The Passion: Box Seats on Suffering
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
4/1/07
Luke 23:1-49
Then the whole company of them arose, and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king."
And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered
him, "You have said so."
And Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no
crime in this man."
But they were urgent, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout
all Judea, from Galilee even to this place." When Pilate heard this,
he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he
belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in
Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him,
because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.
So he questioned him at some length; but he made no answer. The chief
priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with
his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then, arraying him in
gorgeous apparel, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became
friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity
with each other.
Pilate
then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said
to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and
after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of
your charges against him; neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Behold,
nothing deserving death has been done by him; I will therefore chastise him and
release him."
But
they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us
Barab'bas" -- a man who had been thrown into prison for an
insurrection started in the city, and for murder.
Pilate
addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus; but they shouted out,
"Crucify, crucify him!"
A
third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in
him no crime deserving death; I will therefore chastise him and release
him."
But
they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And
their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that their demand should
be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for
insurrection and murder, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their
will.
And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!'
Then they will begin to say to the mountains, `Fall on us'; and to the
hills, `Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will
happen when it is dry?"
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
And
when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him,
and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And they cast
lots to divide his garments.
And
the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He
saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen
One!"
The
soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying,
"If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
There
was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
One
of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the
Christ? Save yourself and us!"
But
the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under
the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are
receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing
wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom."
And
he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise."
It
was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until
the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was
torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father,
into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his
last.
Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things.
It was an ugly and brutal scene, marked by
anguished suffering, a scene that depicted humankind's worst side:
* There were lashes with a whip tipped with lead.
* A crown of thorns pushed down on his brow.
* A massive cross dragged through the crowd-a crowd which jeered and
taunted every agonizing step along the way.
* There were the tortuous nails.
* And, finally, the instrument of punishment, the cross, lifted into
place for the agonizing trial death would require.
It is a scene of unbearable suffering. Yet, as
Luke so poignantly depicts Jesus, even in his suffering, he remains the master
of those cruel events, forgiving his tormentors, praying for others, reaching
out to the criminal at his side, and refusing to renounce his convictions.
Martin Luther King Jr. said of our Lord's suffering on the cross that it
was "love at its best when man had stooped to his worst."
Jesus’ suffering, like ours, was certainly not something he looked forward to, but when it came, he dealt with it and made it worthwhile.
Today reminds us of many things, particularly,
that whoever we are, whatever we may have, whatever we may do, whatever we may
accomplish, suffering of some kind is never far away. Today also reminds us very
simply and in stark and clear terms that suffering has a dual nature.
On the one hand, it has the potential for tyranny. It holds the potential power over us to beat, to crush, to defeat. It holds within its grasp the possibility that we will lose some of our capacity to love. It holds the power for us to regret our even being alive. Suffering-it has an awful power to cause us even to deny God. Barbara has often said to many people, “Pain is dehumanizing.”
But, on the other hand, suffering holds the potential, as it did for our Lord, for human majesty. It holds the means to bring our lives to their greatest heights of effectiveness and value.
I freely confess I pretend no answer to why there is suffering, especially for the innocent. I must wait for the perfect answer to that enormous question.
But what I do know as a result of today's lesson, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that our suffering in this life does hold value. Let us address this question: What value is to be found in our suffering?
Three things are so well illustrated by our Lord in his life: his ministry, his teaching, and, especially today, in his Passion-his death upon the cross.
First, suffering needs to be seen as the place a Christian visits in the
knowledge that there are things within him, within her, that cannot be developed
in simple ease or quiet. One's own suffering and often the suffering of those
they love, for better or for worse, are a place in this life's journey, in this
life's history, when the right-minded Christian acts courageously and
righteously. One sees this in the midst of suffering.
His name is Jim. His father had been hard on him-never physically-but
with a coldness that may have been for him far worse than physical acts. He was
one of the multitude of persons who suffered mightily simply because he had
never heard his father utter the simple words, "I love you." Yet,
despite his own suffering, and in the throes of his father's final, painful days
of dying, Jim came, left behind his busy work schedule, embraced his father and
stayed with him when others, in their exhaustion, had left. He forgave his
father and told him of his love.
For
Jim many things happened in that episode of suffering. He rose to the occasion
suffering had created. Most profoundly, he found a level of wholeness, unity,
meaning, and peace he had never known before. Like our Lord in his Passion, he
took hold of his own suffering and that of his father and he made it redemptive.
Many
of us are stronger, better people because of the events of suffering we have
come through in our lives.
Second,
because of the example of our Lord in his Passion, we are reminded that
suffering holds the possibility to love and care in ways we perhaps have never
imagined. Thornton Wilder wisely remarked, "In love's service, only wounded
soldiers will do."
Suffering does, in fact, teach us a great deal about what it means to
love. Suffering-Christ's example of suffering on a cross and our suffering-is a
key that can unlock our best capacities to become remarkable instruments of
God's care and healing in this life.
Her name was Arline. The painful cancer, which occupied so much of her body and would eventually bring about her death, was no match for her capacity to love in her suffering. Her two young sons handled her death differently. The youngest clung to her all the time. But the older one was angry, mean-spirited, unable to share his anguished feelings. Near the end of her life she pulled her older son aside and said, “I want you to know something. I want you to know, because I don’t want you to suffer later. I want you to know that I know that you love me. I know you love me. Remember that if you ever feel guilty after I’m gone. Don’t forget. I know that you love me.”
In summary, Jesus moves beyond his own suffering in order to bring hope and meaning and reconciliation to those who surround him.
Finally,
there is always this for the Christian: In the midst of all suffering there is
to be found God. Our Lord did not come into the world, and he did not suffer
betrayal and the pain and anguish of the cross to somehow perfectly explain the
nature of suffering or to remove it from the world, but it is very clear to me
that he did come to reveal the fact that God will be with us. But it is
otherworldly, remarkable, magnificent. It is God with us on those cruel days
when our own self-sufficiency is not enough to cope-with us to meet that which
seems virtually insurmountable.
Suffering story/finding God/My father’s funeral?
Which has prepared me more for
ministry—schools or sufferings? The
answer, to me, is obvious.
Friends, Passion Sunday reminds
us that ours is a world of distress, just like the one in which Jesus lived.
I worship Jesus not because he makes my life better.
Rather I worship Jesus because he is with me when my life is not better,
but bitter.
Without his help, his presence,
his example in suffering, without Jesus’ own distress and trust in God and
love for those who persecuted him, without such love, my own sufferings might
forever be bitter instead of better.
This week reminds me that I
worship a God who loves us in the midst of our
suffering, for He has suffered as well. And
the triumph of Easter is made all the more glorious because of the distress out
of which it was born.
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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