Because the Passion Narrative for this Sunday is so long, I’m putting a link here so that you can click straight to the Comments and Questions for Discussion if you’d rather do that than scroll and scroll (and scroll). (Click Here for Comments and Questions.)
First Reading
Isaiah 50:4–9a
The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty? (ESV)
Second Reading
Philippians 2:5–11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)
Gospel Text – The Passion of Our Lord According to Luke
Luke 22:14-23:56
or Luke 23:1-49 (This alternative reading is in italics below.)
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
“You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”
Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading 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.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt 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 splendid clothing, 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 misleading 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. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.”
But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—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 kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, 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 were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus 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 nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his 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 sour wine 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, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your 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, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, 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 watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (ESV)
Comments and Questions for Discussion
First Reading
Any discussion of this text, or of the other texts in “Deutero” or “Second” Isaiah known as the Songs of the Suffering Servant (or, “Servant Songs,” for short) must begin with the question, “Who is the Servant of God” described in these songs. (Our text this week is counted as the third of four Servant Songs.)
We followers of Jesus are so accustomed to seeing Him and His Passion when we read passages like ours from Isaiah 50 that we forget that the prophet did not have Jesus in mind when he wrote or spoke those words. I know I keep saying this when we talk about many messianic prophecies, but I’m not quite arrogant enough to assume that you’ve read all the other Divergences that deal with these prophecies, or that even if you did, they were that memorable. Isaiah did not know that he was prophesying about Jesus. He had something else in mind, something else entirely. But that doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t included in the prophecy, too. When we read the prophets, it’s really important to keep in mind that they saw God’s heart, but saw it only partially. Only in Jesus is the Father fully revealed. So when Isaiah saw the Servant of God about whom he speaks in our passage this week, he spoke to the people to whom he’d been called to prophesy. He applied God’s heart to his own setting, and that’s not wrong. That’s what the Spirit of Prophecy does. It’s what the Holy Spirit inspires us to do in the present when we prophesy in the present.
But one thing about all this prophecy. It must conform to the Father who is revealed in Jesus. And of course, in the case of these verses from Isaiah, they conform very, very closely. I have no doubt that when Jesus read these verses, He understood them to speak of Himself, as well as the Servant about whom Isaiah intended them. But who was this “Servant?”
Scholars have suggested that Isaiah might be speaking of himself. Or He might have had some other individual in mind. Or the Servant might be a representation of the nation of Judah. They have discussed and disagreed to widely and so deeply for so long that one scholar I read basically said that the identity of the Servant is a problem “simply unsolvable by the methods hitherto applied.”
Among the many interpretations I’ve read or heard over the years, I’ve come to think that the collective solutions work best for me. Those being the ones that understand the Servant as Isaiah’s representation of the nation, or in the case of one author, the city, “Zion-Jerusalem.” The humiliation of, and subsequent exaltation of the city/nation seems to fit best with Isaiah’s vision of God’s people and their tribulations. Isaiah describes the nation as an individual several other times, in texts other than the “Servant Songs,” a woman, an man, a mother, a widow. That this pattern might continue within the songs makes a certain sense.
The other reason I lean toward this collective understanding of the Servant of God is that it makes a new sense of this application of the Servant to Jesus. Do I believe that Jesus read these verses and understood them to speak of His own humiliation and exaltation? Yes. (Sometimes I think this is why some scholars cling to the idea that Isaiah spoke of an individual. It makes the messianic interpretations a little easier.) But I also have come to believe that Jesus saw in these passages the link between Himself and the collective meaning of the Servant. He would undergo the humiliation of the Servant on behalf of the collective. His own people, His own nation, but also the “new Jerusalem” that would arise with His resurrection and ascension.
We who are baptized into Jesus’ death, are no less baptized into His humiliation. His resurrection? Of course. But in Jesus we are also present in the humiliation and vindication we read this week in Isaiah 50. I hope one day that I’ll be able to write that in way that makes it more clear!
Second Reading
I can’t read this passage from Phillipians without hearing one of my favorite hymns, crashing in my head:
At the Name of Jesus,
Ev’ry knee shall bow.
Ev’ry tongue confess Him,
King of Glory now.
‘Tis the Father’s pleasure
We should call Him Lord.
Who from the beginning
Was the mighty Word.
I don’t think I’ve ever planned a Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday, if you prefer) liturgy without including that hymn. And I don’t think there’s a passage of Scripture that better summarizes why it is that Jesus is worthy of our worship.
It isn’t that He saved us from death.
It isn’t that He conquered sin.
It isn’t that He rose from the grave.
It isn’t that He healed and taught.
All those things are wonderful. Marvelous. But the Son could have accomplished His ends in any number of other ways.
What makes Jesus worthy of our worship, our praise, our adoration, what causes the angels to sing night and day, what causes the elders to fall on their faces and cast their crowns before Him, what causes all of that is the manner in which He chose to save us. Not with His power, not with His authority, but with His humiliation, His self-emptying.
