Today’s readings: Isaiah 50, 4-7; Philippians 2, 6-11; Matthew 26,14 – 27, 66.

One of the basic traits of Jesus as depicted by Matthew is that he is the prophet almost always confronting established authority. Jesus always had crowds and disciples following him. But the most dramatic moments of his life as recounted in this Passion narrative were moments of truth both for him and his followers: it was a question of fight or flight.

The most pressing question and concern at the time of Jesus, for both then crowds and disciples, concerned his credibility. Is he the one? Or is he simply one of many? That secret kept unfolding till when the right time came for the eyes of some to open up.

The same question continues to be a pressing one even today in the midst of a culture that pretends to have come of age but which still carries basic and excruciating questions and concerns about whom ultimately to believe and trust in life.

The same power that enabled Jesus to endure the violence and pain to the end, enabled his disciples to wait actively for an outcome different from the one expected and which radically changed the scenario. After his death, Jesus was confirmed as worth believing. And that active waiting of the disciples, that mysterious power that gave soul to an ailing community, continues to date to serve as the foundation for true belief.

Jesus’ ministry takes off in the desert with Satan proposing to him a softer option, more likeable and even humanly more workable. Jesus resisted that and held his ground. He could have easily compromised for a better settlement. But his true Passion, more than just the one he had to endure towards the end of his life on earth, was by far greater than his need for security and survival.

Jesus was a passionate man, not just for the Passion he endured, but mostly for the passion that was in him. Passion for the kingdom, for justice, for authenticity, for the Father’s will. That passion was the thread underlying everything he did. His passion reached out beyond all boundaries of law, religion, or race. His passion was for humanity, to give dignity wherever it was denied. It was this passion that made him endure the Passion that led to his death.

The prophet Isaiah, in the song we read in the first reading, writes: “So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.” He was mocked, but not shamed. His appearance was of someone without countenance. He lost his face to give face to all those without face in society. His apparent weakness and vulnerability was his strength. His passion to save was in stark contrast with the passion of the religious authorities of his time to judge and condemn. Their loyalty to the law in turn contrasted with his loyalty to God and man.

All this should make us stop and think in this Great Week we are entering into today. The Passion of Jesus Christ is not simply an event to narrate and celebrate. If that same passion Christ had for the most vulnerable and the downtrodden is lacking in us, Church and Christians alike, then there is nothing at all to be surprised with it that we still perpetuate what the establishment of his days did.

We cannot afford to celebrate Christ crucified and at the same time let his passion be overshadowed by attitudes that grossly contradict his solicitude for people. This unfortunately still transpires in the way the Church establishment handles and judges people’s lives. In various ways we still put the institution before the people, the law before the spirit, and we still subject people to burdens Christ died to redeem us from once and for all.

What makes us believers not credible in this day and age is that while we honour the death of Jesus in our liturgies and para-liturgies, we lack the passion for the world which made Jesus endure his Passion.

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