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At the cross enemies find their call to look out for the interest of the other, as Christ has done for us. For the joyful, there is the reminder that pride and political power put Jesus on the cross, so be careful where you put your trust. For the anxious, there is the hope that political power and even the possibility of losing one’s life does not have the last word. The last Word has been spoken on the cross: his name is Jesus and he calls the Church to model a better way. For it is at the foot of the cross where we might be able to hear this Word, and we might be able to hear him even in “the other,” even the one across the political aisle, or the protest line. If Jesus’s first team of disciples included both a tax collector and zealot, two people radically opposed to one another’s political positions, then there is more space for listening and patience than we’re initially inclined to allow. But the Church that is destined to celebrate together in the new heavens and new earth must learn to suffer together across divisions, and most importantly, to suffer with those who suffer, especially the poor and victims of injustice, for this is what Jesus has done for us. It is only when we have learned this that we will be able to understand the good news of the Cross and Resurrection, and how the hope of the new heavens and new earth makes all the difference in the world.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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