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.