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domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init
action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /nas/content/live/brownpelican/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Jusepe de Ribera, 1591 - 1652 The Lamentation over the Dead Christ early 1620s Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 181 cm Presented by David Barclay, 1853 NG235 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/NG235
The brief “reading” for the midday Office on Tuesday of Holy Week is taken from 1 Corinthians 1, the famous passage that reads: “The Jews demand ‘signs’ and the Greeks look for ‘wisdom’, but we preach Christ crucified – a stumbling block to the Jews and an absurdity to the Gentiles.”
Christ was not entirely averse to giving “signs.” He gave quite a few, in fact. Greek “wisdom,” moreover, was not to be disdained either. A whole book in the Bible is named “the Book of Wisdom.” Paul was sent, immediately, not to India, China, or Africa but to Macedonia, the home of Aristotle and Greek wisdom.
What was the problem here? At the Crucifixion, the mockers shouted to Christ to come down from the Cross and they would believe. But would many of them have believed if He did come down?” Probably not. What precisely was this “stumbling block” that the Crucifixion presented? Why was it an obstacle?
Evidently, the Via Crucis was not the way that the Messiah ought to have come – in majesty and power. He raised no armies, accepted no civil authority. Therefore, He was not the long-awaited Messiah.
Why did the Crucifixion appear so “absurd” and “foolish” to the wise Greeks? Paul tells us that to those Jews and Greeks who did believe, those who were “called” in other words, Christ was both the “power” and “wisdom” of God. If this latter is true, the Crucifixion itself, for all its hapless horror, contained the reason why the path to human redemption led through betrayal, false accusations, Pilate’s “truth,” and the High Priests’ plottings.
Jews did not execute by crucifixion. They tended to use stoning. The Romans really did not want to be involved in this whole mess of what was an intra-Jewish squabble. They used crucifixion as the final deterrent, a death everyone knew was horrible. Avoid it at all costs! Yet, here they were – stuck with, conned into something that seemed to be against their own renowned law.
The Crucifixion took place in Jerusalem under the procedure of Roman Law at the instigation of contemporary Jewish authorities. Tiberius was the Caesar. But the Crucifixion was also under divine law. What does that mean? It means, as St. Basil says in the Second Reading of this same day, that we are observing a “plan” being worked out.
*Image: Lamentation Over the Dead Christ by Jusepe de Ribera, c. 1623 [National Gallery, London] Mary Magdalene is at the Lord’s feet, as the Apostle John supports His body, and His Blessed Mother stands between.