That is what sets our Savior apart from every other “savior” or sage or prophet. That is what sets your Gospel apart from every other message from every other religion in the world. Your Savior gave up being God. For you, and for the rest of Creation. That is why the foundations of heaven shake at the angels’ praise. That is why the saints’ songs roar like thunder in the courts of the King. Because He did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became like us, suffering even to the point of death, death on a Cross.
Gospel Text
As I have done with the Passion Narrative in both the other Lectionary years, I will decline to try to deal with so much material in this Divergence. Instead, I will refer you to the PDF “Parallel Passion” document I prepared two years ago (Link Here) And offer some questions and comments on the things that are unique to Luke’s version of the Passion and why he might have chosen to write the Passion in this way.
Looking at our readings, it might appear that Luke’s version of the Passion omits the preparation for the Passover meal, but that is only because I have included only what is listed for this Sunday in year C. In fact, this and some other significant bits occur earlier in chapter 22, but are not meant to be read this week. Don’t ask me why.
You will notice that Luke inverts the order of things at the Last Supper. Jesus’ declaration that one of those with Him at supper will betray Him (and the disciples’ reactions) comes after the Institution of the Lord’s Supper, rather than before it, as happens in Matthew and Mark. I suspect that this is because Luke chose to emphasize the origins of a ritual that was more established by the time of his writing than it had been for the other evangelists. But I’m far from certain of that.
Then Luke gives us a reiteration of the dispute among the disciples about who was the greatest. This seems out of place here, especially as Luke had dealt with that earlier in chapter 9, so Luke’s repetition of this theme here must have been important to him. Why was it, though? I will offer my own suggestion. Luke, a co-laborer of Paul’s, may have experienced or heard about much more of that kind of dispute among early Christians than either Matthew or Mark. We have no farther to look than the conflict between Paul and the “super-apostles” of 2 Corinthians to see how the claims of greatness were poisoning the preaching of the Gospel in some places. So Luke embeds Jesus’ teaching on the greatest being the least right in the midst of the Last Supper. This echoes Paul’s own refusal to rely on his own credentials, but instead looking to his life of service for validation. Perhaps there’s something here.
Luke’s next peculiarity has always left me scratching my head. I find it very discomfiting that he includes text about Jesus instructing his disciples to buy a sword if they do not have one. For this reason I departed from my initial plan for this Divergence and went looking for explanations. I discovered that there were many. This short passage has troubled scholars for generations, and their explanations have varied widely. I will share with you briefly the conclusion of one scholar in particular (whose article for the Journal of Biblical Literature surveys the multiplicity of other interpretations).
David Matson, in his piece for the JBL gives us a narrow and workable explanation that does not raise the command to buy swords to the level of instructions for the Church that follows Jesus. While I still find it uncomfortable, it seems to me that this approach works the best. Basically, Jesus wants His disciples to have swords, of which two will be enough. Their purpose is simple, to ensure that Jesus reaches the Mount of Olives where He must be arrested. Then, when the arrest party arrives with Judas, Jesus instructs them to allow things to go forward as God had ordained. The phrase translated “No more of this,” really says, “permit as far as this,” that is, “Permit this to happen!”
The swords had a very limited usefulness. They were there solely to ensure that things would happen according to God’s plan, so that Jesus might reach the Mount of Olives and there “be numbered among the transgressors,” thus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. As if you don’t already have a busy Triduum ahead, I’m providing this LINK to Matson’s article.
And because I have devoted too many words to that one difference, I will (hopefully) be more brief going forward.
Many of the differences between Luke and Matthew or Mark going forward at changes in the order of events rather than peculiarities of Luke. But we do have the interesting inclusion of Jesus being sent to Herod which the others lack. Why put Herod into the story? Perhaps because Herod’s bloodthirstiness was well known to early Christians? Pilate is represented most sympathetically in Luke. He does not want to condemn Jesus to death. By bringing Herod into the picture, perhaps Luke gives Pilate permission to do what Herod would have done without question?
The next text that is peculiar to Luke is Jesus’ speech to the women of Jerusalem. “Weep not for me but for yourselves and for your children.” As Luke omits the earlier cry of the people “His blood be on us and on our children,” (Matthew) this seems like Luke’s way of explaining the link between Jesus’ death and the destruction of the city that will follow in only a few decades’ time. Given Luke’s intention to heal rifts between Jewish and Gentile Christians, this is not a rejection of Judaism per se, but an explanation of the collapse of the city that rejected Jesus.
There are two more elements of Luke’s Passion that I’m sure you know, but must be pointed out. Only Luke includes the words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” How Luke came to know and include these words that Matthew and Mark did not is beyond me. But I am incalculably grateful that they are here. So also with the exchange between Jesus and the two crucified to either side of Him. “Behold, today you will be with me in paradise.” How impoverished might we who follow Jesus have been without Luke’s inclusion of these two short passages? I literally cannot imagine.
For a more easily printable version of this Divergence, please CLICK HERE.
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