April 14, 2019
Luke 22: 14—23:56Nativity, Washington, D.C.
“This is your hour, the time for the power of
darkness” (Luke 22: 53). Jesus speaks
those words to the temple guard and the elders who’ve come to arrest him.
One way of looking at the passion of our Lord
is as a great cosmic struggle between “the
power of darkness,” Satan and his allies, and God our Creator, who
called forth light out of darkness and who sent his Son into the world to bring
the light back.
St. Luke concludes his account of the
temptations of Jesus, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he
departed from him for a time” (4:13).
Now he’s back; it is his hour, not to tempt Jesus but to try to crush
him and crush his Father’s plan for our redemption.
Satan has his allies: the Jewish leaders who hate Jesus; Judas, who
sells out his master for 30 pieces of silver (cf. 22:3-6); Pontius Pilate, who
knowingly and cowardly condemns an innocent man (23:4); Herod, interested in
Jesus only as entertainment and not as the Word of God (23:8-11); the crowd of onlookers at Jesus execution, and one of the criminals crucified with him, who
mock him (23:35-37,39)—perhaps a final temptation that Jesus should despair and
renounce the Father who appears to have abandoned him.
 |
| by Paolo Veronese |
All the powers of darkness align against
Jesus and have their brief, apparent victory:
“It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land” (23:44). But Jesus
prays to his Father, surrenders to what the Father requires—that he proclaim
the truth and not run away. He offers a
final act of service to the human race—“I am among you as one who serves”
(22:27). He freely makes himself the
Passover lamb whose blood staves off the angel of death, Satan, as he tries to
conquer the world. Jesus perseveres to
the point of commending his soul to his Father as he dies (23:46).
This great cosmic battle between darkness and
light, between evil and good, between Satan and Christ, forms one of the
classic themes of literature. To speak
just of the last several generations, we’ve anxiously followed the Fellowship
of the Ring in their battles with the Dark
Lord Sauron; the Jedi knights combating Darth
Vader and the Empire; and Harry Potter and his pals striving to outwit
Voldemort. But the battle’s very real,
and it involves us—which is why its literary forms are so powerful.
I suppose the Devil knows he’s already lost
the war: Christ has risen, Christ lives,
Christ offers redemption to all of us.
But Satan’s not a quitter, and he’s too proud to submit. Vengefully, he continues the battle, trying
to destroy goodness—and people—as much as he can. He has his allies in every age—the monstrous
villains of history like Mao, Stalin, and Hitler within our living memory; as
well as lesser ones: warlords, Mafiosi,
drug dealers, abortionists, human traffickers, child molesters, etc.
Satan wants you and me too. So the war for our souls goes on. Christ has shed his blood to cleanse our
sins, and it’s our choice to let that blood wash over us and then to stand with
him thru the culture wars and our personal temptations, as the faithful women
from Galilee stayed with Jesus at Calvary (23:49) and eventually discovered his
empty tomb and became the 1st to announce the resurrection (24:1-10). Like Jesus, each of us will someday be asked
to commend our souls to God in a final act of free and generous surrender.
All the forces of darkness and hatred arrayed
against us could discourage us—which would immensely please the Prince of
Darkness. But when we observe Jesus
during his passion, we see his constant compassion. He encourages Peter even as he acknowledges
that Peter will fail in a moment of weakness (22:31-34). He appeals to Judas at the moment of
betrayal: “Judas, are you betraying the
Son of Man with a kiss?” (22:48). As
he’s being arrested, he heals the high priest’s servant (22:51). He consoles the mourning daughters of
Jerusalem on his way to Calvary (23:27-31).
He forgives his executioners (23:34)—presumably not only the soldiers
obeying their orders, who probably include some of the same men who’d tortured
him hours earlier, but also those responsible for his condemnation. He promises salvation to the criminal who
asks for it (23:43). Jesus is totally
focused on those who need healing, comfort, and redemption, and not on himself
even in those most awful moments of his life:
“I am among you as one who serves.”
In his opposition to Sauron and his minions, Gandalf
is a Christ figure, but he’s not the light of the world. Luke Skywalker fights “the dark side” and the
evil Empire but is not the light of the world.
By offering himself in a Christ-like sacrifice, Harry Potter defeats
Voldemort, but he’s not the light of the world.
 |
Christ the Light of the World
on grounds of USCCB, Washington
|
Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
He has conquered the darkness. In
him God said, “Let there be light, and there was light” (cf. Gen 1:3). His compassion offers us God’s mercy. His blood washes us clean. His light burns away our sins. We come today to feast at table with him in
this foretaste of the kingdom of heaven.
We come to his altar to offer to the Father the sacrifice of the Lamb of
God and to offer ourselves at the same time.
We come to this Eucharist full of faith that thru it this day we commune
with him Paradise (cf. 23:43).
No comments:
Post a Comment