Holy Week- Don't Try This At Home!

Crucifixion in the Philippines, Asaf Sultan

John 15:13-15

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

With the this quote Jesus prophesied his impending Good Friday crucifixion to his disciples. Along with the other highlights of Holy Week (like Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday) Good Friday is one of those religious holidays filled with ritual and varied historic traditions that makes you focus on the religion part of the Christian religion. In most world religions there is a delicate tension between the folk religion and the organized religion. In Christianity there is a third consideration of the pure and true religion (no, not the jeans). Sometimes true religion within one of these two camps, sometimes it mingles within both and sometimes it is neither. 

 

Meet Ruben Enaje. He's a fairly regular guy. He is a former construction worker who lives in Pampanga, Philippines. Currently he is a professional carpenter and sign painter but once a year (for 27 years) he abandons his normal life for a dangerous, controversial and deadly one. Every Good Friday Ruben is voluntarily crucified in a reenactment of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So far he has been crucified 27 times. He does this as an act of gratitude to God for saving his life in the 80's. He is not alone Though it is discouraged by the Catholic Church leadership, several Filipino Catholics practice this folk religious rite. They do it because Jesus did it.

Church leaders are correct in discouraging this practice. It is an example of earnest people missing the point. It is the difference between what Jesus did and what Jesus asks us to do. As John 15:13-15 says, the mark of our friendship with Christ is that we do what he says/commands. Christ never asked us to be crucified for him. He laid down his life as a one time act that redeems all. He did however make several other demanding, extreme and dangerous requests of us. Jesus asked us to love our enemies, to do good for those who despitefully use us, dive headfirst into a love that promises that we will be hurt, expect suffering, to embrace as much pacifism as possible, to consider others more than ourselves, to serve without expecting reward or promotion and to expect to rise from the dead. To sum it up he asks us to embrace a lifestyle of foolish love and simple faith. His demands are the kind faith that can leave you looking foolish and extreme. Thereby St. Paul declared that "we are fools for Christ's sake." Yet throughout the ages many of Jesus' followers have tried to tame down and sanitize his call to an extreme faith. It is as if we are warning listeners "Jesus was a professional, don't try this at home."

I'm fairly sure that God doesn't co-sign on this disclaimer. True faith is dangerous, not because of its confrontational nature but because of its confrontational love. We must engage the world in love like Christ did. And frankly it's the kind if crazy notion that can get you killed. It's the type of revolutionary love that lead Jesus to lose his life. And it is the same love that empowered him to rise to new life. This love is eternal life. But if you aren't willing to taste this promise of God then maybe you shouldn't try this at home.

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, Jr. stated "So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?" Much like Jesus he would  later become a martyr of that extreme love that he professed. Don't worry, God has not called everyone to actually lay down their life for the cause. He has, however, called all to pick up the life of Christ. We are commissioned to cloak ourselves in the love that Christ displayed. That is how we conform to the image of Christ. It is not a matter of looking like him by physically getting on a cross. It is also not just a matter of believing like him and getting our sinful record erased. It is a matter of living like him, loving like him and acting like him to the least among us. The Christian religion is not just one to be believed in the mind and worshiped in the heart but also acted out in the outside world. Live out the truth of your faith to your family, friends and enemies. Doing this displays to the world that you not only know of God but that you also have a friendship with Him. A friendship that Jesus was willing to die for and you are willing to live for. It is true and pure religion. Even though it can be dangerous, you should forsake all prior warning and try this at home.



 

Two Hands, Two Nails and a Volkswagen

Transfixed, Chris Burden

Galatians 6:14-18

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

You were young once, you know how it is. You're hanging out with some buddies over in your other friend's garage. Just you and the fellas having a good time. Then one of your friends says "Hey! Why are we hanging out in this garage when we can be hanging out at the beach!" And you say, "Oh yeah!" Then you all hope in his Volkswagen Beetle. His car has never been reliable so two of the guys open up the garage door and push it out onto the street. You rev the engine for two minutes before having it pushed back into the garage...because you forgot that your friend Chris is crucified to the top of the car.

No, that isn't a universal experience? Yeah, I guess that's pretty specific and outlandish. Well it is the experience on performance and multimedia artist Chris Burden. In 1974 Burden embarked on an art campaign that centered around performance art acts that all dealt with personal danger to the artist. In another act he had a friend shoot him in the arm. The key with Performance Art (since it is an act and not a painting, sculpture, etc.) is to have someone document it through a photograph (like the one we have up top) or video. This becomes the evidence of the art that you performed and if you do crazy actions like Chris Burden it becomes a tool to boast about how you're more macho than Chuck Norris. Chris Burden was pretty much the precursor of Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O. Many of you will find this photograph of Chris Burden crucified to the top of a VW Beetle sacrilegious at best, and blasphemous at worse. This crude imitation of Christ for Art world fame may be disgusting to you. Many others of you may not accept performance Art as "real art." I apologize for offending you... but I believe that their is a great spiritual lesson that can be learned through this image. And yes, it contradicts what Chris Burden did. 

