Meditations on the Passion and Traditions of Meaning Making

Well AB…you were asking if I would have anything for Resurrection Day and I have, although the meditation is about two moments during Jesus’ passion that have always demanded our attention and resulted (in my experience) in a kind of wonder at His remarkable toughness in seeing His mission through. I suppose this reflection is as much about how we read narratives out of antiquity, especially ones that have religious or spiritual significance, as it is about the substance of the Jesus narrative from 29-30 A.D. In any case…here are some thoughts.

My meditations are those of a layman; I offer them with as much deference to those who make it their business to know biblical languages, history, and culture, as I am able. This year I thought I would offer a meditation that will bring one horizon of understanding to meet another. This ‘other’ horizon to which I bring my own has a history and an inertia that dwarfs every other, including that of the historic Eastern Church.

From the time I first came to surrender to God I had misgivings, not about God, Jesus, the Presence of the Holy Spirit … any of that. My misgivings were about some of what I was reading in the biblical texts about the Man … Jesus. The readings birthed a dissonance that remained until I stumbled on to some possible alternatives. So…here are two bits of reading that are rather important because they are about the Person of Christ in the walking out of His eternal passion narrative on earth. The events happen within hours of each other in the narrative; I consider them important for what they say about HOW Jesus died. If nothing else matters… nothing matters more than worshipping God in Spirit and in truth. Nothing matters more than that we worship God as He is, not as we think He is. This is, at times, more easily said than done because the inertia of church tradition pushes the atypical to the fringe of community experience for all sorts of understandable reasons. As it turns out, my initial doubts about the transmission and translations of the stories, had answers in the Eastern Church tradition and the texts of Aramaic origin.

Anyway…the first bit of the story I found puzzling was the account of Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed and arrested. During this time of agony and attack the writer records Jesus as pleading with the Father in prayer for the ‘cup’ to ‘pass from Him’. Western church tradition teaches that Jesus, in His humanity and weakness, was asking for a way out of the trial set before Him. The second incident is recorded in a passage in His last moments during which Jesus says, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Again, western tradition teaches that Jesus uttered this cry as a conscious echo of the cry of David in Psalm 22 of the Old Testament who, it is said, felt abandoned, forsaken of God, in a time when he under duress from every side. My suggestion, as a reader, is simply this: these two descriptions of Jesus seem to me to be … out of step … with the descriptions of Jesus offered by the same writers, in the same texts. So, I am wondering if a consistency of image is lost due to faulty transmissions of the story in translation? I am wondering why the western biblical tradition on these important texts is so different to the eastern biblical traditions? The answers to these questions are simple but complicated in that the unraveling of a narrative of theologically informed

As a reader – remember I am a layman in theological matters and the sophistications of bible knowledge – I find my sensibilities jarred by the contrasting images of Jesus I see, particularly at the end of His earthly sojourn. The contrasting images are in what western tradition suggests about Jesus by what is recorded as Jesus’ words and deeds in the garden and at Golgotha and what the same tradition reveals about Him up to His arrest AND between His arrest and the crucifixion. Teaching that comes out of tradition on these passages casts Jesus, at least in my reading, in negative light. He appears to be weak, irresolute, even cowardly and pathetic. At the very least He has, in these two moments, lost His sense of purpose and direction. What is peculiar about these pieces of the narrative as they have come to us in tradition are the juxtaposed images of Jesus, one that makes Him a man worthy of adoration and awe, and the other making Him the object of pity. I think there is one image of Jesus consistently communicated in the texts but this requires a rethinking, and, dare I say it, a rejection of the transmitted texts as codified in western theological orthodoxy. Allow me a lengthy review of the ‘historical moment’

Background to the Two Pieces of Text
I am struck by a couple of features of Jesus’ nature and character as a man, particularly in the last months, weeks and days of his time on earth. I am most taken by His amazing tenderness and sensitivity particularly in circumstances demanding remarkable toughness of mind, resiliency of spirit, and clarity of vision. I find Jesus, each time I read the passion narrative and the events leading to the last week, making every effort to be clear about whom He is and what He is about. I find Him always ‘in charge’ in these ways: (1) He never seems to be caught off-guard. (2) He does He allow Himself to be distracted or occupied with anything other than what He had come to humanity to accomplish. (3) His interactions with people are always…perfect… never fanciful, never superfluous but always pointed and resonating the fullness of His humanity. (4) He ensures that the substance of the message was His; no one else is permitted – in His presence – revisionism. I find it remarkable that Jesus, knowing into what He was moving, would make choices and take directions to ensure His purposes would not be thwarted by accident or design. There is a flow to the Jesus narrative revealing His remarkable resoluteness and wisdom; as readers we must also be aware of the significance of this period in order to appreciate the Accomplishment.

