Word of Life Church Podcast

The Gospel of Mark was the first of the four gospels to be written and its original ending was rather strange and quite abrupt. At a later date a longer and more satisfying ending was appended, but Mark’s original conclusion to his gospel narrative was simply this: “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” The End. But how can that be the end? It’s so sudden, so abrupt, so lacking in resolution or explanation. We’re left with three women fleeing from the empty tomb, trembling, astonished and speechless. It’s as if the film in the projector simply ran out and we find ourselves sitting in the theater puzzled by the unexpected ending. Why?

A Good Friday meditation on Jesus' trials, crucifixion, and burial -- a contemplative journey from Caiaphas' dungeon to Pilate's court, from Golgotha to the garden tomb.

The king approaches on Palm Sunday
Forsaking the glorious war horse
To ride a ridiculous peace donkey
Gentle as the wings of a dove
Inaugurating the reign of love

Conquerors come with hubris, blood, and violence
Riding stallions of famine, war, and pestilence
(They tell me Genghis Khan murdered all of ten million)

The Prince of Peace comes without breaking a bruised reed
Swords are now for plowing, spears are now for pruning
(I’ll tell you for a fact, Jesus of Nazareth killed nary a one)

If Hosanna praises rocket’s red glare: Weep over Jerusalem!
If Hosanna acclaims kingdom come: Let the rocks cry out!

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the source of much of animosity and fear in our world. Forming a Christian response requires much knowledge of the current complexities and history of that region. In the end, this highly political situation is about people, Israeli people and Palestinian people and as Christians we are not called to take Israel’s side, but to imitate Israel’s Messiah.

Since the foundation of the world (by which we mean the beginning of human civilization) there’s been something fundamentally and tragically wrong with the world. But we mostly accept it as normal because to us it’s just the way the world is. (Only the prophets offer a minority report.) The basic arrangement of the world is this: The strong dominate the weak. In the domination system, economic power, military power, and religious power are used to dominate the weak. This system guarantees privilege for a small elite and oppression for most. Those who control the treasuries, the armies, and the temples benefit from this system. In Judea in the time of Jesus those who controlled the treasuries, the armies, and the temple were King Herod (the King of Israel), Pontius Pilate (the Roman Governor), and Joseph Caiaphas (the High Priest). There is a reason why these three powerful men figure so prominently in the Passion story.

Beware of simplistic and formulaic explanations of the Cross. We cannot easily know the mystery of how the crucifixion of Jesus Christ saves the world. We readily confess it, but that does not mean we can glibly "explain" it. The Bible does not give us a simple, formulaic explanation of the Cross. What the Bible does do is give us a myriad of metaphors about the Cross. One of the most mysterious metaphors of the Cross is Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Jesus, in his late night conversation with Nicodemus, chooses to use this strange story to depict his crucifixion and the saving effect it will have on the those who look upon it in faith.

Friedrich Nietzsche said, "a long obedience in the same direction" is what makes "life worth living." And as was so often the case, Nietzsche was right (even if he was wrong on the most important questions). If it's true that it's a long obedience in the same direction that makes life worth living, there's no better example of this than the life of Jesus. Jesus' life can quite accuarately be described as a long obedience in the same direction. And what was the "same direction" of Jesus' "long obedience"? It was toward the will of the father. Jesus' long obedience in the same direction was not the pursuit of happiness or the drive for success—it was a revelation of the Father's will.

What Jesus did in the Temple the day after his arrival in Jerusalem during the Feast was not a “cleansing” of the Temple, but a prophetic protest of the Temple. It was creative and dangerous prophetic theater—not a sudden loss of temper. Jesus wasn’t cleansing the temple for it’s continued use, Jesus was protesting Temple corruption and predicting its destruction. This is why following his protest, Jesus spoke with disciples about the signs of the end—the end of the Temple the Temple age. In so doing Jesus was preparing the way for a radically new kind of Temple.