I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. —John13:34
You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
—Deuteronomy 10:19
“…take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.†—Karl Barth
Holy Week calls Christians to remember and reflect on the the event of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Jesus stands as a faithful embodiment of God’s steadfast love through the betrayal of Maundy Thursday and the brutality of Good Friday. In the face of it all, Jesus stands in solidarity with those who suffer injustice and violence. Through his suffering and rising anew, Jesus transforms the cross from a symbol intended to convey fear and intimidation into a sign of hope, forgiveness and new life. Holy Week summons us to share in Christ’s suffering love and be attentive to unjust practices in our own day.
Recent news of a distant neighbor from Maryland, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, has been making headlines in recent weeks after the U.S. government acknowledged that his deportation to a notorious El Salvadoran prison was a mistake in violation of a previous court order. Since then his case has been before the courts with both governments of El Salvador and the U.S. claiming this error cannot be rectified. Such disregard for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s alarming plight seems strikingly cruel and a violation of the Constitutional guarantee of due process and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Mr. Garcia’s case is not the only story of those without criminal records vexingly snared in the nets of mass deportation. Christ, have mercy…
One of many wise voices from the great communion of saints is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose commemoration falls on April 9, the date of his execution by the Nazi regime in 1945. Bonhoeffer’s wisdom, faith and courageous witness echo far beyond his lifetime. Bonhoeffer was a faithful disciple of Christ, a German pastor, theologian and an anti-Nazi dissident. Two of his best known works are “The Cost of Discipleship†and “Life Together.†Depending on the date of Easter in a given year, it’s fitting that Bonhoeffer’s commemoration falls in close proximity to Holy Week and Easter.
These Bonhoeffer quotes from his writings offer abiding wisdom for our time:
“Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.†—from Bonhoeffer’s sermon on 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.â€
“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.†—â€The Cost of Discipleshipâ€
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.†—â€Letters and Papers from Prisonâ€
May this Holy Week help us know the grace of God, the call of Christ and the paradox of God’s power made perfect in weakness.
