Weakness and the Cross

Isaiah 53:4-12

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

In light of ongoing scandals in the church it is understandable why we have seen such drops in attendance and membership. Institutions, perhaps especially religious institutions, are prone to seek power and control. Churches are divinely guided, but remain human institutions. The Holy Spirit does not negate our humanity. We are uncomfortable with incarnation, believing that Jesus is fully divine and fully human, perhaps because we deny, to some extent, our own humanity? The readings today are central to the Christian message, and 'humanity' is at the core. When I reflect on the sins of the church, my own and others, the tragedy of sin and evil--since the apostles the church has been unfaithful--is ironically a source of consolation. We need saving and redeeming, we need healing and transformation. We always have.    

Like Jesus, the church is fully human.

And as His body, someday we will become fully divine.

Union is a slow, often painful process. The False Self must die before it can be raised as the True Self in Jesus, but humans are reluctant to accept “the cross is salvation.”

That’s why every time Jesus says, “I am going to suffer and die,” the disciples display their lack of understanding (Mk 8:14-21). First Peter rebukes Jesus and says “no” (v33-3), later the twelve argue about who is the greatest (9:33-37), they keep a man from using Jesus’ name to cast out demons and angrily chase off babies seeking a blessing. Today, when Jesus says, “I will suffer and die;” James and John respond, “Can we sit next to you in the glory?”

Why? Why are the apostles so dense? How come every time He talks about suffering and dying they focus on power, glory and themselves? The short answer: they are sinful, wounded humans. They are young men—poor and powerless—crushed by the authority of Rome and the Jewish ruling class. They are first century MeToo# and “Jewish lives matter” protestors. They are victims of the daily tragedies of existence. Their minds are darkened so their thinking, feeling, perception and judgement are not aligned with Jesus—and they resist the way of the cross.

Like us, they don’t want to believe that the journey must be painful. Hebrews 4:14-16 says that Jesus can sympathize with our weakness because He was tempted and tested in every way that we have been without sinning. Jesus is the reason we come to God’s throne of mercy with boldness. Today’s reading from Hebrews 5 continues this instruction, declaring that Jesus can deal gently with those who are ignorant (malfunctioning nous) and go astray (deceived by the passions) because Jesus was subject to weakness and He understands our weakness. Jesus was the Son who learned obedience through what He suffered. Completing this task, Jesus became the source of salvation for everyone who obeys Him.

Pain, suffering, struggle, obedience—are all part of the fully human experience. Yes we do terrible things, but we are not just evil and horrible. We have hard heads and hard hearts, we are often oblivious, selfish and sinful. The passions rule us all, but we are also wounded and broken, misled and deceived. We are all victims saying “me too” about all manner of abuse and we all cry out “my life matters,” especially when we fear that maybe it doesn’t.

We are weak, so like Jesus we must have compassion for others, especially our foes, as they deny their weakness by seeking glory and power. Like Jesus we cannot let doubt and fear keep us from picking up the cross.

To be human is to sing and dance, to laugh and love, but to be fully human we must worship, obey, suffer and die. Jesus knows how hard it is to be fully human. We are not alone.