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“Jesus shatters our image of God and from its ruins invites us to live
in a new wonder” (Ronald Rolheiser).
Jesus had never been to the city of Jerusalem since he started his
mission in the public arena. Until then he had brought the liberating
message of God’s reign only to the peoples who were at the margins
of the Jewish seat of power. The decision to enter the city was very
crucial. No human space, not even that of those who hold power over
people, is exempt from God’s saving love.
How could such ignominy happen so fast and so brutal? To say that it
was so because Jesus had to simply obey a script made-in-heaven
would be to dilute the message of an event that has greatly altered
the trajectory of human history. And to say that it had to be in order to
pay for our sins would have as an icon a God who craves for
suffering and blood in exchange for the insults and calumnies he has
long endured. Both are poor images of the God Jesus had come to
reveal.
Need not our images of God behind the following stances and
postures be examined and shattered?
A popular chief priest calling the highest political authority of the land
a “duwende” (dwarf) in his homily! A corruption-tainted president
surrounded by white-robed priests prayed over and blessed inside
the presidential palace! Some chief priests condemning the
government as having lost moral authority to govern while not a few
of their colleagues insist it had to finish the term mandated by the
people! Invoking the “sense of the faithful” many Catholic
organizations and Christian groups disagree and say it’s time to go
while others prefer to be on their knees to pray the oratio imperata!
And what can one make out of religious officials gladly accepting
financial help dished out from the government office for religious
affairs? Or government officials spinning the truth to protect the so-
called “national interest”? Or religious leaders demanding the highest
standards of governance upon all except themselves?
The holy week is a good week to examine if the God we worship and
praise as well as profess to love and serve is truly the God that he is.
Aloysius L. Cartagenas
SMSC, 16 March 2008