The Passion of Jesus is Commitment to Social Action

The Passion of Jesus is Commitment to Social Action

Jesus’ outlook on the world (meaning the way he saw the world, how he saw himself in the world, and how he interpreted what he saw) in the Gospel of Mark was from the perspective of the poor.  Jesus saw HOPE in the midst of struggle. In expelling demons and healing the sick, Jesus  restored humanity to those of various afflictions. Curing someone or exorcising a demon is but one part of healing.  Healing, in its fullest sense, is the unconditional reintegration of one who was set apart because of some affliction into the community. 

Jesus creates the possibility for reintegration. He cures the illness and exorcises the demon, but the real healing is the change that happens through reintegration. Where someone had been marginalized because of possession or illness, once Jesus confronted the illness and the social stigma attached to the illness or possession, the individual gained personal “agency,” meaning that person was given the ability to move about in society and choose his or her own course of life. The ability to be a member in a community and make free choices in one’s life, in effect, breaks the cycle of marginalization and injustice. 

People healed by Jesus are no longer stuck at the margins of society.  When a formerly marginalized person is reintegrated into the community, the entire community is changed. If I have ostracized someone and now that person is right in front of me (because Jesus put that person there) then I had better check on my attitude of excluding that person.  People that used to push people into “closets”, to the “back of the bus” and keep people “in the shadows,” now have to look at those whom they shunned. Jesus lifts up the poor and outcast, and by doing so, he declares the social system that allowed marginalization to happen, wrong.

Jesus bids those who have been victims of prejudice and marginalization to stand up and be counted. Rather than coddling them and comforting them, Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Social transformation is possible when people are willing to take up their own cross and follow Jesus to Jerusalem. The poor and those who live “in the margins” have to rise up.  In other words, we have to make a commitment to the vision and struggle in order to be free.  In the passion according to Mark, Jesus went to Jerusalem to confront not only Pontius Pilate, but the entire system that held people enslaved to Rome and Cesar’s collaborators. This was Jesus’ cross as much as the wooden cross on Calvary. 

The Passion narrative started with a woman who poured expensive oil on Jesus’ head. Some complained about the expense and suggested that the money could better have been spent by feeding the poor. Jesus confronted them by saying that the poor will always be there and that this woman was preparing him for his inevitable death.  By anointing Jesus, this woman was anointing his vision and mission, that is, his determination that he would speak truth to power no matter what the cost might be.

The comments of the detractors about giving money to the poor reflected a short-sighted, myopic perspective. By selling the perfume, you feed the poor a piece of bread for a day. By anointing the vision and mission, you commit yourself to the struggle.  That is, you commit yourself to join the fight against the realities that make people poor in the first place. The anointing symbolized the long-term “lucha” rather than a temporary relief to a systemic tragedy that created suffering in the first place.  This is why this woman’s gesture will be remembered in all generations to come.

The second scene is the Passover scene. When one breaks bread at the Passover and shares in the cup of wine, participants in the Passover are making a commitment to the eternal struggle for liberation. The Passover signified a deep and abiding solidarity with the struggle for the liberation of slaves from Egypt. The bread was known as “Bread of Affliction” symbolizing the harsh realities of being a slave.  The last cup, the “Cup of the Covenant" represented the blood of those who died under the horrific conditions of slavery as well as honoring those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom.  When one shares in the bread and the wine, one has made a commitment be a part of that struggle for freedom.   

Right after the Passover meal, the disciples went to the garden with Jesus but they couldn’t find the energy to remain awake and vigilant. To add insult to injury, Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter outright denied Jesus. Everyone chose self-preservation and denied the cross. At the arrest scene, the young man that ran away naked symbolized the personal shame that comes from abandoning the altruistic teachings of Jesus: freedom and equality.  In short, if you have no vision to live by and no conviction for the mission of justice, you literally have nothing. You are naked.

The remaining part of the Passion narrative is dedicated to detailing Jesus’ decision to save the human family. Jesus’ decision to speak truth to power was his confrontation with the Sanhedrin, chief priests and finally with Pontius Pilate. Jesus was crucified because he chose to stand against the grain and lift a hand of protection on behalf of the poor and a word of advocacy for the oppressed.  At his last breath, a soldier remarked, “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”  Normally throughout the gospel (of Mark) when anyone made that confession, Jesus would stop them and tell them to say nothing. But in this case, there was no rebuke. The resounding silence stood as and still stands today as an invitation to take our cross and continue the struggle. No longer concerned with self-preservation, taking up the cross makes us vigilant and ready to move.  We will not remain silent in the face of hatred.

The Passion of Mark isn’t merely a commemoration of Jesus’ death, it is an invitation for us to live the Passion - that is to take up our cross and follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. As vigilant disciples, we should be ready to stand up to hateful laws, like the one targeting gays in Indiana.  Taking up the cross makes us more sensitive to the plight of undocumented immigrants and the hassles that they have to endure every day and it makes us more committed to work for a just and compassionate solution. The Passion commits us to work toward ending the aggression and hostility against African American young men.  The Passion commits us to challenge the social inequities that we the poor face everyday in Silicon Valley. Passion Sunday reminds us that Jesus’ work continues in us if only we take up the cross and follow him.