Sixth Sunday Of Lent �
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
The narratives of the Passion and death of Our Lord in our four gospels differ widely. It is obvious that each of the four gospel authors has a different theology about Jesus and very different background, experiences, and talents of their own. Because in Luke’s gospel Jesus is presented as more sensitive to the sufferings of others and as more of a healing presence than in the other gospels, tradition assigned to Luke the role of physician. His symbol is often the caduceus — a snake entwined around a staff — which in turn points back to the bronze serpent Moses formed and raised on a pole. In that Old Testament story, the suffering who looked up at the bronze serpent on the pole were healed. Let us review the incidents in Luke’s gospel that express healing quality.
At the Last Supper Jesus reproached his disciples for their ambition to be the greatest among them. This incident is followed by special attention to Simon Peter. Jesus warns him that he (Simon Peter) will be attacked by Satan, (the temptation to deny Jesus), but that he (Jesus) would pray for Simon, and when he has repented, he must “strengthen his brethren.” This is one of Luke’s ways of teaching the primacy of Simon Peter. At the agony in the garden Simon Peter is not singled out for a scolding as he is in the Gospel of Mark. Thus Luke changed Mark’s story to read, that Jesus gently rebuked the whole group of disciples as a unit. Judas gives Jesus the kiss of betrayal in Mark, but Luke does not depict this act of betrayal as it happens. Instead Jesus says, “Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” The kiss is never completed in Luke’s gospel.
In all the gospels, a swordsman in Jesus’ company cuts off the ear of the slave of the high priest. In Luke, Jesus restores the ear. In Mark, a disciple of Jesus follows him after Jesus’ arrest. He was clothed only in a sheet wrapped around himself. When the arresting detail tried to arrest the young man also, he slipped out of his sheet and ran away naked. Mark intended the young man as one of many insults he aims at the immediate disciples of Jesus. Those who in the beginning left all to follow him, now leave everything behind, even their clothes, to get away from him. Luke deletes the whole episode.
Luke depicts Pilate in a better light than Mark does. In Luke’s gospel Pilate declares Jesus’ innocence three times and attempts to release him. But the mob intimidates Pilate to turn Jesus over to them. Only in Luke does the presence of Jesus bring about friendship between Pilate and Herod Antipas. Luke writes, “And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. Before they had been enemies.” Only in Luke do the women of Jerusalem weep over him. Jesus consoles them. Only in Luke, while Jesus was being nailed to the cross, does he say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Only in Luke does only one of the criminals crucified with Jesus rebuke him. But the other criminal rebukes his fellow sufferer, admits his own guilt, and turns to Jesus with these words, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responds with healing comfort, “Amen, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
When Jesus is dying on the cross. Mark attributes to him the frightful opening verse of Psalm 22, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” This does not fit Luke’s theology of Jesus’ healing death. Luke chooses different last words for Jesus. He quotes from Psalm 31:5, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.” Instead of the abandonment of Jesus by all on earth and in heaven, Luke depicts him tenderly entrusting himself to his Father in heaven. Luke has a final healing change to make. Mark closed his gospel with a short narrative about the faithful women of Galilee coming to the tomb on the morning of the resurrection. The ‘“young man in white” announces the resurrection of Jesus and tells them that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. Mark writes, “They fled from the tomb . . . and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Luke writes, “They remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the Eleven and to all the rest.” Thus the gospel of healing!
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Here we have one of the Book of Isaiah’s four poems called the “Songs of the Servant of the Lord.” It is not always clear about whom the poems were written or recited. Old Testament passages have a trajectory from the Old to the New Testament. In the New Testament St. Paul and our four gospels regard the sufferings of the Servant in these poems as predictive of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. An example in today’s reading: “I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard. I have not turned my face away from insult and spitting.”
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11
Paul integrated into this letter a Christian hymn expressing the total humility of Jesus. Although Jesus was God, he did not insist on that dignity, but took on a human form, the form of a slave, became obedient even unto the most shameful and painful death. But the hymn ends on a note of hope, “Therefore God exalted him . . . .” Paul’s purpose: to call Christians to the same type of humility with a promise of ultimate exaltation with God.
