God’s Love Shines Through the Cross and Changes Us
Commentary
God’s love shines through the cross and changes us.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The first lesson has its origins in the second oldest of the three distinct historical strands of prophecy that comprise the book of Isaiah. It is quite clearly not the work of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah who worked in Judah (the Southern Kingdom) but seems to have emerged soon after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 539 BC and so during the Babylonian captivity. This lesson is taken from the Book of Consolation, a series of eschatological prophecies. It is the so-called Third Servant Song. There is much dispute about the identity of the servant in these songs (42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:1-6; 52:13 – 53:12). Historically, the church has claimed that the referent of these texts is an individual (the Messiah, and specifically refers to Jesus). But many scholars understand them to refer to the role the nation of Israel would play in propagating God’s mission.
The servant says that God made him a teacher, to sustain the weary (exiled Israelites) (v.4). The servant is said to do the Lord’s bidding and accepts the insults received (vv.5-6). Using a law-court image, the servant expresses unshakable confidence that God will vindicate him (vv.7-9).
Americans are weary. More than 44 million of us have outstanding student loan debt. All told, student debt in the U.S. now totals more than $1.5 trillion. The average borrower, most youth under 30, is $37,000 in debt. The Washington Post reported at the end of 2018 that although wages have grown in the past 40 years, there has been no improvement in the average worker’s purchasing power. Rents are skyrocketing in major cities. A UCLA study done two years ago found that hours worked by Americans with college or graduate degrees had increased by nearly 10% since 1980. We are working harder just to keep what our parents had, and with all the debt incurred — we may never get there.
This lesson offers consolation, and so should sermons on it. With the prophet it should be noted that the servant to come will sustain us, keep us moving, vindicate us. Hope consoles when you feel weary and burned out. To have a lord like Jesus who has suffered and experienced hopelessness like we may have felt gives hope. And neurobiology has established that hope is related to brain-chemical reactions (the secretion of dopamine) which furnish the body with fresh energy (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. Esp. p.148). With the hope and energy Christ offers, we may be better able to tackle the challenges of everyday life, maybe even get excited about finding candidates who can turn things around in 2020.
Philippians 2:5-11
The second lesson from Philippians is part of a letter written by Paul while a prisoner to Christians in a province of Macedonia. There is some debate about whether the epistle in its present form might be a combination of three separate letters (for an early theologian of the church named Polycarp spoke of Paul’s letters written to Philippi [Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, p.33]). Its immediate occasion was to thank the Philippians for their gifts by way of the return of Paul’s coworker Epaphroditus to Philippi (2:25-30), the church member who had brought these gifts of Paul. The main purpose of the epistle is to urge persistence in the face of opposition.
After urging the faithful to love and be concerned with the interests of others (vv.2-4), Paul exhorts them to have the mind of Christ Jesus (v.5). Christ is depicted (in the form of a hymn) as divine (in the form of God), but also as one emptying Himself into humanity and on the cross (vv.6-8). In turn, God has exalted Him (vv.9-11). It is possible that the hymn is inspired by the Fourth Servant Song of Isaiah (52:13--53:12).
Neurobiological research has demonstrated that the part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, which most distances us from our own immediate needs as it is activated when we engage in projects bigger than ourselves, is especially involved in intimate relationships. And when this part of the brain is activated, it results in good feelings and joy generated by the dopamine that is then secreted (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp.72ff., 114,264-267,275-277; Anthony Walsh, The Science of Love).
Given our innate selfishness, the animal part of our brains concentrated on survival and responding to immediate desires is not naturally inclined to be concerned with the interests of others. Sermons on this lesson can remind the congregation that hanging around Jesus is a resource for overcoming this self-concern. For with Jesus, we see that emptying ourselves for the sake of a greater causes has been and can be done again. In a sense the self-emptying denial of immediate needs does not have to be done by us. Jesus did it for us in Holy Week and throughout His ministry! In a sense He is an example. But since He has done it already, when we spend time with Him, sing songs about Him like this lesson sings (vv.6-8), it can lead us without thinking to a self-emptying style of life. (Scholars of evolution suggest that just singing, and so singing about one like Jesus, can enhance social cohesion among human beings sharing in the song [Nicholas Wade, The Faith Instinct, pp.82-83].) Concentrating on Jesus makes you more sociable and a lot easier to live with.
