The Cross: A Way of Transformation
Palm Sunday: 2022
By: Steve Zwettler
- Each year —when the rains come—and winter reluctantly gives way to Springtime—we hear the same Mysterious and Life-giving Story. We know it so well. We come face to face with the brutal and bloody death of Jesus by Roman Crucifixion. A moment in History which continues to challenge and amaze, inspire and intrigue all who take the time to look deeply.
- So……..What Does It Matter? What does it mean for us Believers & Seekers right here and now?
On a personal level……speaking just for my own spiritual beliefs…….the Death of Jesus means that our God suffers with Me…..with Us! It means that the Crucifixion is not just a one-time event 2,000 years ago on Calvary in Jerusalem……but it takes place daily wherever there is profound suffering—–in hospitals and HospiceCare facilities, in natural disasters, in the pain of chronic depression and mental illness, in the bloodshed in Ukraine, in the migration of millions of refugees roaming the world……in the starving women and children of Yemen…..in the total brokenness and Suffering of the world everywhere……the Crucifixion lives on each day in us……And the Cross says to me that our God is with us in this Suffering. Our God is not a distant God. Because of the Cross …..my own suffering and your own suffering……my own death and your own death…..has Meaning. The Cross is a source of Liberation and Re-connection to God…….The Cross invites my Personal Transformation into the ways of God. This gives me Hope and Light.
III. On a Social & Political Level……..Christianity is the only major religious tradition whose Founder was brutally executed by established political authority. The Roman Powers—–the Domination System of his time—–killed Jesus! The Crucifixion is the collision between the passion of Jesus (his passion for God and God’s Reign)……and the Domination system of his time—-the Roman Empire. Because of this….the Crucifixion of Jesus has political ramifications…….It indicts the way political Domination Systems…..built on Power and Wealth……Oppress the world. Jesus died because he spoke up for the Poor and Powerless. He cared about Equality and Justice because he cared about Suffering……And we know that historically, the single largest cause of unnecessary suffering in the world……continues to be…..unjust political systems.
The Death of Jesus then…..logically calls us to be a people who work for Justice & Compassion…….and challenge the destructive social systems which oppress the Poor.
But there is a catch……and I lean on Paul Knitter who made this point so beautifully a few years ago in one of his homilies…….that the key to the Crucifixion changing the world is found in what Jesuit Theologian…..Bernard Lonergan…….calls……the “Lex Crucis”…….the Law of the Cross. And by this he means ……that faced with violence and hatred…..Jesus refused to respond with more violence and hatred. Jesus responded with Non-Violent Love and Forgiveness. This mindset…..ready to die rather than hate……THIS IS WHAT CHANGES HEARTS AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CHANGE THE WORLD!
So….this gruesome Passion & Death of Jesus is a paradoxical gift for us. Thru his suffering and death…..Jesus gives us a way of Transforming the suffering of the world….into Hope and Light……and inspires us to work for a better world.
THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR US IN THE MIDST OF SUCH A HORRIBLE DEATH!
I close with a beautiful thought from the marvelous spiritual writer:
“Whatever theological premises you may or may not choose to believe about Jesus, the primary task of a Christian is not to believe theological premises, but to put on the mind of Christ.
May we as a community, put on the mind of Christ ever more deeply during this Holy Week.