrative today find compassion and healing? The one who prayed, “Father, if you are willing, to take this cross away from me…,” will strengthen the faith of those who word the same prayer out of the abyss of their inner turmoil.
How was true power displayed in the Passion account? It isn’t shown in the might of Rome and its dominance over a subservient, victimized people. Nor in the religious authorities, who wield a spiritual power but betray their responsibilities and fail to see the hand of God at work in Jesus’ words and actions. True power is in Christ who, as Paul tells us today, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”
For our sake Jesus was willing to endure the many kinds and levels of pain suggested in today’s gospel. He suffered and died because he was obedient to God throughout his life. In his gospel Luke has portrayed Jesus’ confrontation with the forces of evil. At this moment in the story it seems that those powers have defeated him. Today’s narrative ends at the tomb; the place where our personal human narrative also ends. At this point in the story we pause to reflect. Two groups of people follow Jesus on the way to the cross, the crowd and some disciples. The crowd sees Jesus die — the end.
We disciples are also witnesses to the event. But the Resurrection is not yet. It doesn’t quickly rush to “solve” the pain we experience for our lives dead ends. We need to stay with the loss and bewilderment of the disciples at this point in the story, because at times we are also left with unanswered questions when we ask, “Why? If this is of God then why the suffering and tragic ending?”
Holy Week begins with a procession. We follow Jesus into Jerusalem. With him we accept the costs of proclaiming God’s reign in word and action. During his passion we have witnessed Jesus staying faithful to his mission: he healed the ear of the high priest’s servant; did not cower before the worldly power of Pilate; acknowledged the pain of the women who wept for him; forgave those who condemned and executed him and welcomed the criminal hanging next to him into Paradise.
All this when he seemed powerless in the eyes of his detractors. The week that began with a procession into Jerusalem finds us walking away in a procession of sorts from the cross. With those who were there we too beat our breasts asking for mercy, resolving to practice what we have learned from Jesus about: compassion, truth, fidelity to our vocation, forgiveness and trust in our God. This week we wait and hope for Jesus’ words to be fulfilled when he is raised from the dead and then gives us his Spirit so we can put flesh on all he has taught us.