Between the Spring of A.D. 29 and April of A.D. 30 Jesus’ ministry took Him in an out of Jerusalem at least three times, once for the Feast of the Tabernacles, the second time for the Feast of Dedication, and the last time for the Passover. Between the Spring of A.D. 29 and October of A.D. 29 Jesus ‘withdrew’ into the countryside for a couple of three reasons: (1) intensive training of the disciples, (2) His own preparation and, (3) safety. During this period Jesus feeds thousands of people…twice, publicly (and privately) rejects political position and power, reveals His authority over nature (He walks on water), teaches on His identify as the ‘Bread of Life’ in Capernaum, has a significant encounter with some religious leaders who had come from Jerusalem to see His ministry firsthand, heals and delivers countless people, predicts His death, resurrection, and the coming of the Kingdom … twice, experiences the mountaintop transfiguration with three disciples present, and continues to teach and exemplify what life in the Kingdom meant.

Near the end of this period, after He had explained what would happen to Him in the coming weeks, the record (*see note below) says, “As the time approached for him (Jesus) to be taken up to heaven,” (Luke 9:51) and “after his brothers had left for the feast,” (John 7:10) “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51) Now…as a reader of narratives, I am puzzled by the inclusion of this bit of description offered by Luke. Bear in mind that I am reading the narrative as a line of action of which Jesus is the central character but I am also mindful of the end. When the writer says that ‘Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem’ we are to notice this. This little phrase gives us something of a window into the mind and attitude of Jesus in the days after He finished His ministry, teaching, and prophetic warnings to the disciples. He knew the critical time of the atonement was fast approaching. He knew that their passions had been enflamed either in support of He and His ministry or against Him. He knew what His end would look like and where it would occur. He knew too, that He would have to be careful to stay in charge of the flow of His own history…his destiny. With this phrase Luke wants us to know that Jesus has every intention of fulfilling His purpose, prophesied so often and so clearly. As readers who know the end of the story we also need to mindful that the Passover was months away and that Jesus would be in and out of Jerusalem during very unstable, emotional, politicized times. The religious leaders of the time were intimately aware of His claims and the potential implications to their continued status, wealth, religious structures, and tenuous political relationship with the Roman government. Jesus needed to be wise in His movements without neglecting His mission.

In the fall and winter of A.D. 30 (October – December) Jesus made His way into Jerusalem. While at the Festival of Dedication, Jesus taught in the temple frequently and during this time the divide continued to widen between He and the religious leaders. Jesus makes His identity claims known…again…and chastises the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and corruption. Some people picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy. On another occasions His enemies tried to seize Him but ‘He escaped their grasp’. Keenly aware of the times and the signs, Jesus leaves Jerusalem and travels in the areas of Judea, Samaria and Galilee; in each place He continues to define Himself and the Kingdom of Heaven.

In this period (in the winter) Jesus leaves His travels around the countryside and goes back up to Jerusalem (John 10:22) for the Festival of Dedication. During this visit in the temple the Jews (as described by John) twice picked up stones to kill Jesus and twice He escaped them. It was during this visit to the temple that Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

By January, in 30 A.D., before Jesus made His final return to Jerusalem, He was already avoiding places where (as the texts describe it) Jews would be waiting for Him and seems to have made Perea His base of operations. It is during this time that Mary and Martha called upon Jesus to come to Bethany to heal their brother Lazarus. Jesus chooses to travel into Judea, away from Bethany, and returns later to find Lazarus dead. Jesus then resurrects Lazarus from the dead amid much attention from the crowds and the religious establishment. The Sanhedrin (a council of religious leaders) met and determined to have Jesus capture and killed when the time was right. It was at this time that “Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead He withdrew to a region near the desert …where He stayed with His disciples.” (John 11:45)

By now Jesus has successfully defined the terms of the engagement with His enemies through the nature and substance of His teaching, his restorative actions, and the rejection of the religious orthodoxy of the day. His adversaries determined to arrest Him and have Him killed. He was being watched very carefully as the Pharisees continued to seek opportunities to apprehend Him and have Him killed. Jesus continued to minister to the delight of the crowds who came to hear Him. He knew that He would need to be wise in walking out the remainder of His life; it was clear to Him that if His enemies had their way…He would be stopped before becoming the Passover atonement.

On their way back to Jerusalem from Perean countryside Jesus explains in detail to the twelve (who He had taken aside) what would happen to Him in the coming days in Jerusalem at the Passover. During this time many of the religious leaders had gone up to Jerusalem for the time of ceremonial cleansing before the day of atonement and were anxiously seeking Jesus, who had not yet arrive in the city. Jesus was completely aware of everything that was to befall Him and it appears, was under no illusions about any of it.

