James,
the brother of the Lord, presumes teachers will be judged more strictly for no
other reason than presuming to be teachers. (James 3:1) No one received a harsher
and less deserved judgment than his half brother, the one given “the tongue of
the teacher” who did not hide his face from insult and spitting. But the lesson
the teacher learned "morning by morning" was not sufficient to sustain his life
when at the third hour he was stripped naked and nailed to wood. Of course it
was because he gave his back to those who struck him and his cheek to those who
pull out the beard that the Word made flesh was not put to shame even when subjected
to a cruel and unjust death. This is the mystery of God becoming one with all
that has gone so horribly wrong with the creation. The creator is crucified by
those created in the image of God. And the final irony is that he is killed for
being more righteous than the religion he came to redeem. If that were the end
of his story the story of the world’s suffering would have no end but since his
end is our beginning the weary world will be sustained by the word that even
death could not silence.
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