To my knowledge, Crucifixion isn't practiced anymore as a form of government execution anywhere. I could be wrong on that point... but for some reason I am too lazy to Google it right now. However I do know that it is still practiced as a religious ritual. By Christians nonetheless. Though it is NOT sanctioned by any Church (it is actually discouraged by several) certain Christians in the Philippines volunteer to be publicly crucified every year around Easter. It is not to the point of death, but still, that's pretty tough. Even though it is misguided, this is done as an act of penance and devotion to Christ. Though I wholly disagree with this practice of extreme Easter pageant, I can still loosely understand what they are trying to do. In admiration of Christ's sacrificial act, they attempt to identify with him. Like Paul in Galatians they are trying to "bear on their body the marks (scars) of Jesus. Little do they know there is a much simpler way of doing this. One that still allows you to go home after Easter service and enjoy your 3 foot tall chocolate rabbit. I'll explain...

Now crucifixion in connection to religion is pretty specific to Christianity, but physical suffering and body modification as a sign of religious devotion has been practiced by religions all over for millennia. Lately female circumcision as practiced by certain Middle Eastern and sub-Saharan has garnered a lot of media attention, and subsequent protest, lately. However Male circumcision for religious purposes is practiced by a number of religions and people groups worldwide. Amongst these groups, Judaism is probably its most visible proponent. in fact circumcision was introduced into Judaism by its founder Abraham. So as circumcision as a Jewish religious practice even predates the Laws of Moses. Among all of the 613 Mitzvot (commandments... yes, there are more than 10) circumcision probably stands out as the most symbolic of what it means to be a Jew externally. As we close out Galatians we find Paul giving his closing arguments against the Judaizer faction of the Church, that wanted all Christians (Jewish and Gentile) to live according to Jewish custom. The thing is that they weren't just arguing it from a cultural perspective, but from a salvific perspective. Judaizers believed that Christians had to practice the Jewish Law (along with believing in Jesus) to be saved. So when Paul talks about circumcision in this verse, he isn't just talking about circumcision. Circumcision became the symbol for all 613 Mitzvot of the Jewish Law/ religious customs in this argument. It is because circumcision is the biggest and most painful physical sacrifice of all of the Jewish Law. Combine that with the fact that it is only practiced by men in Judaism leads it to be the one that has the most macho heroism to it. It can lead to the most spiritual bravado and become a point of boasting. It becomes "that big physical sacrifice that you made for God." Paul also believed that the Judaizers may have been asking Gentile Christians to do this to make them more acceptable amongst the Jewish populace in general. hey would have been seen as practicing the whole of Torah Law and it would lead to less conflict with the Non-Christian Jews. So how would anyone know who was circumcised or not? Ummmm, I'm not quite sure...but that's pretty suspect. But even Paul had been guilty of this at an earlier point. He made Timothy, a young biracial (half Jewish/ half Greek) convert get circumcised to make him generally acceptable. But as we pick up in Galatians 6:10 Paul has made a full evolution in his thinking and practice of mandatory circumcision and he compares it to the crucifixion. Instead of focusing on that  "that big physical sacrifice that he made for God" by being circumcised, Paul says that his only hope is to boast in that big physical sacrifice that Christ made for us... the cross. Like circumcision, Christ' flesh was pierced to fulfill the command of God. But this command was for one man (Jesus) to perform, not for all men. However its redemptive effect would cover all. The forgiveness that Christ's sacrificial act reaches to everyone. It is a credit system that everyone can attain access to as if they had made the sacrifice as well. Hence Paul can say things like "he bears the marks of Christ"... while alluding to the crucifixion holes. This redeeming of our credit with God is a new creation. It makes our relationship with God start afresh and wipes away any past indiscretions.       

When one chooses to believe in the gift that was attained through Christ's crucifixion (freedom to love God, freedom to love mankind, freedom from sin), then one attains the marks of Jesus. Jesus' blood covers all that he comes in contact with. When we take the hand of the Crucified Christ, we are left with an impression of the crucifixion on our own hands. A Christian can never be Christ, but the idea is for a Christian to do their best to imitate him. I may not have enough love in my heart to forgive my enemies, but Christ did, and I can imitate him. I may not have the wherewithal to turn the other cheek when I am physically assaulted and insulted, but Christ did, and I can imitate him. I may not have enough faith to trust that God can change me from my sinful ways, but Christ did, and I can imitate him. Eventually my Performance becomes natural and imitating Jesus becomes an Art... and when God looks down at me, He doesn't see my past indiscretions but He sees the sacrifice of His Son on a cross.          



Transfixed, Chris Burden, detail