Let this Cup Pass. Approaching Maundy Thursday
And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’” — Matthew 26:39.
Jesus, Romero, MLK, Bonhoeffer
Romero (March 24), MLK (April 4), Bonhoeffer (April 9)
Interestingly, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, three of the most well-known 20th-century Christian martyrs, die close to Easter. Archbishop Romero is shot on March 24 at age 62 at the altar in El Salvador while celebrating the Eucharist after speaking out against the current government’s brutality. Martin Luther King is shot on April 4 at age 39 in Memphis, where he is supporting striking city sanitation workers. Bonhoeffer is hanged on April 9, also at age 39, for taking part in plans to assassinate Hitler. He is killed 23 days before the Nazi surrender.
Romero is shot as he lifts the chalice at the end of the Eucharistic rite. When a death squad kills him, his blood falls onto the altar and mixes with the contents of the blood of Christ in the chalice.
All three men are icons for our Lenten and Holy Week journey, people who speak their truth even when it offends the ruling authority.
Jesus also dies when his message offends the temple’s religious leaders, who then scheme with the Roman authorities to kill him. Jesus is not killed at age 33 by the Jews but by the ruling Jewish religious elite. They persuade the elite Roman officials that Jesus’ presence threatens the peace in occupied Palestine.
Romero, MLK, and Bonhoeffer don’t start their Lenten journeys as the voices of truth. They are all quiet, modest men. The Vatican approved Romero as bishop with the El Salvadoran government’s approval because he seemed “quiet and safe." Black leaders choose King to lead the bus boycott because of his youth and because he is the newest and youngest black pastor in Montgomery at age 25. Bonhoeffer is simply a deep-thinking Lutheran theologian.
But on their journey, the three witness the injustices in the world caused by those in authority over the powerless. They die to an old life of quiet conformity and silence, and are reborn into a new life of speaking out Christ’s truth in love.
Eventually, like Jesus, all three realize they will be killed for trying to address the injustices and lack of love in the world around them. Their writings all suggest that they, like Jesus, ask that this cup pass from them, but it doesn’t. So, with a price on their heads, they walk straight into the turbulent storm.
We remember them today, just as we recall the night the one they followed is also about to die. We pray for even a little of their courage and strength to speak out against the injustices in our world, supported by authorities where we live, work, play, and worship.
We pray for the strength to do “the next right thing,” as Jesus taught Oscar, Martin, and Dietrich.
Joanna Seibert. joannaseibert.com. https://www.joannaseibert.com/