In the six days prior to His arrest Jesus arrived in Jerusalem midst the adulation of the crowds. In this time Jesus seized an opportunity to further define Himself and His mission by teaching from a parable in which He claims to be the vineyard owner’s son, sent to win over the workers, only to be killed by them. This, clearly, was an incendiary teaching as far as the Pharisees and teachers of the law were concerned. This teaching was Jesus’ statement of his identity as the Son and Messiah as well as a foretelling of His own fate. (Mat 21, Mark 11, Luke 20

I am laboring the review to draw a conclusion from the texts. Jesus was…and is…unlike any other person. His thinking, teaching and actions in the months, weeks and days leading to His crucifixion are marked be clarity, courage and commitment to His purposes. There is nothing in the record suggesting He might have any hesitations or doubts neither about what He was to accomplish nor about how it would be accomplished. Everything about Him demands our attention, devotion, adoration and admiration.

Now... there is depth…a texture of human experience around Jesus, the disciples, and the small community of friends traveling with Him in His last days on earth that can hardly be fathomed from our place in time. Even to write about it seems somehow… shallow… but I need to press forward. On the night He is arrested, Jesus meets in the evening with His closest companions, shares a last meal with them, teaches, comforts, warns and prays for them. After this ‘last supper’ Jesus takes His closest companions (John, Peter, James) to a place familiar to, the garden at Gethsemane, where He experiences something unfathomable to any person. Jesus asks His friends to intercede and moves away to pray as He continues to experience the weight of His passion…His mission…becoming the atoning sacrifice for human sin. I suggest that their is’becomingness’ in this short time as Jesus literally feels and experiences something of the pain of separation from the Father He had never experienced.

Two Brief Puzzling Passages:

1. The Gethsemane prayers…
It is in these moments of the pathos…the solitary experience of ‘becoming sin’ … that Jesus is said to cry out to the Father asking that the ‘hour might pass from Him’. Here is where my reflections take me to a place of utter admiration for the Man because I choose to experience the narrative in what I would call a full, harmonious manner. You see, as I read the gospel writers’ narrative of the garden prayer I ‘read’ Jesus as having His prayer answered. I came to an almost irrational admiration of Jesus, the Man, the weeks, days, and hours prior to His arrest because of His courage in the face of adversity while He had the presence of mind and fullness of spirit to continue to serve anyone who needed Him. I cannot imagine that the same Person would - admittedly under duress that no human…no person has ever experience - ask that He be spared from the Moment. So, as I read the gospels as one narrative I find:

• Jesus’ soul is overwhelmed with agony (and this is very important) to the point of death,
• Jesus prays that this cup, or this hour, would pass from Him,
• Jesus affirms that nothing is impossible for God,
• The angel is sent to minister to Him and strengthen Him,
• Jesus is in agony such that his sweat were as drops of blood (I have read that under this kind of duress blood actually comes through the skin and is a sign of imminent death),
• Jesus prays that ‘if it is not possible that the cup be taken away unless I drink from it, may your will be done’,
• He prays a third time, one can only assume, in the same way, and then wakes His friends to let them know that He was about to be arrested.

So… there is the short narrative pieced together from the gospels. Here’s what it suggests to me about Jesus, consistent with what I have learned about Him up to this point. The narrative suggests to me that the Jesus was burdened, grieved, in agony, and under such duress that He was… literally… about to die in the garden. Jesus calls out to the Father asking that He not die there (that present ‘cup’ of death) in the garden, rather that He completes the full mission, as prophesied. His prayer is answered in so far as an angel is sent to strengthen Him there in the garden…in physical crisis…at that time. Jesus’ life is spared in the garden by God’s intervention and He is strengthened to the extent that He can go through the many indignities that follow.

I understand… it is common to the point of being orthodoxy to suggest that Jesus cried out in this manner in the garden in his weakness as a man. It is said taught that Jesus, at this critical time of duress, asked the Father if there would be some way that He might avoid the ignominy of the next hours altogether. I cannot see my way clear to this conclusion. I see Jesus, in the garden, doing just the contrary. At a time when He might have physically expired He asks that the Father intervene so that He could undergo all that was necessary to COMPLETE the offense.

I suggest this reading of the narrative, not to be contrary, but to invite people into an understanding of the Man, Jesus, which I think inspires confidence and admiration for His human (and divine) courage and commitment to our human well-being. It is with this in mind that I beg your indulgence for one more comment on, or re-reading of, the passion narrative.

