“Would we also send Jesus to the cross?” – 2009 Holy Week Reflection

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold . . . He will bring forth justice to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:1)

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” (Matthew 15:3)

“By a perversion of justice he was taken away . . . stricken for the transgression of my people.” (Isaiah 53:8)

“Would we also send Jesus to the cross?”

As we transition through the season of Lent all the way to the end of the Holy Week, the Holy Spirit reminds us that our Christian life is a perpetual turning from the ways of the world to the ways of Jesus.  The practice examining ourselves during the Holy Week usually focuses on the inner life; our sins of both omission and commission.  Of course, many believers, particularly Evangelicals, see no need for setting aside this week as a week of spiritual reflection; “We are free of all such traditions!”  The Holy Week comes and goes, and we remain satiated yet spiritually dulled in spite of our sustained praise.

Yet this is indeed a season of repentance.  And the good news is that this turning is leading us into the promise of Easter, which is Pentecost.  So we ask the good Lord to turn our hearts towards Himself.  Then as empty vessels the Lord fills us afresh!

So the during this season, the Holy Spirit will ask us questions.  He will close our eyes and draw back to into the Gospel story.  He will then open our eyes as we again behold the prophet Jesus walking about the streets of Jerusalem.  Then He will ask us, “Were you there, when they crucified the Lord?”  Then He sometimes asks us questions like, “If Jesus walked amongst us today, would you recognise Him?  Or, would you also send Him to the cross?

If our hearts our turned, the Holy will at times, ask us the question.  So if we turn our hearts, we must also ask ourselves, Are we willing to let the Spirit sift through our entire existence as a community of believers?  Are we willing to let Him also probe the systems, the apparatus, the values, and the very ethos of our gathering together?  Are we willing to allow the Spirit of God to deconstruct all that we think is right and just and good, to only find that what we perceived was right and just and good, is not God’s truth but only chaff in the wind?

What would happen if Jesus Christ came into our church and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted?”  What would happen when He begins to uproot things in the church?  Would we recognise Him or would we also send Him to the cross?

Let us be clear:  It was not, as commonly presumed, that Jesus preached an inner righteousness while His opponents sought only an outer righteousness, and that for this reason they nailed Him to the cross.  No, it’s not that simple.  We now know enough from the sources of Jesus’ day, to suggest that His opponents were in many respects also deeply concerned with both an inner and outer righteousness of the heart.  Nor did Jesus’ opponents nail Him to the cross because He inferred His divinity or inferred Himself as the awaited Messiah.

Rather, the immediate root cause of Jesus’ death was that as God’s prophet, He questioned the prevailing consensus.  He sought to uproot “plants” which God never planted.  He publicly questioned and sought to uproot practices, systems, and symbols to which Jesus’ opponents had so deeply attached their self-identity.  He publicly called into question all our dreams, aspirations, and demarcations of faith.  He questioned prevailing perceptions, interpretations, and postures towards the symbols of faith.  He questioned the prevailing perceptions and postures towards institutions such as the Sabbath, the Torah, the Temple, and the restoration of a political nation-state.  And most threatening of all, He questioned the exclusive authority of the ruling elite.

He questioned the “boundary-markers” of faith; of “who is in and who is out.”  And even more, Jesus envisioned and proclaimed an alternative consciousness which radically jeopardised the authority of the existing power players of His day.  He publicly questioned all these things again, again, and again.  Therefore, those who were most threatened by His questioning, sought to kill him.

And how did they kill Him?  They killed him by maligning His character, His integrity, His place within the community.  They sought to silence Him as a social deviant, an unpatriotic antagoniser, a rebel and a liar.  That is why they nailed Him to the cross.  For by nailing Him to the cross, they sought to forever, ruin the name of Jesus.  The question remains:  If Jesus Christ came into our church and said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted,” would we recognise Him or would we also “nail” Him to a cross?

I have reflected on the practice of Christmas amongst many churches and believers.  Every year here in Singapore, the Muslim festival of Hari Raya Haji vividly precedes Christmas.  This is the way it is of  course within many other religiously pluralistic societies.  About two years ago, the two holidays were only a week apart.  This provided quite a contrast between visible expressions of faith and celebration, between the Muslim and Christian communities.

Given the short span between the two holidays, I saw something, which at least for me- was simply ludicrous, almost tragically comical.  I was perplexed by the bewildering reaction when I shared this reflection with fellow believers.  But here it is.

