CHRISTIAN NEWS MAGAZINE FOR KERALA MALAYALEE CHRISTIANS FROM INDIA AROUND THE WORLD
APRIL 2008 ARTICLE
VOL:07 ISSUE:04

THE WOUNDED LOVE OF JESUS
By PROF. DR. ZAC VARGHESE, LONDON

“It was too much for me, a sinner, but how much more pain for Jesus who knew no sin?” I wrote the above question in my diary in 2006 after seeing the film ‘The Passion of Christ’ by Mel Gibson. I read reviews of this film, some good and some critical, but was not interested in seeing it mainly because of my experience of utter disgust in seeing, in early seventies, a West End production of the musical ‘Jesus Christ, Super Star.’ But this time, my wife and I went to the cinema because of the visit and insistence of a very good friend, Georgie from Bahrain, and also in the hope of taking Georgie out for dinner after the show. The film had such an impact and we were so much moved and affected by the violence, the abuse, the humiliation and the dehumanising pain inflicted on Jesus. It was all done for creating a certain amount of enjoyment for the crowd, watching the tragic events all those years ago outside the city walls in Jerusalem. The effect on the film was such that we did not feel like having dinner and said our goodbyes to our friend. However, all through the nights and for a few weeks following on, just one thought kept surfacing in my mind which was simply this: “It was too much for me, a sinner, but how much more pain for Jesus who was utterly innocent and who knew no sin?” Although we may justifiably detach ourselves from events of Good Friday, put all blame on Judas, the Jewish high command and Pontius Pilot, in our everyday living we derive pleasure in watching others suffer; humiliating others is a pastime that we play quite well.

Most humour in our societies is directed in causing pain on an innocent person or persons. We see a slightly sophisticated version of this in some television game shows such as Ann Robinson’s show, ‘Weakest Link’; she shows amazing superiority over the contestants and derives pleasure in humiliating them. In fact, most of our activities are game shows for expressing our superiority over others in terms looks, wealth, intellect, power, and influence. Even in our spiritual journey we are tempted to show up the shallowness and immaturity of others in our faith communities. We have a tendency to compare the whiteness of our purity in the background of the blackness of the impurity of others around us; we hang our sainthoods on the shoulders of inadequate people around us; a sinner is a necessary compliment to a saint.

I don’t think that there is anything wrong in enquiring about the role of Judas in the salvation narrative. Some undue emphasis and wrong theology has caused so much violence and hatred. Some may even pin Holocaust on this. Jesus used a donkey for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Was Judas necessary for Him to fall into the hands of His captors? If Judas were to be essential for the providential plan in our salvation story, should we begin to see him in a different light? How could Jesus fail Judas as his teacher, friend and mentor? Is this simply built into the story to lend more pathos to this tragedy? These questions have troubled me for some time; I am still searching for an understanding.

It was technically easy for Mel Gibson to describe the violence and the physical pain inflicted on Jesus and to transfer that pain to some extent to the viewing public. But it is impossible for anyone to feel the suffering in the depths of Jesus’ soul. This pain which cannot be felt or described is more intense than the suffering that is apparent to all. The knowledge about Judas involvement and Peter’s rejection must have contributed to Jesus’ agony in the garden of Gethsemane that the sweat on his brow was like blood (Luke 22: 44). There is an intensity of sadness in this moment which can never be shared or depicted by another person. There is something very profound that Jesus wants us to feel about his passion. The agony at the garden is a reflection of the wounded love of God. Jesus too pines for the love of the people that he served, his friends and followers. Is there in Jesus a greater pain of being a rejected lover? Are we the reason for His pain?

After the ‘Last Supper’ Jesus went out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Sick at heart at all that is about to happen; his soul was sad, to the point of death. At that point of time he did not want to be alone; he took Peter, James and John with him. I remember well how a brilliant colleague of mine committed suicide forty years ago when her boy friend did not turn up to console her the night she knew about her examination failure for the membership of the Royal College of Physicians. But she was a wounded lover, in that night she did not want to be alone, but unfortunately she could only find refuge in a handful of pills and a bottle of whisky. Jesus was very sad when Judas disappeared from the supper table to do his deal; and when three of his trusted friends, at that crucial time, sought comfort in sleep. Jesus too became a wounded lover, rejected, despised and mocked at.

We should meditate on Jesus’ suffering during this lent and what it means for us. His suffering is telling us something about his nature, it was certainly not self pity, he was not suffering for himself; he was suffering for his friends and for us. We too suffer, but our suffering is mostly related to our selfish agenda, personal details, health, wealth and well-being. We look back over the past with grief for things that we had done or failed to do. We mourn with jealousy over the success of our neighbour. We are too busy to feel the need of Jesus for us, our love; are we rejecting Him too because of our engagements with other things in life? In our busyness we do not see the needs of others for our attention. We rarely worry about others and empathise with their misfortunes of life. The other-centred suffering is a gift from God; Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted.” In times of suffering we too could reach out to Jesus for strength, understanding and sympathy and remember what happened to our Lord. Jesus at Gethsemane offered to the Father the pain we should now experience, the pain and burden that we should carry for our neighbour and the people that we offend by our thoughtless actions. In such suffering we have an opportunity and a blessing to be close with Jesus; it is a moment of grace.

When we meditate on Jesus’ passion and suffering at Easter we should think of those who are nailed on the cross of our making everyday by our cruelty and callousness and think of Christ suffering again in them: the social out casts, destitute, victims of religious violence, war, globalisation, and poverty. Through the grace of God we also have the blessing to look beyond the tortured Christ the shining faces of a risen Christ as well. This is our sure hope for the blessedness of the kingdom.

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