Bp Miller’s Musings: Holy Week

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)

Once again, we reach the culmination of our church year. In our Holy Week, we move from a triumphal parade to the bloody crucifixion of our Savior. An entire lifetime becomes compressed into one short week.

The Passion of our Lord, from the procession with palms to his enthronement on the cross, presents us with the power of evil in the world, evil that draws all humanity under its sway. We are confronted from the start of this week with our complicity in the sin that causes the death of the innocent one. “I crucified thee,” we sing as we look upon that instrument of torture, the cross.

How we might long to be among the crowd that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem— “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” we cry. But as we shout “Hosanna!” this Messiah sees into our hearts, exposing our pride and greed, our selfishness and our carelessness. The savior we seek is one who gives us power, who lifts us over others. After all, how can we know we are saved unless there are those whom we can number among the condemned? Yet this Messiah instead relinquishes his power, the power of God, and submits to the power of empire, even to ceding his life. It appears the author of life succumbs to the same death that claims us all.

At his last meal with the disciples, Jesus once again speaks and demonstrates the meaning of his incarnation. After a profound act of service to those who have followed him, he gives them a new commandment, “love one another.” This is not a superficial love that looks only on similarity and agreement; it is love that reaches into the deepest recesses of the soul, where we find what is unlovable in each other. Jesus saw in his disciples those who would abandon him, deny him, even betray him, and loved them all; and he asks—no, commands—that they share the same love between each of them.

Today, there are those who proclaim a gospel of violence and intimidation. Relying on brute force, they would have us believe they have the blessing of God. To them, the cross of Christ demands not love but a crushing brutality that twists others into conformity with their views of the world, views that always put them in the place of judgement over others. Those who fail to accept their rule are condemned and can be cast aside like so much rubbish.

Too often, the church has failed to follow the commandment of love, instead fostering hate through blame, accusation, and scapegoating. The very texts we read in Holy Week have been used to condemn Jews as “Christ-killers,” leading to persecution and slaughter, all the while proclaiming ourselves innocent of the same fault; as if we still must make sacrifice for our guilt.

The power of the cross is not in condemnation but in forgiveness— “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Jesus, in his death, reveals God’s power in mercy that forgives before the sin can bear fruit. Jesus, who knows the hearts of his disciples, shows the depths of God’s mercy by loving them even though they will fail him utterly, and he calls on his church to do the same in the world.

We are called through baptism into his death to become like him in love. Having the same mind as in Christ Jesus, we are to empty ourselves of our power over others, instead living lives of service that bring forth justice.

Our Father in heaven, deliver us from all kinds of evil, whether they affect body or soul, property or reputation—and at last, when our final hour comes, grant us a blessed end and take us by grace from this valley of tears to yourself. (Luther’s Small Catechism, adapted in Chris L. Halverson, Read, Reflect, Pray: A Lutheran Prayer Book (Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2013), 111)