See What the End Shall Be – A Meditation on the Marcan Passion Narrative for Palm Sunday

The Passion which we read in today’s liturgy is too long to comment on in detail. We are only able to take a portion and examine it.

The usual villains such as the Temple leaders, Judas, and the recruited crowd, which shouted “Crucify him!” are fairly obvious in displaying their sinfulness and are unambiguously wicked. But there are others who participate in the Passion accounts whose sinfulness, struggles and neglect are more subtle, but still real and contribute significantly to the Lord’s sufferings on Good Friday. It is perhaps, in these figures that we can learn a great deal about ourselves. For while we may not overtly shout “crucify,” we are often not as holy and heroic as the persecutors were wicked and bold.

As these behaviors are noted, we must understand that WE do these things. For the Passion accounts are not merely portraits of people long gone, they are portraits of you and me. We do these things.

So, lets look at sins and weaknesses of Jesus followers (us) in three stages.

I. The Perception that is Partial – In the middle of the Last Supper, in today’s Gospel the disciples of Jesus are reminded of what the next days will hold. Jesus says,

All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.

Note that the apostles are reminded of these facts since Jesus has said them before on a few occasions. For example:

1. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Matt 16:21)
2. When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. (Matt 17:22-23)
3. We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matt 20:19)

Thus we see that the Lord has consistently tried to teach and prepare them for the difficulties ahead. He has told them exactly what is going to happen and how it will end: NOT in death, but rising to new life. But though he has told them over and over, they still do not understand or see. Thus he predicts that their faith in in will be shaken.

For their perception is partial and they will see only the negative, and forget that he has promised to rise. Since they cannot see beyond the apparent defeat of the moment they will retreat into fear and not boldly and confidently accompany him to his passion and glorification (for his passion IS is lifting up, his glorification). Instead they will flee. He has shown the “what the end shall be.” But they cannot see or accept it. Thus fear overwhelms them and draw back into a sinful fear and disassociation from Jesus. Only a few, Mary his Mother, John, Magdalene, and a few other women would see him through to the end.

But as for the rest, they see only what is gory and awful, and miss what is glorious and awesome. Yes, their perception is quite partial and their blindness comes, paradoxically, from not hearing or listening to what Jesus has been telling them all along.

We too can easily suffer from a blindness caused by poor hearing. For the Lord has often told us, that if we trust, our struggles will end in glory and new life. But, blind and forgetful, we give way to our fears and fail to boldly walk the way of Christ’s passion. We draw back and disassociate ourselves from Jesus and exhibit some of the same tendencies and problems we will now observe in the people of that day.

So lets examine some of the problems that emerge from the partial perception and forgetful fear of many of the disciples and others.

II. The Problems Presented – The problems that emerge are at least five. They are unhealthy and sinful patterns that emerge from the fear generated in not trusting Jesus vision and refusing to see it. We can consider them one by one. Please understand that the word “we” used here is shorthand and does not mean that every single person does this. Rather, it means that, collectively, we have these tendencies. But no need to take everything here personally.

A. DROWSY – One of the common human techniques for dealing with stress and the hardships of life is to just go numb and drowsy. We can just doze off into a moral sleep. Being vigilant to threats posed to our souls by sin, or the harm caused by injustice, (whether to ourselves or others) is just too stressful. So we just tune out. We stop noting or really even caring about critically important matters. We anesthetize ourselves with things like creature comforts, meaningless distractions, alcohol or drugs. We go into a kind of moral sleep and we begin to lack a prayerful vigilance. Prayer and spirituality pose too many uncomfortable questions. So we just tune out and daydream about meaningless things like what a certain Hollywood star is doing, or what the latest sports stats are.

In the passion accounts, Peter, James and John are personally asked by the Lord to pray with him. But they doze. Perhaps it is the wine. Surely it is the flesh (for the Lord speaks of it). But unwilling or unable to deal with the stress the Lord is clearly under, they just tune out, go numb, and doze off.

Grave evil is at the very door. But they sleep on. The Lord warns them to stay awake, lest they give way to temptation. But still they sleep.

Someone they know and love is in grave danger, but it is too much, so they just tune out, much as we tune out at the overwhelming suffering of Christ in the poor and needy. We just stop noticing. It’s too painful, so we tune out.

The Lord had often warned them to be vigilant, sober and alert (Mk 13:34, Matt 25:13, Mk 13:37; Matt 24:42; Luke 21:36, inter al). Other scriptures would later pick up the theme (Romans 13:11; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Thess 5:6, inter al). For drowsiness is a significant and serious spiritual problem.

Sadly God described us well when he remarked to Isaiah: Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. (Is 56:10)

But, despite the sleepiness of the disciples, the wicked are still awake, and the threat does not go away by a drowsy inattentiveness to it. Thus we ought to be confident and sober. Life’s challenges are nothing to fear, for the Lord has told us we have already won, if we trust him. But the disciples have forgotten Jesus promise to rise after three days. And so, often, have we. So they, and we just give way to stress and tune out.