Matthew 26:14--27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54
Both versions of the gospel are accounts of the passion provided by the most Jewish of all the gospels. Likely not written by the apostle who bears the gospel’s name, its Jewish character is likely a function of the original audience addressed – Jewish Christians in Antioch no longer in full communion with Judaism (23:25-32; 24:200. As a result, a lot of attention is given in the gospel (and in this text) to presenting Jesus as the messianic fulfillment of the Torah.
The account begins with Judas Iscariot’s initiation of efforts to betray Jesus to the chief priest (26:14-16). New Testament scholarship increasingly understands Judas to have been a zealot, trying to press Jesus into starting a revolution. The name Iscariot is related to the Latin word sicarius [knife-man], a common Roman reference to zealot. At least one other disciple, Simon of Cananean, has a name from the Aramaic qan’an, meaning “the zealot” (19:4). The thirty pieces of silver given to Judas were probably about 120 days’ wages. Next we read of the successful efforts of Jesus to find a host for the Passover meal, during which He indicates that one of the disciples will betray Him (26:17-25) and Peter objects promising that he will never depart from Him followed by Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s denial (26:33-35).
The account continues with Jesus withdrawing to Gethsemane (an unknown site somewhere on the west side of the Mount of Olives). Abandoned by the disciples, who sleep as He prays (26:36,40-41), Jesus prays to be spared His fate (26:40-46). Jesus often refers to Himself as “Son of Man” in connection with prophecies about His death or as a way of referring to His humility. The betrayal by Judas’ infamous kiss to an armed crowd is reported (26:47-49). Kissing a rabbi as a greeting was a common sign of respect in this era.
Jesus’ arrest is next reported as well as His disavowal of the use of violence by His followers, for then Scripture could not be fulfilled. The disciples desert and flee (26:50-56). Jesus’ appearance before Caiaphas the high priest and the council [Sanhedrin] follows. False witnesses accuse Him of claiming He could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days (26:57-61). An exchange with the high priest is reported, along with reports of those calling for His death, mocking Him as a false messiah (26:62-68). Accounts of Peter’s denial of Jesus and Judas’ repentance for his betrayal follow (26:69-75; 27:3-10). Matthew is careful to point out how the events reported fulfills prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures (Jeremiah 18:1-3; 32:6-15; cf. Zechariah 11:12-13).
The text next reports Jesus’ appearance before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the crowd’s choice of the notorious prisoner Jesus Barabbas over Jesus, as a result of the prodding of chief priests. Pilate’s wife is reported to have warned him to have nothing to do with this since Jesus is innocent (27:11-23). (It is at this point that the alternative version of the gospel lesson commences.) With a riot likely to develop, Pilate washes his hands claiming innocence of Jesus’ blood and then hands Jesus over to the crowd for crucifixion. Jesus is then flogged (27:24-26). Only the Roman government, not local rulers, had the authority of capital punishment in the empire.
The story of the crucifixion follows. Simon from the African district of Cyrene is co-opted to bear Jesus’ cross to Golgotha, His clothes are divided by lot, and the charge “Jesus King of the Jews” is affixed to His cross (27:27-37). The crowd mocks Him regarding the charge of destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days. Darkness covers the land from noon until 3:00 PM, perhaps a reference to Amos 8:9-10, where mourning for an only son is related to the sun going down in daylight (27:38-45). Jesus is reported as crying out to God about being forsaken, and bystanders claim He is crying out to Elijah. His cry is a transliteration in the Aramaic language which He spoke of Psalm 22:1 (27:46-47). Popular belief at the time regarded Elijah as a helper of the oppressed.
