As Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, in Luke’s Gospel, he knows he is about to fulfill God’s mission for him, though not as the people anticipate it. When the people proclaim, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, they believe that a political upheaval is about to take place. What is taking place is indeed inevitable, but its nature is beyond their control, and beyond the control of the Jewish authorities. Even if the Pharisees succeed in silencing Jesus, or the crowds, they cannot silence nature: if my disciples keep silent, Jesus tells the Pharisees, the stones will cry out! Jesus’ Passion will include multiple cataclysmic events that point to the truth of this statement, but the proclamation of the truth will be left to the disciples he leaves behind.
Jesus is the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, meant to bring the people of Israel, who had been captive in Babylon, back to life. God gives him the words to speak to those who have given up, that they might live again; the prophet is to raise the hopes of those in exile who have lost all hope. He will also suffer on their behalf, as he faces opposition. Yet he remains faithful to God no matter what happens – I have not rebelled, not turned back, he says; the prophet will not become weary; rather, he speaks to the weary a word that will rouse them. The Suffering Servant allows himself to be that which ignites the fire that gives life; the abuse he receives as he sets his face like flint will bring the salvation God has promised to God’s people. Jesus is the Suffering Servant, the Messiah sent to experience pain and rejection at the hands of others. He prays Psalm 22 in a moment of absolute loss: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? In his full humanity, he will suffer on behalf of all: they mock him; they pierce his hands and his feet; they cast lots for his clothing.
The evangelist Luke also understands Jesus as the Suffering Servant; Jesus will be counted among the wicked yet, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus never questions that he will die, for it is his destiny, though he prays that his disciples’ peace may not ultimately fail. Through death, Jesus creates peace where one would not anticipate finding it, for who expects to find peace in violence? Yet Jesus actively accepts his destiny. As Paul tells the Philippians, Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Jesus embraces humanity in a way Adam and Eve did not – with humility, emptying himself and taking the form of a slave. His journey will culminate as he sacrifices himself out of love for humankind, raising them up; the crucifixion reveals he is the Son of God, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The man Jesus who commends his spirit into the hands of the Father is greatly exalted by the Father, that all might recognize in his suffering that Jesus Christ is Lord! May we too not keep silent, that all might know the salvation that Jesus, the Suffering Servant, has attained on our behalf.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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