The physical and sexual abuse of children.

 

The emotional and physical abuse of students by other students.

 

The psychological abuse of employees by their bosses.

 

The abuse of one spouse by another.

 

The abuse of the elderly by their caregivers.

 

Unfortunately, such abuse is all too common in our society.

 

In every form of abuse, whether it is physical, emotional, or sexual, there is one thing that is constant. All abuse involves the strong taking advantage of the vulnerable. It involves the powerful having their way with the weak. It never is the other way around. The weak never have their way with the strong.

 

This Sunday, we read the account of the Passion (Matthew 26:14-27:66). The account of the arrest, the trial, the mockery, the humiliation, the torture, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If ever there was a case of abuse, that was it. The strong beat down the weak.

 

That happened because the Son of God came in weakness. As Paul wrote in his Letter to the Philippians, "Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness...he humbled himself."

 

As someone perceived as weak, Jesus was abused by the religious authorities, who held positions of power, and wanted no one to question their standing.

 

He was abused by the occupying Romans, who ruled with an iron fist, and had no tolerance for any Jew who might cause a problem.

 

He was abused by the crowd, who gained strength by their numbers and shouted for his crucifixion when he did not meet their expectations.

 

Jesus, the Son of God, suffered that abuse because he came in weakness. Had he come as a king, a general, or an emperor, there would be no Passion reading included in the Gospels. But God came to his creatures in a way the world judged as weakness.

 

Today, God continues to show himself in weakness. God reveals himself in a weak and sinful Church. God speaks through words in scripture that can be shouted down. God acts in simple, quiet ways, that can be overlooked and ignored.

 

God does not decree earthquakes and tsunamis to cease. God does not command wars to end and humanity to live in peace. God does not blot out disease, war, violence, and crime. God seems to remain as weak as he was when abused by his creatures and thrown upon the cross.

 

That is one of the great mysteries of our Christian faith. Our faith reveals that God acts in ways that we judge to be weak and powerless. Perhaps that is because of what power does. Power controls. Power dominates. Power abuses. And the more absolute the power, the greater the abuse.

 

The cross that dominates the Passion reading, the cross that hangs in every church, the cross that we make upon our bodies, proclaims that true greatness is not found in power, but rather in tenderness, in mercy, in humility, and in love – in what society perceives as weakness. That is the lesson of Passion Sunday, and it is a lesson this world has yet to learn.

 

© 2026 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski