The Passion of the Christ
according to Mark begins with a woman (name forgotten) who is remembered for
her costly act of devotion and ends with two women (names remembered) who see
where “he was laid”. It is a story with the usual cast of characters in a human
drama; betrayers, deniers, accusers, abusers, the clueless crowd crying crucify
and the faithful few fear scattered and hiding. In the center of it all is the
One to whom the “beautiful thing is done” by the name forgotten woman as a sign of
the burial that the women names remembered see. From the table with the twelve to the
garden of “take this cup from me” the confident One who predicts his death and
resurrection moves inextricably to the moment where “My God, My God why have you
forsaken me?” means the Holy One bears the full weight of the world gone
horribly wrong. Not that God the (perfect) Father turns his back on the (sin
carrying sacrifice) Son but that God enters so fully into the human rebellion
against the Divine desire for love that the power and majesty of the “in the beginning”
creating Word is abandoned to the inevitable reality of “he emptied himself and
humbled himself unto death.” (Philippians 2:7-8) A God divested of power is a
God quickly stripped of life. So the beginning might be as important as the
end. The woman (name forgotten) is remembered because the one she anointed for
burial while alive came back to life after he was dead so that the women (names
remembered) could point to the empty place where “swear to God” they saw him buried.
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