April 4, 2004
Isaiah 50:4-7 + Phillipias 2:6-11 + Luke 22:14-22:56
“Innocent” is the verdict. Pilate knows it. Herod knows it. A crucified criminal knows it. A centurion knows it. And because of Luke, we know it too. It’s all about innocence in Luke’s Passion, and that suffering innocence might well serve as our focus during these days made sacred by love and sacrifice.
We do not live these days well if we spend them in sorrowful nostalgia, even if it seems sympathetic and well intentioned. The sufferings of Jesus are no more. Our remembrance of those horrible sufferings must renew our sensitivity to the sufferings that continue for those who are today the Body of Christ. The Way of the Cross is still be walked by the innocent, and none more so than the children of this world: 150 million of them by United Nations reports in 2002. Ten million in Brazil alone. Six innocent children die every day at the hands of law enforcement officers in Columbia says the Human Rights Watch. In Indonesia and throughout Asia they slave in sweatshops to keep us in cheap clothes. In Uganda 8,400 children have been abducted to serve as slaves to members of the rebel movement known as the “Lord’s Resistance Army.” Around the world 120,000 children every day are aborted.
Jesus looks us in the eye today knowing that this week we run the risk of dwelling only on his suffering. Every time we read Luke’s Passion he says again:” Weep not for me, weep for yourselves and for your children.” Today this gift of Jesus must prompt us to move beyond gazing at the cross or weeping at its memory. His way of the cross has ended in victory and peace, but the way for those for whom he died is still be travelled. We are to be their companions, care givers, and defenders along the way. And when it happens that we too suffer in innocence by the words and deeds of those we love, we shall make his prayer our own, and his wish of forgiveness prevail.