Ten days that shook the world

‘… Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’  (Mark 14:36)

Mark 14:1-15:47 (Year B: Lent 6/Palm Sunday)

A week of drama..

‘Ten days the shook the world’ is the title of a book written by John Reid and which subsequently  became a film about the days around what is described as the Russian Revolution (October 1917).  Some would refer to it more as a ‘putsch’ than a revolution. That event and its legacy is well known.  Another type of upheaval happened a long time before that in a remote corner of the Roman empire. The impact and legacy of that event is also well known.  Both events were disruptive of the existing order. In the case of what happened in 1^st century Palestine and beyond turned the world upside down. It was not without its faults, splits, aberrations, betrayals and liberations. The defining feature of the Christian upheaval is that it went to the core of the human heart – as well as the social structures of society. Both are important in understanding the liberating power of the gospel.

A week of disruption..

Today’s gospel reading is a long one – as is customary on ‘Palm Sunday’.  With all due regard for the other gospels, the gospel of Mark, which we hear in this Year B, is concise and relatively short. At just under 2,500 words (in the English language at any rate) it might take someone 12 minutes to read chapters 14 and 15 straight through while it might take 17 minutes of reading out loud and listening on this special Sunday that marks the start of what Christians refer to as Holy Week. These two chapters of Mark cover the last days of Jesus before and during his crucifixion. Chapter 16 covers the resurrection and will conclude this short gospel.

Following the first 13 chapters of the gospel of Mark, which focussed on the ministry, teaching and actions of Jesus, we are now on a roller coaster in the immediate lead-up to the Passover of Christ’s death and rising. This is end-game time and we can read our own thoughts, life experiences and situations into the story. The agenda for this coming ‘week’ will be:

-                    Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (‘Palm Sunday’ remembers)
-       The anointing of Jesus by Mary in Bethany
-       The betrayal of Jesus by Judas
-       The last supper and its preparation
-       The agonising in the garden
-       The arrest of Jesus
-       The questioning and torture of Jesus
-       The betrayal of Jesus by Peter
-       The crucifixion
-       The death of Jesus
-       The removal of Jesus’ body and placing in the tomb.

It is a busy week and a lot is going on. No wonder the readings are long and the services even longer!  But, it is an unfolding drama not to be missed. And even if we have heard it all a 100 times over many years we can listen and listen again and look and look again and find something new and challenging, something puzzling and revealing. We are reminded that our own lives are fragile and human beings are liable to failure and betrayal. We also hear about the iniquity of political and religious authorities trying to play god even when the Son of God – poor, broken, abandoned and to be glorified was in their midst. As the cliché goes – ‘you couldn’t make this up!’ Just prior to the opening of the story in Chapter 4, Jesus warns us to

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.  (Mark 13:33)

Some people think of going on a time management course. However, the real challenge of modern-day living is attention management. We need to pay attention to what is going on inside us and around us. This is not easy. As the drama of Holy Week unfolds spreading over two modern weekends we can find quiet time to read these two chapters of the gospel of Mark without hindrance and without preconceived ideas and assumptions. This is a story about someone who committed his life to God and paid the price. The price of his soul is our freedom.  Judas was prepared to take 30 shekels of silver for only to find that he had lost the one opportunity of freedom that Jesus’ death and resurrection effected.

This was a profound revolution  - encompassing heart, mind and action as well as relationships among people. A revolution of the heart without a revolution in social structures turns into a false religion of the type condemned by Isaiah and Jeremiah.  A revolution of the social structures without a revolution of the heart turns into social barbarism as the history of the 20^th century tragically taught us.  A better way is to ground a social transformation in a movement of the heart. For us Christians we find this change and possibility in the well springs of God’s grace working through the ordinary and the extraordinary things of life.

Jesus’ hour has come and, as one writer put it, he must face it in ‘utter loneliness’. No wonder Jesus sweated as he struggled and prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that night. He surely struggled with what had happened (betrayal) and, more to the point, what was to come a few hours later.  However, the crowning moment was his surrender to the Father’s will:

… Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’  (Mark 14:36)

And we are invited to drink from this same cup. Can we possibly avoid something of Jesus’ experience of betrayal, struggle and great difficulty?  There is only one ultimate answer in the face of whatever faces us – ‘…not what I will but what you will’.

As we look to the coming week let us remember that it starts in triumphant entry and culminates in resurrection. In between is much suffering. But Easter is a step on the journey. Fear lurks in the hearts of the disciples. Beyond it lies the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then, as we exodus from a dark place we cross a desert that may take many years. Our hope is that we will arrive – altogether in a promised land. It is the journey  that matters. Hope never fails.

Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord! (Psalm 26:14)