In John, chapter 12, when some Greeks came to see Jesus,
he answered them,
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
The hour of glory has come, the hour of GLORY,
when Jesus is lifted up upon the cross
and draws all to himself
all of humanity, all living beings, all life,
all suffering, all sin, all death.
And this is glory in the true sense of the word,
glory – not splendor,
but in the pure translation of the word
that which has weight of meaning,
that which is highly valued: glory.
But at that time 2,000 years ago
the glory was misunderstood, just as it is today,
in the desperate hope for another King David,
in clinging memories of the glory of King Solomon,
and the cross,
the ignominious death by execution as a criminal undeserving of life,
the cross (!) as a means of glory was incomprehensible.
Now admittedly even knowing what we know about Easter Sunday morning
and all the theology of resurrection, salvation and redemption,
2,000 years later it is still hard to sit here today
with the cross, with crucifixion, with death.
But this too is part of our devotion and response in gratitude
for God’s gracious love expressed so incredibly for us.
So let us be here with the Passion Narrative that we just took part in
as though we are one of the participants
and not just as the crowd who must say all those hard lines
of ignorance, delusion, and rejection.
In reading the Passion Narrative in each of the four Gospels
we see many participants in the scene and in the action,
many involved on the edges
the whole spectrum of the human condition,
so that ech of us can recognize ourselves there.
The general atmosphere in light of the events since Palm Sunday
had been an escalation of tension and confrontation
with the religious hierarchy
gathering energy around the big celebration of Passover.
One little incident could push the whole thing over into riot, uprising,
bringing on a strong Roman action of suppression.
Those in the highest leadership for the Jewish people
- the Sanhedran and clergy at the Temple -
probably were suffering sleepless nights.
Those with Jesus that Thursday evening in the upper room,
said to be near King David’s Tomb,
those closest to Jesus, the twelve,
each one of them had their own individual concerns and agendas for Jesus.
And those in the city of Jerusalem not directly involved
or ignorant or unconscious about what was happening that Friday
and about just who it is
who is passing by in the streets of Jerusalem
on the way to Golgatha.
Come, stand in those streets with me.
I’ve been there before – several times –
in the very same places where Jesus carried his cross.
Whenever I have been in the Holy Land
- a most unholy place with all its violence -
I usually find myself gravitating to the old city.
This is the part of Jerusalem that was the original city,
a city whose history goes back at least 4,000 years,
3,000 years since King David,
a city that has been destroyed and rebuilt 40 times in its history,
a city that has gone by various names
like Aelolia Capitolina after 70 AD by the Romans
and Al Quds as it is known in Arabic.
The Old City is that which is enclosed by the 16th Century wall
built by Suleman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire.
It includes all of what would have been Jerusalem during the time of Christ
plus the area to the west and north
so that now the wall encloses what was once Golgotha and the tomb.
Throughout the Old City bits and pieces of architecture and roadway
poke out from this century or that
all the way back to the time of Christ.
One can see the actual paving stones,
parts of the Antonio Fortress where Pontius Pilate held Jesus
and presented him to the people and said,
“Behold the Man.”
The way from the Antonio Fortress through the city streets
and out the gate to the place of execution, the hill called Golgotha,
can be traced with a fair amount of accuracy,
although now all the route is within the city wall.
Just as 2,000 years ago the Via Dolorosa, the sorrowful way,
went through the busy marketplace,
so it does now today,
through the busy marketplace,
so that all the citizenry of Jerusalem can see and take note
of what happens to those criminals condemned to die,
a harsh object lesson for the people,
but also for the condemned another humiliation
added to what had already been suffered.
It is not easy to walk the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem.
It is more like running a gauntlet of pick pockets and street hawkers,
where every several paces you can duck into a shrine
at one of the stations
for a moment of prayer
before emerging again into the barrage of the market place.
To right and left are endless shops with all sorts of things to buy,
from souvenirs to underwear, spice shops and butcher shops
with entire carcasses of goats and sheep hanging
skinned except for a tuft of fur at the end of the tail,
shops that sell Palestinian embroidery or pottery
or Israeli tee shirts,
candy stores, internet cafes,
and all with men sitting there watching those who pass by,
trying desperately to engage you in conversation
in order to get you to come into their shop.
