Neither the power of Rome nor the Temple authorities were willing to
let Jesus’ movement continue. His preaching about God was simply dangerous.He did not speak about Tiberius’ empire and simply invited people to seek the kingdom of God and his justice.
| IDENTIFIED WITH THE VICTIMS |
Sieger Koeder
Neither the power of Rome nor the Temple authorities were willing to let Jesus’ movement continue. His preaching about God was simply dangerous.
He did not speak about Tiberius’ empire and simply invited people to seek the kingdom of God and his justice. Jesus did not speak about the law of the Sabbath and other religious traditions and seemed to be keen only on helping the sick and the hungry of Galilee.
They would never forgive him for that. He identified himself too much with the innocent victims of the Empire and with those that the Temple authorities did not recognize. He was executed on a cross and He is now identified as God and representing all the innocent victims in history. Along with the cry of those victims, we can now hear God’s own cry.
In the disfigured face of Jesus crucified we can see the revelation of a new God that might me in disagreement with some of the traditional ways of representing God. It certainly questions the religious practice of offering worship to a God who is cut off from a world in which the poorest and the weakest ones continue to be crucified.
If God had died for those that the world ignored, his crucifixion must remain a continued challenge for all his followers. We cannot separate God from the suffering of innocent people. We cannot worship the Crucified and still remain indifferent to the suffering of so many people who are being condemned to hunger, war and misery.
God continues to speak to us through thousands of people who are being crucified today. We cannot go on living as mere spectators of such terrible human injustice and still believe in our own innocence. We must rebel against such culture of indifference that has taught us to stay away and not even hear the cry of so many millions of suffering people.
We cannot remain locked up in our own welfare society, ignoring that there is another suffering society of millions of human beings who were born only to find their lives shortened and extinguished by suffering and famine.
It is totally inhuman and unchristian to have our lives settled with all kinds of welfare systems millions of others who have only known every form of injustice, suffering and insecurity.
When Christians raise their eyes and look at the Crucified, we ought to see the unfathomable love of a God who gave his life for each and every one of us. And if we look at him more carefully, soon we will discover in His face the faces of so many people like us who are crying for compassion and help.
Jose Antonio Pagola
Gospel Network BUENAS NOTICIAS
April 1, 2012
MK 14 1-15,47(B)