This last week, I read Luke 23, Luke's account of the Crucifixion. The story as a whole is one of great pathos. Yet Luke's account points out a fact that is not often noticed, namely that among those in Jerusalem on that day there was a sizeable group of people who were grieved by the Crucifixion – a group composed of many more people than the eleven apostles. Note the following passage:
When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus. A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to tell the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and tell the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?” – Luke 23:26-31.
There is also this:
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they say the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts. All his acquaintances, and the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. – Luke 23:44-49.
Why was Jesus Christ crucified? The answer to that question is both political and spiritual, and the political aspect is but a pale shadow, the most rudimentary reflection of the spiritual. We know that ultimately, Christ was sacrificed to redeem us from our sins, so that those of us who believe in Him might be made citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Yet why did the earthly rulers of Judea and the Roman empire choose to crucify Him?
The answer is that He was a threat to earthly empire and earthly elites, a threat to earthly rulers who viewed their office solely as a means to maximize their prestige and status by oppressing and exploiting their subjects and making a prey out of them. He was a threat to the scribes and Pharisees, the earthly proxy rulers of the Jews, who “...bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.” His teachings were also a threat to the Gentile power elites, of whom He said, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.” Though He never preached violent revolution or armed resistance, He was a threat to the earthly elites of His time and place, because by His words and deeds He threatened their legitimacy and their conscience. Therefore they crucified Him.
Who then were the multitudes who mourned the Crucifixion? These were the earthly poor in Israel, those marginalized and preyed upon by the ruling elites. To them, the teaching of Christ was good news, and He had become their hope. Through His words and deeds they got a taste of a new society, a new kingdom in which righteousness dwells, a society whose subjects would no longer be oppressed, exploited or preyed upon. Though their hope was not realized fully at that time, it is no less valid now than it was then.
This is the hope of all true believers in God, from Abraham and onward. This is what makes Christianity such good news to the poor and marginalized, and it is the reason why the Faith spread so rapidly throughout the oppressive Roman empire. This is the hope of true believers today, who cry to God that justice may be done in the earth. And part of the fervency of the prayer for justice comes from seeing and experiencing the injustice done on earth by the ruling elites of the world.
In my blogging, I cover many social issues and events, things that are frankly quite unjust, and I have to admit that sometimes I get really mad at what I see. At times I feel like flinging my computer against a wall and shouting, “There's no justice!” Luke 23, oddly enough, was a bit of an antidote to the anger, a calming answer. (Luke 24 is even better!)
One other thing to note is how out of touch are the spokespeople for the modern American Religous Right. Rather than siding with the poor and marginalized, they have sided with the ruling elites of our time and place, and have become their mouthpieces.
Note: All Scripture quotations are taken from the World English Bible, a public domain translation. No royalties are owed to anyone for its use, and it may be freely quoted and read in all settings, public and private.