Over the years I’ve noticed
that it’s not as crowded along the Via Dolorosa as it used to be.
So everyone has a “good price” they say to you.
Come in a haggle over a cup of mint tea.
Buy more than one of an item and reduce the price.
Start your bartering at a price less than half what is quoted you,
and agree on a price somewhere in between.
Expect to spend much time over each purchase.
Doesn’t sound very spiritual, does it?
But this is the reality of the city – then and now.
The Lamb of God struggles by with his execution stake,
and the world is interested in securing an income, avoiding layoffs,
and making a good bargain.
Once when I was leading a group of pilgrims along the Via Dolorosa,
the indifference of the world to the significance of Christ’s crucifixion
was painfully clear.
Carrying a large cross through the street
helped give coherence to the group,
identified us as pilgrims engaged in a religious ritual.
But that was no protection.
There were hawkers pushing postcards in our faces.
There was a professional photographer flashing shots of us
so that he could come and sell us the photos later.
One of his pictures caught four of our pilgrims
following the cross, but all of them looking sideways
into a shop that seemed particularly enticing.
Oh, how this describes us all,
even the faithful and dedicated church goer.
This is what Jesus has to deal with
from us, from his own disciples, as well as everyone else
as he undertook his ultimate work
so huge it would go beyond
what any spiritual master had done before or since.
So huge – this intention not just to heal individuals here and there,
not just to liberate oppressed souls from their inner demons,
not just restore life here and there for the sake of grieving families,
not just feed a few thousand with bread from a boy’s lunch,
not just to say words that would astound listeners.
No – this ultimate work of healing, liberating, feeding,
giving life and salvation
was to take all the suffering, all the human condition of sin,
which is wrapped up in the despair that comes from
believing and living the lie
of separation from the Source of our being.
-- This ultimate work of salvation by taking upon himself all suffering and sin and death for all time --
Other great spiritual masters have demonstrated
the ability to absorb others’ pain, illness and suffering.
But Jesus was taking this incredible spiritual action
to the cosmic, universal level
in one full, sufficient and perfect sacrifice.
And no one recognized this.
In the limitations of their own personal agendas
for those around Jesus,
no one saw this coming in quite this huge scope of action and outcome.
Nor do we.
In the limitations of our own personal life perspective
focused on our immediate issues
we miss the hugeness – it is beyond anything we know how to ask.
Well, this is part two of the Triduum,
a liturgy begun last night and continuing through the Easter Vigil.
What we commemorated yesterday in the Maundy Thursday Eucharist
is intertwined with what we commemorate today
and what will come after sundown tomorrow.
That last night at table Jesus did something
that would connect us all to the cross,
that would forever link us spiritually and physically to the cross,
that would demonstrate a means of oneness in his huge heart.
He did this by taking some bread off the table,
holding it up, tearing it into pieces,
and giving a part of that bread to everyone there.
“Eat this,” he told them,
and then he said, “This is my body.
“Every time you gather and eat, you are eating me.”
one with bread and one with all life,
all that is created in him, the Word, present at Creation, through whom came life.
And then he took a cup of wine from the table
and had them all drink from that,
and then he said, “This is my blood.” MY BLOOD
words that would have chilled those present to the bone,
because of the great prohibition on blood.
All kosher meat is drained thoroughly of the blood
because the life of that animal is in the blood.
Slice it’s neck open and let the blood out and the animal dies.
Only God gives life, the blood is reserved for God alone.
For the animals sacrificed at the Temple,
the blood was collected in bowls and thrown on the altar.
The altar of God dripped with blood that belonged to him.
And the Lamb of God said, “Drink this, all of you.
“This is my blood, shed for you”
like an animal sacrificed at the altar
the life blood – here not splashed on the altar for God’s eyes only
but poured out into an infinite number of chalices.
Drink this in recognition that you gathered here,
you who have drunk this week after week, year after year,
now have flowing in your veins MY very blood.
Jesus says to us today, let me do the big, important work
of taking on your sin and suffering, your death.
You, simply drink my life blood,
and let that work intimately within you.
This is the glory of the cross,
the precious weight that hangs upon it,
precious beyond all counting,
the grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying
producing the fruit of salvation and resurrection
and new life for us all.
Glory.
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