Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.
The gospels have been described as "passion narratives with a long introduction." Compared to the length of his life and the weight of his teaching, the stories of Jesus' arrest, trial, torture, and death seem unnecessarily prolonged.
But most critics disagree with that opinion; the passion and death of Jesus are too important to be lightly dismissed.
Saint Luke tells us of the reception Saint Paul received when he announced the gospel of Jesus' death and resurrection in Athens. The sages of that famously philosophical town laughed at him and turned away. They may have had some vague interest in the teachings of the Lord but any talk of death and resuscitation was absurd. The dead do not arise. Nor could they hear of "resurrection," that the revived messiah is actually God Himself.
I don't suppose many Americans would want to hear of the execution and unexpected revival of an inmate in Terre Haute, Indiana. If they were momentarily interested in this wretch's principles and ideas, they would dismiss him out of hand when they learned of his condemnation and death.
I find it, therefore, all the more amazing that the early church so readily spoke of Jesus' passion and death.
Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, we have become rather familiar with PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. The witnesses of Jesus' crucifixion must have suffered dreadfully during and immediately following his death. Were they healed instantly upon seeing his resurrection?
I think the process is more complex than that. I don't know if there is such a thing as instant healing, though a child who bumps his head can forget about it pretty quick when offered a chocolate kiss.
I think the early church still had to make sense of what they had seen and heard. Even if they felt assured that everything is alright, there was still a confused memory of a pleasant journey to Jerusalem with a wonderful teacher, a searingly painful incident on Good Friday, a day of stunned, uncomprehending silence, and then an astonishing revelation. The last was really an epiphany, if that make sense.
They had to recount the story again and again. They had to tell the complete story to strangers because they dared not pass it over. They knew instinctively that there is no Jesus Christ without his crucifixion and death.
A cross without a corpse can mean just about anything. And Jesus' teachings, without his crucifixion, are not that remarkable. He added a unique twist to the ancient teaching of Tobit, "Do to no one what you yourself hate." But any clever poet might have done the same.
If you don't know the passion and death of Jesus, in all its gruesomeness, you don't know Jesus.
Saint Mark, the first author to put the Gospel on parchment, understood that. Scripture scholars suspect there were earlier documents but they didn't include passion accounts. They weren't important; they were not read after the four gospels appeared. No one made copies of them and the originals were lost.
We are still celebrating Easter 2020, and we are still coping with the coronavirus pandemic. We are still searching for the "meaning" of Covid-19. We'll find it in the passion narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.