Accused! – The Importance and Transformative Power of Eating Meat
I heard a sermon recently on Mark 14:53-65 –
Jesus Accused
“They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes gathered together. And Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the entire Council were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many people were giving false testimony against Him, and so their testimonies were not consistent. And then some stood up and began giving false testimony against Him, saying, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that was made by hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.’” And not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. And then the high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not offer any answer for what these men are testifying against You?” But He kept silent and did not offer any answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and said to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death. And some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists and say to Him, “Prophesy!” Then the officers took custody of Him and slapped Him in the face.””
The preacher sermonizing this passage went on to talk about Jesus suffering injustice at the hands of his accusers, not only in being falsely accused but also suffering the pain of physical abuse and the humiliation of public mockery.
The focus of the sermon then turned to the healing available for us in Christ when we suffer injustice because Jesus could empathize, as a human person, who suffered pain and indignity. The Spirit consoles and comforts us, even instructing and leading us in the forgiveness of those who wrong us. When we learn to forgive, as Jesus forgave those who ultimately nailed him to the Cross, we find ourselves set free from the woundedness of our abuse.
Understandably, we typically avoid those who attack us, whether literally or figuratively. Pain avoidance, both from physical and psychological trauma, is natural to human behavior. This is why the sentiments of “turn the other cheek” and “go the extra mile” are so foreign to our normal way of thinking. Why on earth would I subject myself to such misery?
As Christians, however, as we seek to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, that is, to take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), we have motivation to understand and participate in, and even relish, the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13). Jesus doesn’t just invite us into suffering but determines that it is actually a vital part of the journey of discipleship – “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
This is where a significant step in our spiritual growth occurs, where we must choose to cross a most difficult threshold. It is not unlike the difference Paul draws between believers drinking spiritual milk and eating spiritual meat.
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
In this passage, can you hear the echo of “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)?
The milk and meat analogy Paul draws upon is poignant for discussing spiritual growth. Milk, as Paul points out, is for babes. It provides basic nutrients by the administration of an easily digestible form. Spiritual milk is for the nurture and healing of new or immature believers. Sadly, like babies, we see some who never seem able to let go of deeply selfish needs or to forgive old wounds and offenses. With an inward orientation, they are unable to digest the meat of Paul’s doctrine which grasps and cherishes the protein-enriched meals of outwardly focused ministry, the sustenance of enduring spiritual strength.
Let’s see if I can’t now tie all this together.
Jesus suffered persecution, humiliation, beating, mockery, and death, But, was it unjust? Here is that threshold! From the human perspective, as we have experienced and define fairness, Jesus certainly suffered unjustly for he had done nothing wrong. Our view of justice tends to be what we frame as comeuppance: “Yessir, he got his just desserts,” or “She had it coming!” or, the often heard, “What goes around, comes around,”
This is a strong sense of how the world thinks of karma (as action produces repercussions) but follows the very creation nature principle that everything produces after its own kind. Thus, negativity is often augmented by greater negativity, Encouragement often lifts the hearer to greater heights of behavior and performance, and so on. All of this is wrapped in the basic logic of cause and effect.
So, the question remains, was Jesus’ treatment unjust? Consider, he chose to be in that room, to not run away or hide from his persecutors. In fact, he was there because his heavenly Father had orchestrated all these events knowing the Jews and Romans (Gentile power) would collaborate to kill him. Can God be unjust?
The answer to the last question, if we understand the nature and character of holiness, purity, divinity, and love at all in Judeo-Christian theology, is obviously no. God cannot be unjust. So, how do we reckon with this conundrum where Jesus suffers for doing nothing wrong but it is not unjust?
The answer is, Jesus chose to suffer. He did it willingly. And the guiding principle is behind the admonition – “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Love, and therefore the character of divine righteousness, is inherently self-sacrificial. Love always costs something. And true love always sacrifices willingly.
This is the meat of the divine call to dying to ourselves, to take up our cross, to give of ourselves willingly, not because we must but, being transformed into the loving image of Christ, we can.
To state it clearly, this meat is our participation in the enduring sacrificial work of Christ, by the power of the Cross, to overcome evil by suffering – whether the loss is physical, material, social, psychological, etc. We take the loss because that is the power of God – now inherent in our nature by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us – for overcoming death itself, the defeat of sin that separates God and humankind.
As I hope we can now agree, there are two ways to view Jesus’ persecution, trial, and condemnation – the one drawing on our sympathy, the other inviting our empathy. But there is still a bit more to grasp.
God’s aim in creation was a natural outpouring of the goodness of divinity. Adam’s sin stained the creation that would otherwise have demonstrated God’s glory and joyfully embraced all of cosmic life. And sin became the barrier that separated God from humankind, indeed all of creation. Jesus’ willing sacrifice then performed the surgical removal of that barrier, overcoming the power of death. The power of sin was also then disempowered at the Cross but it is the removal of the barrier itself that presents the opportunity for our “doing works even greater still” (John 14:12).
Jesus proposed that, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we can participate in God’s self-revelation, that “by [our] good works” we glorify our heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). These works include, I believe, not just good works of compassion or sharing the Gospel, of doing good in the apparent sense, but also the sacrificial defeat of individual and systemic sins.
Let me explain: One of the modern misconceptions about the Bible is that when we die, we go to be with Jesus in heaven. That isn’t really in there. There is an interim state which those who now “sleep,” in biblical parlance, are currently enduring. It is with Christ but it is not a heavenly destination. Rather, the rest of the story is that Christ the King, and his entourage, will return to dwell upon the earth.
Part of the misconception has been that heaven and earth will be replaced with a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1) but the term is not the Greek neos (chronologically new) but rather kainos (meaning refreshed or transformed). Scripture tells us that the earth abides forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4), which in conjunction with Revelation 21:1, suggests Jesus meaning, that the “passing away” of heaven and earth, may be transformative in nature (figurative) rather than literal.
If we believe that the sacrificial love of God provides transformative power, especially through the healing of wounded egos and shifting our perspectives (vision*) from that of broken humanity to the mind of Christ, by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and given our calling to carry out God’s agenda, first perfectly demonstrated by Christ on the Cross, it begins to illuminate why creation groans for the coming forth (revelation) of the [people] of God:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” – Romans 8:18-23.
As we “eat meat” in participation with Christ in his sufferings, by willingly suffering injustice, that is, abuse at the hands of our family, friends, neighbors, and the world, our sacrifice takes the element of evil (are you starting to hear echoes of Joseph to his brothers – Genesis 50:20) and removes it, by displacing evil with good (1 Peter 3:8-9), from the world by the power of Christ’s Cross, by each act of forgiveness, bringing another increment in healing the corruption of the world, toward its renewal. Our alignment with Christ in his sufferings is instrumental in our own transformation AND the restoration of the cosmos to God’s original design and intent.
* see Elisha and his servant (Gehazi) in 2 Kings 6:17
Thank You!
Eden's Bridge 