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| "The Death of Jesus," by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
Elsewhere
in his Gospel, Christ describes himself as the Man who is the King of Glory,
King of Angels and King of All Nations.
On Palm
Sunday, we saw him enter Jerusalem the city of God, with the crowds acclaiming
Christ as messiah, king and savior.
On Easter
Sunday, the Resurrection, Christ risen from the dead re-enters Jerusalem as the
forever-invincible King of Life.
But today
we commemorate his suffering, death, and burial.
We believe
in him: King of Glory, King of Angels, King of All
Nations, Anointed One, Savior, Risen and Invincible King of Life.
Eternal,
Almighty God came to earth to be a man of flesh and blood, to live as a member
of the human race, to suffer because we suffer, to die because we die.
His complete
solidarity with us in life and death is a great sign of his goodness.
There is
more.
Though
entirely innocent, he chose to shoulder the responsibility for all human sin
from the first to the last.
Sin— the
primordial cause of all that is broken or evil in the universe!
The
paradox is that God should not
have to shoulder that responsibility.
The
paradox is also that God alone could
shoulder by choice such a responsibility.
Shouldering
the responsibility for all human sin from the first to the last, and
shouldering all that is broken and evil in the universe, Christ made all of it
die in his own death.
His death
wiped clean the slate of sin-laden human history so there could be a new
beginning.
There is
more.
He rose
from the dead.
He— God— rose from the dead still a
man—but unimaginably different and unimaginably new.
He rose
from the dead still in solidarity with the human race, but having carried the
human race through sin and death, having carried the human race in himself
beyond into a new life and into holiness.
By coming
into the human race, dying as the human race, and rising in the name of the
human race, Christ gives us power and possibility for life without end and joy
without limit.
It is a
test for our faith that we may not see the victorious end of our destiny until
the fulfillment of the world.
Yet we
believe it.
Though
Christ shouldered all our responsibility, he does not leave us without
responsibility.
In answer
to his goodness, we are to follow him.
As he took
on all our suffering, we must answer by carrying all who suffer.
In his
Gospel, Christ expects us to answer his
goodness by our doing good to all who
suffer.
Come, you who are blessed
by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you
gave me food,
I was thirsty and you
gave me drink,
a stranger and you
welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited
me.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you did
for one of these least
brothers of mine,
you did for me. [Mt. 25]
It is not
enough for us to have faith in the goodness of the Lord.
He holds
us accountable for giving an answer to his goodness by being good ourselves to
others.
In the
goodness of his Eucharist, he tells us to do the same.
Do this in
memory of me.
Turn. Love.
Repeat.