With Jesus’ death (27:48-50), the curtain of the temple is reported to have been torn (perhaps symbolizing the possibility of direct access to God), the earth shook, tombs were opened, and the bodies of saints were raised (27:51-52). After the resurrection, the text notes, these saints came out of the tombs and appeared to many in Jerusalem. The centurion at the site of the crucifixion sees the earthquake and what happens, and then confesses Jesus as God’s son (25:53-54). The second gospel lesson alternative ends at this point. The account continues with Joseph Arimathea’s request of Pilate for Jesus’ body and the burial of Jesus witnesses by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (27:57-61). The next day the chief priests and Pharisees meet with Pilate reminding him of Jesus apparent claim that He would rise in three days. (They refer to the allegation that He would rebuild the temple in three days [26:61; 27:40].) They ask Pilate to secure the tomb, lest His followers steal the body and claim He rose (27:62-64). Pilate tells the Jewish leaders to do it themselves, and they proceed to secure the tomb with a stone (27:65-66).
Jesus’ experience of a politics that condemns is typical of what politics does. Politics is about condemning the alternatives, about pointing out that all the alternatives fall short compared to our favorite view. But that is just the problem. Politics is good for those with power. Self-interest taints every law which we think is just. But when a law that is good for us is in place, we never recognize how such a law profits us. Consequently, there were no doubt good Roman citizens in Jerusalem during the first Holy Week who could not recognize self-interest being served in Jesus’ crucifixion (for He was, after all, a trouble-maker and a threat to the “common good”). The story of Jesus’ engagement with the political realm in our assigned text offers the possibility of sermons on political realism which we can all use in this election year. Taking seriously how tainted all politics is (including our own), might make us a little more civil with each other. Jesus is the only political casualty we need in this season. But Jesus’ passion offers other insights and benefits. The story of Jesus not only makes us more humble in our politics, it makes us hungry for the love of compassion He offers, the reminder that all the political realm offers comes up short compared to the acceptance, forgiveness, and love available on Easter. And with that kind of love, we might enter the political realm like Joseph of Arimathea did, committed to more compassionate activity, might return to our “temples” no longer separating laity from clergy, prepared to make a difference. The Easter faith gives confidence and hope that God can overcome all our petty egocentricity, Easter is about the serenity that a new way of life is on the way (see Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, pp.131ff.).
All the lessons for Passion Sunday lead to sermons that remind us of all that Christ endured for us and so testify to God’s love. They also afford great occasions for sermons on what changes that love can make in our everyday private and social lives.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The first lesson has its origins in the second oldest of the three distinct historical strands of prophecy that comprise the book of Isaiah. It is quite clearly not the work of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah who worked in Judah (the Southern Kingdom) but seems to have emerged soon after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 539 BC and so during the Babylonian captivity. This lesson is taken from the Book of Consolation, a series of eschatological prophecies. It is the so-called Third Servant Song. There is much dispute about the identity of the servant in these songs (42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:1-6; 52:13 – 53:12). Historically, the church has claimed that the referent of these texts is an individual (the Messiah, and specifically refers to Jesus). But many scholars understand them to refer to the role the nation of Israel would play in propagating God’s mission.
The servant says that God made him a teacher, to sustain the weary (exiled Israelites) (v.4). The servant is said to do the Lord’s bidding and accepts the insults received (vv.5-6). Using a law-court image, the servant expresses unshakable confidence that God will vindicate him (vv.7-9).
Americans are weary. More than 44 million of us have outstanding student loan debt. All told, student debt in the U.S. now totals more than $1.5 trillion. The average borrower, most youth under 30, is $37,000 in debt. The Washington Post reported at the end of 2018 that although wages have grown in the past 40 years, there has been no improvement in the average worker’s purchasing power. Rents are skyrocketing in major cities. A UCLA study done two years ago found that hours worked by Americans with college or graduate degrees had increased by nearly 10% since 1980. We are working harder just to keep what our parents had, and with all the debt incurred — we may never get there.
This lesson offers consolation, and so should sermons on it. With the prophet it should be noted that the servant to come will sustain us, keep us moving, vindicate us. Hope consoles when you feel weary and burned out. To have a lord like Jesus who has suffered and experienced hopelessness like we may have felt gives hope. And neurobiology has established that hope is related to brain-chemical reactions (the secretion of dopamine) which furnish the body with fresh energy (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. Esp. p.148). With the hope and energy Christ offers, we may be better able to tackle the challenges of everyday life, maybe even get excited about finding candidates who can turn things around in 2020.
