Deep within them
June 15 will be the eight centenary of Magna Carta, an
agreement signed by King John of England and his barons (local chiefs) to
restrict the king’s power to arbitrarily raise taxes and arrest people. It was
fuzzy and amended several times but it had great symbolic value as a step in limiting
executive power and establishing a balance between the ruler and parliament.
Several countries, notably the United States, looked back to it for inspiration
in their own struggle against tyranny.
Efforts to write constitutions in modern states show all the
signs of unresolved conflicting interests evident in that document all those
years ago. Zambia has just celebrated 50 years of independence but they still
do not have a ‘home grown’ constitution as the one the British left gave
extensive powers to the president and successive holders of that office are in
no hurry to surrender them.
The struggle to realise deep seated feelings for freedom and
a ‘social contract’ between ruler and ruled arises out of something in-born in
every person. People the world over can be roughly divided into those who enjoy
freedom of choice, with regard to their own way of life and their government of
the day, and those who have no choice but are on the receiving end of regimes
they do not like and a way of life that cramps their growth as human beings.
Ancient Israel had its ‘constitution’ in that the law handed
on by Moses laid down rights and duties in some detail. But the promise was
always there that this law would mature into a personal relationship between
God and his people individually = not en
masse. Jeremiah, in chapter 31,
expressed this eloquently when he wrote, ‘deep within them I will plant my law
…and they will know me, the least no less than the great.’
As we approach Holy Week we become aware that Jesus in his
own person travelled this searing route of personal responsibility. ‘He offered
up prayer, aloud and in silent tears … and became for all who obey him the
source of eternal salvation’ (Hebrews 5). He became the great individual, alone
and abandoned on the cross, who walked the route of authentic human response to
what was deepest within him. By so doing he opened the way for all humanity. He
himself said, ‘unless a grain of wheat dies it remains a single gain. If it
dies it yields a rich harvest.’ (John 12).
What we have in the passion and death of Jesus is the deeply
truthful response of a human being to unspeakable evil. Captives in ISIS lands
face death by beheading with little chance of escape. They don’t know what is
happening. They have no means of appeal. They are totally powerless. Jesus has
tasted this hopelessness and abandonment.
22 March 2015 Lent
Sunday 5 B
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hebrews
5:7-9 John
12:20-33
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