Fifth Sunday of Year C
February 2007
3) The Mass is the Crucifixion.
'I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.'
It is not very helpful to say that Jesus became a human being so that he might suffer and die for us on the cross. This would seem to make God out to be a rather bloodthirsty and vengeful god.
Jesus himself said that he came 'to bear witness to the truth.' What is this truth?
The truth is that we are all created, by God, in his own image and likeness. This means that we are of equal value, have equal rights to life, health and education and equal duties towards our fellow human beings.
If I face the unvarnished truth I see that every human organisation around me is built on some form of inequality to a greater or lesser extent. The church to which I belong is no exception. My whole life is built on inequality.
Should anyone have the courage and determination to actively oppose this they would be sidelined in some way, either by being labeled as eccentric and thus neutralized or arrested and imprisoned on the grounds of being a public nuisance or of breaking some law, which protects inequality.
We see this around us every day where people who oppose institutionalized inequality are constantly harassed and in trouble with the law.
This is what happened to Jesus. This is why he was arrested and executed. This is what 'to bear witness to the truth' inevitably led to.
So the crucifixion was the inevitable outcome and the symbol of a life spent 'bearing witness to the truth.'
We saw in the first talk on the Mass how the Mass is the Last Supper. On the evening he was arrested he celebrated the Last Supper with his followers.
Taking bread he said 'this is my body which be given up for you.'