2. The Cry from the Cross-.
One of the texts that troubled me as a reader and believer from the earliest days of faith was the pathetic cry of Jesus from the ‘tree’. In His last moments, and having come through a horrific experience (including the Garden of Gethsemane) Jesus is said to have cried out, in public, ‘My God! My God! Why have you abandoned (or forsaken) me?’
This seems, on the surface, to be completely out of character for the Man to cry out. I mean…how could Jesus, as clear as He was about who He was and what He was accomplishing in His substitution and atoning death, even ask the question of God? This question never made sense to me. How could He, in one moment, welcome a repentant criminal into paradise, offer forgiveness to his executioners for not knowing what they were doing, and then in the next moment accuse God of abandonment?

There are three things to say about this. First, God does not leave nor forsake those who are wholly given to Him. Jesus was not forsaken by God and His identity in that moment as the Passover Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world doesn’t obfuscate the fact that Jesus He died as an innocent person for the sins of others. Now… this statement has some implications, not the least of which is an alternative (tough not completely alien) understanding of the atonement. Second, I suggest that He didn’t say what the western tradition of teaching and translation asserts and that this statement is as much a theological position as it is a translation of the words of Jesus. Third, the tradition of the western church is that Jesus, at this moment, had ‘become sin’ and that God (the Righteous and Holy Judge) could not maintain anything but separation from Jesus at his moment. I understand this point of view. However, even if I accepted that Jesus had literally ‘become sin’ at this moment, I cannot understand how He could ask, in the face of 30 years of personal experience in walking with God, understanding the nature of the Kingdom, and understanding the nature of the atonement, the question.

I suggested by an alternate reading of the narrative above; Jesus, rather than being pitied in His last hours as one weak and irresolute, should be admired for His courage and tenacity in the face of unimaginable struggle and conflict (both internal and cosmic). Here again, the inertia of western tradition militates against what I would suggest is a more consistent and full understanding and appreciation of the Man, Jesus, as our eternal Hero, Savior, and Lord.

I came to my growing admiration for Jesus - in the manner described above- quite by accident. I was in the Canadian Bible Society Bookstore in Vancouver and came across an English translation of the Bible from the Aramaic by Lamsa. As is my habit, I search different translations for an alternative reading of what I believe are problematic translations of the ‘tricky’ passages. What I discovered was a reading of the passage above that was consistent with the Jesus I had come to admire. The Aramaic translates the passage above, and the passage in Psalm 22 in the following way:

And at about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lemana Shabakthani! Which means My God, My God, for this I was spared (Mk 15)

If this translation from the Aramaic to English is accurate, a consistent edifying image of the Man – Jesus - as tough-minded, clear thinking, purposeful and resolute is revealed. Here is how I make meaning of the statement. Jesus never once shrunk away from His mission nor did He ever deflect any responsibility or suggest that any blame be apportioned to the Father for His situation. I’d like to suggest that Jesus was thanking God for ‘sparing’ Him from an early death, perhaps in the Garden (or even before when many were trying to kill Him), so that He could accomplish all that had been predicted.

Some will ask, “Then what of the direct reference to the twenty second Psalm? Is Jesus not quoting from the Psalm of David?” I can only reply that if one accepts the traditional western view of both passages this is a fair question. It would be important from a prophetic and spiritual perspective to defend the reference Jesus made to the Psalm. However, it should be noted that the Davidic complaint recorded in Psalm 22 is translated in a similar manner by the translators and teachers from the eastern church tradition as the question uttered by Jesus on the cross. Again, one tradition of translation presents a startlingly different image of the Savior I believe is more consistent with the narratives of His life and purposes.

I should add that another translator of the Aramaic reads the text as follows: “My God, My God, Why have you spared me?” and suggests that Jesus is asking why, believing that He had accomplished His mission, His earthly life lingered. (Youman).

What do these re-readings mean? For me they mean that, as a reader, I can read the texts and hold in abeyance the many instances of puzzling oddities with the confidence that, at some point the Life and message of God in Jesus will cohere…make sense… and be an answer to others. Second, they mean that a coherent image of Jesus is possible and that He can be admired and adored without reservation.

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*Note: I used two translations of the Bible. A helpful tool as far as historical flow and chronology is area concerned is A Harmony of the Four Gospels (Second Edition), The New International Version (1996). This is O. Daniel’s compilation of the gospels into a chronology of events and is published by Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, Michigan). The second translation I read is the Holy Bible From the Ancient Eastern Text. This is George M. Lamsa’s translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta and is not without its shortcomings for reasons I will not explore now. Paul Youman is translating the Peshitta into English the substance of which (the Gospels and Acts to chapter 15 so far) is on the World Wide Web to review.