Philippians 2:5-11
The second lesson from Philippians is part of a letter written by Paul while a prisoner to Christians in a province of Macedonia. There is some debate about whether the epistle in its present form might be a combination of three separate letters (for an early theologian of the church named Polycarp spoke of Paul’s letters written to Philippi [Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, p.33]). Its immediate occasion was to thank the Philippians for their gifts by way of the return of Paul’s coworker Epaphroditus to Philippi (2:25-30), the church member who had brought these gifts of Paul. The main purpose of the epistle is to urge persistence in the face of opposition.
After urging the faithful to love and be concerned with the interests of others (vv.2-4), Paul exhorts them to have the mind of Christ Jesus (v.5). Christ is depicted (in the form of a hymn) as divine (in the form of God), but also as one emptying Himself into humanity and on the cross (vv.6-8). In turn, God has exalted Him (vv.9-11). It is possible that the hymn is inspired by the Fourth Servant Song of Isaiah (52:13--53:12).
Neurobiological research has demonstrated that the part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, which most distances us from our own immediate needs as it is activated when we engage in projects bigger than ourselves, is especially involved in intimate relationships. And when this part of the brain is activated, it results in good feelings and joy generated by the dopamine that is then secreted (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp.72ff., 114,264-267,275-277; Anthony Walsh, The Science of Love).
Given our innate selfishness, the animal part of our brains concentrated on survival and responding to immediate desires is not naturally inclined to be concerned with the interests of others. Sermons on this lesson can remind the congregation that hanging around Jesus is a resource for overcoming this self-concern. For with Jesus, we see that emptying ourselves for the sake of a greater causes has been and can be done again. In a sense the self-emptying denial of immediate needs does not have to be done by us. Jesus did it for us in Holy Week and throughout His ministry! In a sense He is an example. But since He has done it already, when we spend time with Him, sing songs about Him like this lesson sings (vv.6-8), it can lead us without thinking to a self-emptying style of life. (Scholars of evolution suggest that just singing, and so singing about one like Jesus, can enhance social cohesion among human beings sharing in the song [Nicholas Wade, The Faith Instinct, pp.82-83].) Concentrating on Jesus makes you more sociable and a lot easier to live with.
Matthew 26:14--27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54
Both versions of the gospel are accounts of the passion provided by the most Jewish of all the gospels. Likely not written by the apostle who bears the gospel’s name, its Jewish character is likely a function of the original audience addressed – Jewish Christians in Antioch no longer in full communion with Judaism (23:25-32; 24:200. As a result, a lot of attention is given in the gospel (and in this text) to presenting Jesus as the messianic fulfillment of the Torah.
The account begins with Judas Iscariot’s initiation of efforts to betray Jesus to the chief priest (26:14-16). New Testament scholarship increasingly understands Judas to have been a zealot, trying to press Jesus into starting a revolution. The name Iscariot is related to the Latin word sicarius [knife-man], a common Roman reference to zealot. At least one other disciple, Simon of Cananean, has a name from the Aramaic qan’an, meaning “the zealot” (19:4). The thirty pieces of silver given to Judas were probably about 120 days’ wages. Next we read of the successful efforts of Jesus to find a host for the Passover meal, during which He indicates that one of the disciples will betray Him (26:17-25) and Peter objects promising that he will never depart from Him followed by Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s denial (26:33-35).
The account continues with Jesus withdrawing to Gethsemane (an unknown site somewhere on the west side of the Mount of Olives). Abandoned by the disciples, who sleep as He prays (26:36,40-41), Jesus prays to be spared His fate (26:40-46). Jesus often refers to Himself as “Son of Man” in connection with prophecies about His death or as a way of referring to His humility. The betrayal by Judas’ infamous kiss to an armed crowd is reported (26:47-49). Kissing a rabbi as a greeting was a common sign of respect in this era.
