March 29, 2024
Written by Emily Lyons,
Parishioner at Saint Philip’s in the Hills, Tucson
Originally Published in the Bell & Tower Newsletter
“He was despised, and we held him of no account.” —Isaiah 53:3
As the organizer of the new prison ministry effort at Saint Philip’s, I was inspired to offer some of my reflections on how the lessons of Holy Week could inform a faith-based approach to working with and advocating for those in prison. I’m not a biblical scholar, so I hope that readers who are more informed on these topics will set me right if they find any heresies or errors in my exegesis.
On Palm Sunday, we heard St. Mark’s account of all the events surrounding Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, from his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem to his burial. We continue to memorialize these events throughout Holy Week. However, when we are confronted with the enormity of the crucifixion itself and what it signifies, many of the other details recede into the background.
As you contemplate the passion story this week, I invite you to direct some attention to these details, which remind us that the crucifixion is the culmination of a criminal proceeding. Jesus is arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Although Pontius Pilate expresses doubt about the charges for which the Sanhedrin have convicted him, by upholding his death sentence he affirms Jesus’ status as a convicted criminal. It is as a convicted criminal that Jesus is subjected to humiliation and abuse by his jailers and by the jeering crowd at the foot of the cross.
We approach the passion story already knowing, as Jesus knows, that his death is preordained and required for the salvation of humanity. Viewing the story through this frame, we understand that Jesus’ arrest, trial, and execution, beyond being a mere miscarriage of justice, represent the fulfillment of prophecy. At the same time, the manner of Jesus’s death, especially when we consider it in light of Isaiah 53, indicates how important it is for us to consider what it means for him to be made a criminal in the eyes of the people.
Although the image of the crucified Christ is central to our tradition, the very centrality of this image serves to decontextualize the cross as a brutal regime’s instrument of capital punishment, instead emphasizing Christ’s sacrifice in a way that allows us to connect intimately with his personal suffering.