On the day of Hari Raya Haji, the Singapore Muslim community slaughters thousands of lambs, giving away most of this meat to poor Muslim families; to families in need.  Given the enormity of this exercise, we are reminded every year of this event through the media.  Lest Christians draw the wrong conclusion, this is not a case of the media playing privy to the Muslim holiday..  Not at all; the enormity of the event simply warrants news coverage.

And so in past years- when our economy was strong and booming, Christmas celebrations receive ample news coverage.  Coverage of the hundreds of thousands of dollars churches spend to give a distinct “Christian message” to the Singapore Tourism Board’s “Christmas at Orchard Road.”  Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on bringing in star-studded overseas performers, to help Christians some kind of “Christian meaning and value” to the celebration of Christmas on Orchard Road.  We invest in this “witness” through our dancing, singing, and varied on-stage performances.  In past years, we’d have Christians walking about in brightly coloured, presumably first century Holy Land costumes, along with the many colourful and brightly lit nativity scenes, floats, and “Christmas Village.”  All to insure that the “purity” of the Gospel is somehow held intact within the Orchard Road light-up.”

Just to clarify, Christmas should involve celebration.  It is a festivity and celebration of the coming of Christ.  We can and should to some extent, proclaim Christmas through this pageantry, dancing, and singing.  There has been, and there continues amongst Christians, a desire to “enculturate” popular and pop culture.  “Christmas on Orchard” is one but significant expression of this desire, which has some merit in the long-term penetration of popular culture.

Yet back to my observation a few years ago, regarding the very close proximity between Christmas Hari Raya Haji.  On that year, the broad message which became subtly visible through the media was that in midst of all the time and money given to keep Orchard Road “Christianised,” the Muslims dutifully budget and provide a free meal for the Muslim poor in the land.

Now I am well aware that the “Christmas at Orchard Road” has generated substantial funds for varied charities.  But in terms of the greater picture of December of all that transpires during the festive season, this contrast between the ethos and behaviour associated with Christmas and Hari Raya Haji remains still quite vivid.  To some extent, it is matter of branding the values within an affluent first-world setting, of two contrasting religious communities.

So there comes a time that we must reflect on what we are doing.  We must reflect on how best to “brand” our Christian faith.  We must also ask in the greater picture, what kind of message we are really communicating through our attempt to keep Christmas at Orchard Road, “Christianised.”

I believe that when it comes to penetrating the media and other doors or expressions of popular culture, we Christians do have a powerful role model on how to function as a prophetic light to and within the media world.  We would do well to reflect on his life, and on how he is using his influence as a media personality and celebrity, as a witness to God’s kingdom.  The media personality is successful, culturally relevant, and a true visionary.  His name is, Bono, lead singer of the famed Irish group, U2.

Some Evangelicals struggle with Bono.  Yet I think he is one of the best examples of how a Christian media personality can use his or her life for the cause of Christ.  Bono says that he finds his faith foremost influenced by the words and actions of Jesus, the Beatitudes, and Old Testament Prophets.  I’ve come across two quotes from Bono, which deserve our reflection during this time of global economic meltdown.  Here is the first one:  “To some people the church is their ticket to respectability, a certain bourgeois point of view, a safety net for when they go to bed. My idea of Christianity is no safety net, a scathing attack on bourgeois values, and a risk to respectability.  Clamoring for better church marketing isn’t about respectability, it’s about being authentic and effective.”  Now here’s the second: “The Church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it’s to have any meaning in the world- and stop being its apologist.”

Now back to my observations on the practice of Christmas and Hari Raya Haji.  I wonder then if sometimes the Holy Spirit might be speaking a “word” to believers through Hari Raya Haji, although our ears have not yet opened.  For what is Christmas?  Is not Christmas the advent, the dawning of the Messianic Jubilee?  Perhaps Christmas should therefore involve most all, a giving to the poor, even as Christ first came to the poor.

Some day, the economy will recover.  When it does, what will become of “Christmas on Orchard?”  Here is a proposal.  What if rather than investing so heavily in our performance / entertainment driven “Christianisation” of the Orchard Road light-up, we rather take a less glamorous but socially conscious approach to Christmas.  Perhaps an approach that might even involve some reflection on the actions demonstrated one week earlier on Hari Raya Haji- and maybe, the Holy Spirit might even provide us a creative way to publicise that kind of spiritual act- a witness to the real meaning of Christmas, even at Orchard Road.

If Jesus came in the flesh today, what prevailing consensus would He question?

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house . . . Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.” (Isaiah 58:6-8)

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted, will be uprooted.”