B. DISASSOCIATING – Peter, confronted with the fearful prospect of being condemned with Jesus denies that he knows him or is one of his followers. He disassociates himself from Christ. We too, confronted with the possibility of far lesser things like ridicule, will often deny a connection with the Lord or with the Church.

Someone might say of one of the more controversial passages of scripture (such as prohibitions on divorce, fornication, homosexual activity, commands to tithe, etc), “Oh, you don’t really believe that, do you?” And it’s too easy to give way to fear and either say “no” or to qualify our belief. Why suffer ridicule, endure further questioning, or experience the unpleasantry of debate?

So we just disassociate, compromise, or qualify our faith to avoid the stress.We even congratulate ourselves for being tolerant, etc. when we do it.

Jesus says, If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels. (Mat 16:21). But too easily we ARE ashamed.

And so, like Peter, we engage in some form of denial. Peter was afraid because he has forgotten to “see what the end shall be.” He has forgotten that Jesus will rise after three days. So too do we often forget that. So we lack confidence and give way to fear, and we deny, so as to avoid suffering with Jesus.

C. DODGING – Simply put, when Jesus is arrested, all the disciples except John split. They “get the heck out of Dodge.” They are nowhere to be found. One of them, (could it be Mark himself?) ran off naked.

After Jesus’ arrest, it is said that Peter, prior to his own denials had followed the Lord, “at a distance” (Mk 14:54) but as soon as trouble rose, he too scrammed.

And we too can run. Sometimes it’s persecutions from the world. But sometimes its just our own self-generated fear that following the Lord is too hard, and involves too many sacrifices we are just not willing to make. Maybe it will endanger our money since the Lord insists that we tithe and be generous to the poor. Maybe it will endanger our playboy lifestyle since the Lord insists on chastity and respect. Maybe we are doing something we have no business doing, that is unjust, excessive or sinful. But, rather than face our fears, whether from within or without, we just high-tail it out.

The disciples forgot that Jesus has shown them what the end shall be. In three days he would win the victory. But, this forgotten, their fears emerged and they ran. We too, must see what the end shall be to resist and confront our many fears.

D. DEFLECTING – Now in this case our example is Pontius Pilate, not one of the disciples. But the fact is that Pilate was summoned to faith, just like anyone else. “Are you a King?” he asked Jesus. And Jesus responds by putting Pilate on trial: “You say so.” In other words, “It is you who have said these words. Do you think they are true?”

The fact is, Pilate has a choice to make. Either he will accept what Jesus is saying as true, or he will give way to fear and commit a terrible sin of injustice. Now the texts all make it clear that Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. But, because he feared the crowds he handed Jesus over.

Now, note PILATE did this. The crowds tempted him through fear, but HE did the condemning. Yet note that he tries to deflect his choice. Mark says he handed Jesus over to please the crowd, But Matthew adds, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” (Mat 16:21). Well, actually Pilate it is also YOUR responsibility. You had a choice and you made. Your own career and hide were more important that justice. And, though you wanted to do what was right and were sympathetic with Jesus, merely wanting to do what is right is not enough.

So too for us. We also will favor our career or hide over what is right. And in so doing we will often blame others for what we freely choose. “I am not responsible, my mother dropped me on my head when I was two” ….etc.

In effect we are often willing to say, “Look Jesus, I love you. You get my Sundays, and my tithe and, generally I obey you. But you have to understand, I have a career, I need to make money for my family. If I really stand up for what is right, I might not make it in this world. You understand, don’t you?…I know the company is doing some things that are unjust, I know the world needs a clearer witness from me….and I’ll do all that, after I retire. But for now…..well, you know. It’s really may boss whose to blame. It’s this old hell bound sin soaked world that’s to blame. Not me!” And we wash our hands and excuse our silence and inaction in the face of injustice and sin.

And all this is done in fear. We forget what the end shall be and get focused on the fearful present. We lack the vision Jesus is trying to give us that in three days we will rise with him. But we stay blind to that and only see the threat of now.

III. The Path that is Prescribed – OK, by now you ought to know the path that is prescribed: See what the end shall be! In three days we rise! Why are we afraid? Jesus has already won the victory. It is true, we get there through the cross. But, never forget what the end shall be! Today we read the Gospel of Friday, but wait till Sunday morning! I’ll rise!

We end where we began with this gospel: All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.

Yes, after he has been raised, he goes before us into Galilee. And for us, Galilee is heaven. Whatever our sorrows, if we are faithful we will see Jesus in the Galilee of heaven. Never forget this vision. After three days we will rise with him and be reunited in Galilee.

So take courage, see what the end shall be! The end for those who are faithful is total victory. We don’t need to drowse, destroy, deny, dodge and deflect. We’ve already won. All we need to do is hold out.

An old Gospel songs says, I promised the Lord that I would hold out! He said he’s meet me in Galilee! So hold out, Galilee is not far, in three days we rise with him.

Image credit above: The Ikon Studio

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