Passion Sunday - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2009

The first section of today's Gospel has two main incidents: the anointing at Bethany and the institution of the Eucharist. Both incidents aim to reveal the deeper meaningsof Jesus' coming death. The Anointing highlights Jesus' clear anticipation and deliberate acceptance of death as the price of love, and an unnamed woman's recognition of that death and her loving, “over the top” response to it. The Eucharist indicates how Jesus approached his lynching as the way to open for everyone a new covenant - that is, a whole new relationship - with God.  

Notice how Mark deliberately frames both incidents: The Anointing is prefaced by the Jewish Leadership's resistance to and rejection of Jesus' way of inclusive justice and love, and concluded with Judas's betrayal of Jesus. The Eucharist is framed between Jesus' public reference to Judas's betrayal and his foretelling of Peter's denials. As you listen, you might ask yourselves: What was Mark trying to tell us by framing the events that way? 

The next section of Mark's Gospel begins with Jesus' inner struggle in Gethsemane, proceeds to his arrest, then leads on to the Jewish trial where the leadership pronounce him guilty of the capital crime of blasphemy. The section concludes with the humiliation and the dehumanisation of Jesus by the leaders, and his being roughed up by their agents. As you listen, you might ask yourselves: Did Jesus' response to his opponents come across to you as weak subservience or as self-possessed, but non-violent assertion of dignity? 

The third section begins with the Roman trial and Pilate's pronouncing of the death penalty. It is interesting to note the absence of gory detail in Mark's account. There is no description of any scourging, no description of his struggle to Golgotha (beyond the observation that Jesus didn't carry his own cross), and no details of the process of crucifixion. 

But what Mark emphasises  across the whole narrative is how Jesus' program of love was rejected by the leadership, his love and trust betrayed by Judas, his intimate friendship disowned by the male disciples who deserted him and three times denied by Peter, his non-violence mocked by the Roman military, and his integrity jeered at in turn by passers-by, by the leadership, and even by the criminals crucified with him. And, to compound all that was Jesus' feeling of being deserted even by God. You might ask yourselves: Why did Mark concentrate on people's rejection of Jesus rather than on his being physically brutalised? 

The account concluded with two theological comments: Firstly, the veil of the temple, that up till now had blocked off access to the Holy of Holies, and the special presence of God, was split from top to bottom. With the death of Jesus,  God becomes accessible to all. Secondly, the comment of the centurion about Jesus: In truth, this man was a son of God, suggests that the God who is now accessible to all is the God who is prepared to face anything as the price of unconditional love. 

Before we continue with our Eucharist, you might quietly ponder for a few moments: What might it have been about how Jesus died that led the battle-hardened centurion to see Jesus as a son of God, as the one who revealed the human face of God?