Jesus’ arrest is next reported as well as His disavowal of the use of violence by His followers, for then Scripture could not be fulfilled. The disciples desert and flee (26:50-56). Jesus’ appearance before Caiaphas the high priest and the council [Sanhedrin] follows. False witnesses accuse Him of claiming He could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days (26:57-61). An exchange with the high priest is reported, along with reports of those calling for His death, mocking Him as a false messiah (26:62-68). Accounts of Peter’s denial of Jesus and Judas’ repentance for his betrayal follow (26:69-75; 27:3-10). Matthew is careful to point out how the events reported fulfills prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures (Jeremiah 18:1-3; 32:6-15; cf. Zechariah 11:12-13).
The text next reports Jesus’ appearance before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the crowd’s choice of the notorious prisoner Jesus Barabbas over Jesus, as a result of the prodding of chief priests. Pilate’s wife is reported to have warned him to have nothing to do with this since Jesus is innocent (27:11-23). (It is at this point that the alternative version of the gospel lesson commences.) With a riot likely to develop, Pilate washes his hands claiming innocence of Jesus’ blood and then hands Jesus over to the crowd for crucifixion. Jesus is then flogged (27:24-26). Only the Roman government, not local rulers, had the authority of capital punishment in the empire.
The story of the crucifixion follows. Simon from the African district of Cyrene is co-opted to bear Jesus’ cross to Golgotha, His clothes are divided by lot, and the charge “Jesus King of the Jews” is affixed to His cross (27:27-37). The crowd mocks Him regarding the charge of destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days. Darkness covers the land from noon until 3:00 PM, perhaps a reference to Amos 8:9-10, where mourning for an only son is related to the sun going down in daylight (27:38-45). Jesus is reported as crying out to God about being forsaken, and bystanders claim He is crying out to Elijah. His cry is a transliteration in the Aramaic language which He spoke of Psalm 22:1 (27:46-47). Popular belief at the time regarded Elijah as a helper of the oppressed.
With Jesus’ death (27:48-50), the curtain of the temple is reported to have been torn (perhaps symbolizing the possibility of direct access to God), the earth shook, tombs were opened, and the bodies of saints were raised (27:51-52). After the resurrection, the text notes, these saints came out of the tombs and appeared to many in Jerusalem. The centurion at the site of the crucifixion sees the earthquake and what happens, and then confesses Jesus as God’s son (25:53-54). The second gospel lesson alternative ends at this point. The account continues with Joseph Arimathea’s request of Pilate for Jesus’ body and the burial of Jesus witnesses by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (27:57-61). The next day the chief priests and Pharisees meet with Pilate reminding him of Jesus apparent claim that He would rise in three days. (They refer to the allegation that He would rebuild the temple in three days [26:61; 27:40].) They ask Pilate to secure the tomb, lest His followers steal the body and claim He rose (27:62-64). Pilate tells the Jewish leaders to do it themselves, and they proceed to secure the tomb with a stone (27:65-66).
Jesus’ experience of a politics that condemns is typical of what politics does. Politics is about condemning the alternatives, about pointing out that all the alternatives fall short compared to our favorite view. But that is just the problem. Politics is good for those with power. Self-interest taints every law which we think is just. But when a law that is good for us is in place, we never recognize how such a law profits us. Consequently, there were no doubt good Roman citizens in Jerusalem during the first Holy Week who could not recognize self-interest being served in Jesus’ crucifixion (for He was, after all, a trouble-maker and a threat to the “common good”). The story of Jesus’ engagement with the political realm in our assigned text offers the possibility of sermons on political realism which we can all use in this election year. Taking seriously how tainted all politics is (including our own), might make us a little more civil with each other. Jesus is the only political casualty we need in this season. But Jesus’ passion offers other insights and benefits. The story of Jesus not only makes us more humble in our politics, it makes us hungry for the love of compassion He offers, the reminder that all the political realm offers comes up short compared to the acceptance, forgiveness, and love available on Easter. And with that kind of love, we might enter the political realm like Joseph of Arimathea did, committed to more compassionate activity, might return to our “temples” no longer separating laity from clergy, prepared to make a difference. The Easter faith gives confidence and hope that God can overcome all our petty egocentricity, Easter is about the serenity that a new way of life is on the way (see Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, pp.131ff.).
All the lessons for Passion Sunday lead to sermons that remind us of all that Christ endured for us and so testify to God’s love. They also afford great occasions for sermons on what changes that love can make in our everyday private and social lives.
