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A Different Kind of Bloodline
Combining into one liturgy the “Hosanna!” of the triumphal palm procession and the “Crucify him!” of the passion drama—especially as filtered through Paul’s image of the “exalted” slave—invites a meditation on the mystery of Jesus’ sovereignty.
How can we Americans or Canadians grasp what it means to have or want a king when we reject the notion that bloodline conveys the right to rule? And yet, thanks to fairy tales, the Arthurian legends, and Shakespeare we have some inkling of the power, privilege, and even “divine rights” of royalty. We can use our imaginations to muster up a rousing “Ride on, King Jesus!” Then we can appreciate the incongruity: this king has to borrow a donkey, a room, and a tomb. Then, even more confounding, is that this king, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited” and even borrows our human likeness—including our death (Phil. 2:6).
Judas and Pilate are symbols of all humanity—including the church, to its shame—in their desire for a grand royal gesture: start a revolution, call in your army, dazzle us with eloquent testimony. Jesus resists every such temptation and embraces the mortal human scale of his limited earthly reign.
Jesus prophesied that when he was lifted up all the world would be drawn to him; Philippians proclaims that “every knee should bend” and “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” So, whose knee will bow at the name of Jesus? All those who, following Jesus and trusting the faithfulness of God, are drawn to attend fully to human life, need, and mortality.
In monarchy, leaders lead by virtue of divine sanction of a particular bloodline. Our fond hope is that leadership is bestowed on the basis of merit, hard work, and authentic charisma. Our cynical fear is that it is bestowed on the basis of money, influence, and cronyism. The witness of Passion Sunday is that Jesus’ credential is innocent blood shed in obedience to God for the sake of the broken.
Gospel: Mark 14:1-9
As Jesus approached His last Passover with the disciples, an unnamed woman anoints the feet of Jesus. Her story is one of love and service.
1It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; 2for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
3While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”