Please go with me into your imagination to the Lord’s crucifixion. Let’s go to St. John’s version. We join a small congregation gathered at the foot of the cross. John names most of the disciples. Two are not: they are the mother of the Lord and the beloved disciple. Theologians say they are unnamed so they can represent the church from any time, from any place. I like the idea. Because they represent our church, we are there.
A theologian named Hans Urs von Balthasar was a favorite of popes John Paul and Benedict. He stopped me in my tracks with an insight into the gathering at the cross. He wrote, Mary had to accept the Lord’s sacrifice. As she is OUR representative, we, too, must accept the Lord’s sacrifice. At first, I thought the theologian meant we accept the gift of eternal life given to us by the Lord’s sacrifice of His life. Eternal life is a happy thought! Easy enough to accept the gift! But then I figured the theologian meant something far more challenging. It goes like this: Mary and the church need to reshape the idea of God; Mary and the church need to accept the Crucified God.
In all four Gospels, the minute of the Lord’s death is the moment his divinity reveals itself. John the evangelist says it like this. In his epistle, John says that God is self-giving love. In his Gospel, John quotes Jesus saying that “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Self-giving love is divine. In Luke, a foreigner, a Roman soldier, glorified God at the moment of the Lord’s death. This soldier, who participated in Jesus’s crucifixion, who participated in the oppression of the Lord’s people, that soldier converted at the sight of such love. He glorified God. Mary must, and we must accept the crucified God.
Recall the first commandment, please. “You shall not have other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). So many people make so many claims in the name of God. And so many people present us with other kinds of gods. Mostly, we want a god of power, a god dressed like a monarch, crowned like a king—a god who grants what we want and puts down our enemies. Revelation, however, gives us a crucified God.
The Lord himself commanded us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind” (Luke 10:3). We must shape ALL our lives around our true God. How different our lives might be if our God is the Crucified God.
This is what happens to us standing at the foot of the cross. From the cross, Jesus uses three methods to change our image of God. As Jesus comes close to death, He gives to us these three. First, he hands his Spirit over to the congregation, to his church. Will we receive his Spirit by letting His Spirit live in us? Then, after death, a soldier pierces his side with a spear. The waters of baptism sprinkle us. And the blood of Eucharist is poured out for us. Will we accept the water of baptism and the life poured out for us?
To accept what he gives, to accept his sacrifice, means we live as he lived. He gives life; we must give of ourselves. He offers love; we must learn to love as he loved. Our crucified God demonstrated empathy, mercy, and forgiveness from the cross; to accept him, we must show empathy, forgiveness, and mercy. Right before his Passion, Jesus said that he would draw ALL PEOPLE to himself when he is lifted on the cross (John 12:32). Self-giving love overcomes division, hatred, violence, prejudice. This God turns us away from domination or the degradation of any person. A God who suffers unites all people because all people suffer. A believer who lives in Him welcomes the stranger and the estranged, lifts up the lowly and the poor.
The parable in today’s Gospel takes place in the Temple. The two people seem to worship very different gods. The Pharisee worships a god of exclusion, a god of division, a god who inspires resentment of others. Listen again to his prayer: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity” (Luke 18:11). The tax collector appeals to God’s forgiveness, to God’s mercy, to the God who gathers His entire family together. Jesus pronounces His choice: “I tell you the [tax collector] went home justified not the [Pharisee]” (Luke 18:14).
That theologian I spoke of earlier, popes John Paul and Benedict’s favorite, said the most important word in the consecration at Mass is the word FOR—my body given up FOR you—my blood poured out FOR you. His gift becomes the pattern for our lives. The gifts FOR YOU becomes our gift FOR others. When we live FOR others, we have accepted the Crucified God. Today, when you come to Communion, let your AMEN mean NO to any other god, and YES to the Crucified One.