I write this well in advance of Lent, and
having left Christmas behind, starting to focus already on the lead-up to
Christ’s passion tweaks no little bit my view of where we are in the annual
cycle. Indeed, Luke 22.24-53 plunges straight into the preamble to the Easter
narrative: the last supper, Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives, and Jesus’
arrest - a lot for a short meditation! But hopefully a useful one, even if most
of us know these momentous events so well..
I am reflecting on what, if
anything, binds the different elements together, and there are a couple of
things that stand out to me.
The first is Jesus’
remarkable steadfastness in being the servant supreme: no violent rebellion
against those misguided and angry authorities gathering like vultures around
him. It is within his powers to change completely the course of events, but he
chooses not to. He is single-minded in his devotion to the purposes of God,
which as we know will take him to the point of the ultimate sacrifice.
The second thing I note by
way of contrast, is the waywardness of the human condition. At the last supper,
the disciples argue over who is the greatest. The disciples fall asleep as
Jesus is praying on the Mount of Olives. Judas betrays Jesus with his kiss. The
disciples cut off one of the high priest’s servant’s ear (wow, that’s really
barbaric!). The chief priests arrest Jesus..
The contrast between the
conduct of men and the conduct of Jesus has probably never been so sharp.
So what are we to make of
these events? My takeaway begins with recalling that our calling as Christians
is huge. Thank God (literally) that we do not have to tackle the Christian life
by ourselves. The ultimate sacrifice that I have referred to already enables
all of us, if we seek it, to draw on the power of God through his Holy Spirit.
Without this power we are all over the place, like the disciples. With this
power, we have the hope of making it.
Let’s pray that we are able
to draw on the example of the Lenten Christ to spur us to noteworthy servant
works of Christ, themselves a great preparation for eternal life, as foreseen
by His death and resurrection.
Sue Bird
"Christ on Gethsemane" by Albrecht Altdorfer, ca. 1480-1538, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN, http://diglib.library.
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