Isaiah 50:4-9a
This is a perennial passage, used every Palm Sunday. It is part of one of the “Servant Songs” in Isaiah, about the suffering after the exile. In this section, there is a cost to being faithful to the Lord. It begins with the servant's calling, then the central verse 6 of abuse from enemies, then the Lord advocates for the servant. The suffering then, is not arbitrary, it comes as a consequence of one who speaks truth to power. The servant has agency, not a victim. The suffering is not pointless. The enemy does not declare who is to be disgraced, there is a greater law that will determine that. With that, we stand together.This idea that God is that greater law is what people mean when they say our modern justice comes from the monotheistic religions of the Axial Age. This avoids the question of where the idea of a greater law came from. That has much deeper roots that go back to times before written language. Simply having laws does not make you a law maker or a law giver. It certainly doesn't make you just or righteous.
Philippians 2:5-11
As symbolism for death on the cross, this is one of the more palatable entries. My friend and pastor, Roger Lynn, brought me into the fold of his church in 1993 when he pointed out the difficulty of preaching that Easter message. In the story, Jesus says he loves you. He loves you so much he will die for you. He said, “usually, I want to get out of a relationship like that.” It got a laugh, as it should. That is a classic indicator of a dysfunctional relationship. Unless of course, you are God. Roger, like Paul did over the years, turned the story of the cross into a story of love.There are other stories of gods appearing on earth. Usually they do it for their own amusement, or to gain some power over yet other gods, using people as pawns in their games. This Jesus does not exploit his status. He is humble and has every human frailty, he even dies. Dying and rising is not unique in mythology either. It can be symbolic of a passage through some sort of adversity, or a sacrifice as in taking a bullet for another. Since a god can take that, it is only symbolic of that ultimate sacrifice that humans sometimes make.
Matthew 26:14-27:66
This sermon helper is intended primarily for lay speakers filling in for pastors on vacation. It is unlikely a lay person would cover the entire passion play. In fact preachers rarely do that, so I won't either. This is usually a time for pageants and dramatic readings.One of my favorite verses from the story is "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Some take joy in pointing out the time Jesus gave instructions to gather weapons, but that verse seems out of step while this one is fitting. If indeed he had a message of peace, when the authorities came for him, he should have gone peacefully. Even though he could have called on legions of angels, he didn't. There aren't any actual angels, but he was a strong leader, and he could have at least put up a fight. The Garden of Gethsemane was on the edge of town, and he could have easily fled further and avoided the capture that he anticipated then organized a small army in the desert. We probably wouldn't be reading this story today if they had done that.
I don't have the reference, but I read in a Sunday newspaper an analysis of the story that theorized that Jesus did not expect to be crucified for his crimes. This is in stark contrast to the gospel accounts, but those were written down afterward. The analysis was that his crimes were not ones that normally warranted death. This was a time when the Romans were not that particular about having the punishment meet the crime, so we have the events as they are. That they happened to fit the prophecies may be one of a twist of history, or it may just be good story telling.
Whether he knew he was facing death or not, or if he even existed for that matter, this story is of him walking the walk. He said to love your enemies, and to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and he did. When questioned, he doesn't give them what they want and doesn't compromise his own values. In the gospel of Luke, he says to forgive those who mock him. These sayings endure. An attempt to battle the Roman army would have failed and would not have been a very good story at all.
In this gospel, we get a bit of Greek, Jesus calling out to his God. There is a lot of confusion on just what this is about, or even what the words are, and maybe that is the point. This is not the Jesus that is clear about his mission as in the gospel of John. By then it is changed to “I thirst”. What we see in this gospel is the beginning of the creation of a liturgy. Events occur at specified times; noon and three o'clock. There is a progression of prophecy and fulfillment. This is a community grappling with some horrific events, trying to find a way to live in peace while occupied by an evil empire.