Step 1-- Initial Diagnosis: Deserting
Jesus warned his disciples on the night of his betrayal that they would
all become "deserters" (26:31). Peter and the disciples protest -- they
are not deserters. "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you"
(26:35). But it is evident from the beginning of this passion narrative,
Judas' plan to betray Jesus (26:14-15), to the end, the placing of the
guards at the tomb (27:62-66), that the wheels are in motion not only to have
Jesus eliminated but to leave his deserters without a cause. When Pilate asks,
"Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is
called the Messiah?" (27:17), the crowd is manipulated to the cause of
desertion, finding no seeming objection to Jesus' blood being on them and
their children (27:25). The choice for Jesus Barabbus does not save -- it
only confirms our deserting (and murdering) beings. And what of the
self-proclaimed disciples-to-the-death in the midst of these cries for
death? They have deserted, to the last one (26:56, 69-75).
Step 2-- Advanced Diagnosis: Denying
The truth of the desertion can be disturbing. It leads Peter to weep
bitterly (26:75); Pilate's wife cannot find restful sleep (27:19); and
Pilate finds himself powerless to do anything, washing his hands of the
matter (27:24). But there are the more active forms of denial: the
incited crowd, mimicking the agenda of the religious authorities,
calling for his crucifixion; the soldiers who mock, spit, strike and
strip him (27:27-31); the passers-by at the crucifixion deride (27:39);
his lowly companions on the crosses next to him who "taunt" him
(27:44). Even the women followers must keep their distance (27:55).
Jesus has become, for one and all, a stigma -- and a stigma to be kept
firmly sealed in death (27:66).
Step 3-- Final Diagnosis: Stigmatized
Those who have overseen the death of this stigmatized one, however, are
ultimately left with a haunting, terrifying truth: "Truly this man was
God's Son!" The stigma with whom no one would finally have dealings
turns out to be the very representative of God's self. No wonder the
religious authorities were "jealous" (27:18)! But now they, and one and
all, have reason to fear. They have eliminated and sealed God from their
lives, or so they think. But God will hold the final judgment on denying
deserters -- whether intentional or unintentional. When we consider our
denying and deserting of all the stigmatized (cf. Matthew 25), even our
denying and deserting of our own stigma of death (Ernest Becker), or our
inclination to run from God -- our original sin -- none of us are left off
the stigmatism as those who have engaged in the denying, deserting, and
killing of God. Nor is God in his judgment of us all with this stigma.
Step 4-- Initial Prognosis: Bearing the Stigma unto Death
With his last cry, Jesus ups the ante on the depth of his desertion -- "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (27:46) The stigma on all of us
who have been ourselves judged ultimately forsaken is born unto death
by Jesus the Christ. He saves the deserted by becoming himself deserted,
bearing their stigma (stigmata) of deserved death and putting it to death
once and for all. Beyond his final breath, there is "his resurrection"
(27:53).
Step 5-- Advanced Prognosis: Bearing in the Stigmata
Since this Jesus has born with us in the midst of our desertion and seen
us through to new life, we also get to hope in his stigmata that nothing
can keep us down. We are privileged to have his body as our own
(27:58-59), to keep the vigil (27:61), and to share in the hope that what
is true for Jesus is also true for us. Our "tombs also were opened"
with him (27:52-53). We are numbered among those "saints" who even in
our own stigma of death in/with Christ are only "fallen asleep" to be
"raised" to new awakenings.
Step 6-- Final Prognosis: Telling the Promise
Despite the efforts to keep the promise from spreading, there is nothing
that can keep Jesus the Christ's saving victory entombed. Those who
share in his stigma share in his promising word for the world, "He has
been raised from the dead!" (27:64), perhaps in peril of having to bear
their own stigmatism in the proclaiming. But for those who proclaim, who
share in Christ's stigmata, they are not finally silenced -- not till the
whole world can rest secure in the promise.