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| Michelangelo's Jeremiah |
The
name of the prophet Jeremiah is synonymous with someone who is forever
predicting doom and destruction. Now while it is true that much of the book of Jeremiah
is given over to dire warnings, in the Old Testament lesson for this
Sunday, Jeremiah’s tone is much brighter. In fact, he offers an optimistic vision of God’s
relation with his forgiven people, foretelling a ‘new covenant’ when the law of God is no
longer just an external set of rules, but something ‘written on our hearts’. Despite this
optimism, however, the subsequent history of Israel continued to be one of spiritual
failure followed by material disaster, a pattern that called forth new generations of Jeremiahs.
Christians believe that Jeremiah's prophecy of a new
covenant only became a reality with the advent of Jesus Christ. Even
then, it did not take the form that the prophets expected.The author of Hebrews tells us that when “Jesus
offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who
was able to save him from death, he was
heard because of his reverent submission”. But why does he say that Jesus was heard,
when God did NOT save him from death on the Cross? The Gospel passage
highlights this paradox. Jesus confesses that his “soul is troubled’ and that
the prayer “Save me from this hour” springs to his lips. Yet, immediately he
acknowledges that the hour in which he undergoes unimaginably painful death is
the very reason that he came. It is through the brutal ignominy of criminal
crucifixion that he is to be “glorified”.
How
can this be? What sort of glory is it to be “raised up” in this ghastly
way? Hebrews
provides the answer. “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience
through what
he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of
eternal
salvation for all who obey him”. Contra Jeremiah, the law of God will never be written on
our
hearts; we are too selfish and sinful to learn obedience through what we
suffer.
Yet, salvation is nevertheless at hand if, as we approach Good Friday, we are willing
to let ourselves be drawn into the mystery of Christ lifted up on the
Cross. The mystery lies in the fact that here we encounter something completely contrary to any normal conception of what a 'glorious' ending to his ministry would be. In this way we are called to acknowledge a closely related mystery: the only way the perfection of our own humanity can be attained is in 'dying with Christ' --which is to say, the commitment of our egos to the honor of his name.
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