Three years ago, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a mere three weeks old when a performance of Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion took on new dimensions of pathos for me.
I wrote then that the parallel of the false accusations, lies and unjustified suffering inflicted on Jesus with the unjust suffering of millions of innocent Ukrainians would not be lost on attentive audiences.
This week, now 1,150 days into the war, another performance of Bach’s timeless oratorio sobered me afresh by the haunting parallels in betrayal and suffering. Just as Jesus is betrayed by a close follower and handed over to unjust powers, Ukraine has faced aggression from a neighboring nation with deep historical ties, echoing a sense of fraternal betrayal. And not just of blood ties.
The high priests and religious leaders in the trial of Jesus have their contemporary counterparts.
For the bronze monument of Prince Volodymyr the Great overlooking the Dnipro flowing through Kyiv is a reminder of the birthplace of both Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox faiths. The high priests and religious leaders in the trial of Jesus have their contemporary counterparts. The Russian Orthodox patriarch has expelled dozens of priests for daring to pray for peace and refusing to pray the officially-mandated prayer asking for Russian victory over Ukraine in the ‘Holy War’.
New (dis)order
This year Ukrainians have had to bear an extra painful layer of betrayal—from her erstwhile strongest ally. The new American administration is hastening to enforce a new world order through destruction, chaos and disruption. One name for this new (dis)order, in which "empathy is a sin", is Dark Enlightenment.
Ukraine and other former Soviet nations aspiring for freedom from tyranny are now abandoned to an anti-egalitarian, anti-liberal and post-democratic world ruled by power-seeking autocrats. This carving up of the world, echoing the 1945 Yalta Conference, is being executed under the cover of so-called "Peace Talks". the Americas (including Canada and Greenland) goes to King Donald; Europe, east and west, to the new Prince Vladimir; and the rest of Asia to China.
In this view, representative democracy, the rule of law, civil rights, public opinion, and the separation of powers have to go. Only might is right. Society should be governed like a business, with powerful CEOs at the helm—like the world power which ruled over Jesus’ trial and crucifixion.
How could that Palm Sunday throng be so easily swayed?
“Barabbas!” the crowd yelled. The parallel of the fickleness of the Jerusalem crowd pinned me to my seat. How could that Palm Sunday throng be so easily swayed by the religious leaders to choose for a convicted criminal and demand the crucifixion of Truth? How could millions of church-goers be so swayed by religious and political leaders excusing the fabric of lies, hatred and vengeance in the name of "the Judeo-Christian legacy"? "...with crosses round their neck but Nietzsche in their heart’, as someone has quipped.
Bach's Passion’s music amplifies the anguish of the innocent, portraying Christ’s pain not only physically but spiritually, as he bears the weight of others’ sins: "The world has judged me deceitfully / With lies and with false utterance, / Many a snare and secret plot./ Lord, guard me in this danger, / Shield me from false deceits."
Similarly, Ukraine—publicly and falsely accused of having started this war—carries the burden of a conflict driven by the geopolitical ambitions of others. The voices of lament in Bach’s work find resonance in the voices of Ukrainians mourning their dead and praying for peace.
Thread of hope
Yet, amid darkness, the St. Matthew’s Passion also holds a thread of hope. Bach’s oratorio ends with the burial of Jesus. Unlike the disciples, we know that’s not the end of the story. But each year we linger on Good Friday and Holy Saturday to reflect on the suffering of Christ and the place of suffering in human life and God’s purposes.
Yet. We know that Sunday is coming.
We are witnessing the end of an era.
Meanwhile, we remain in the midst of our own Holy Saturday. Which could last a while. We are witnessing the end of an era. Democracy and liberalism, severed from their root understanding of humanity as bearing God’s image, have failed. Lawless men are destroying the social fabric built over centuries. The super-rich, super-powerful, and super-proud presently hold many levers of power.
Yet their drive, purposes and methods grate against the grain of the universe. They cannot build anything lasting. In the long run, pride, greed, deceit, hatred, ruthlessness, and power cannot compete with the soft powers of humility, justice, generosity, truth, mercy, love, and service modeled by the man on the cross.
Because, in the end, he triumphs!
Originally published by Weekly Word. Republished with permission.
Jeff Fountain and his wife Romkje are the initiators of the Schuman Centre for European Studies. They moved to Amsterdam in December 2017 after living in the Dutch countryside for over 40 years engaged with the YWAM Heidebeek training center. Romkje was founder of YWAM The Netherlands and chaired the national board until 2013. Jeff was YWAM Europe director for 20 years, until 2009. Jeff chaired the annual Hope for Europe Round Table until 2015, while Romkje chaired the Women in Leadership network until recently. Jeff is author of Living as People of Hope, Deeply Rooted and other titles, and also writes weekly word, a weekly column on issues relating to Europe.
Weekly Word is an initiative of The Schuman Centre for European Studies. Jeff Fountain is a New Zealander holding a Dutch passport, is currently the director of the Schuman Centre for European Studies (www.schumancentre.eu), and lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Jeff graduated with a history degree from the University of Auckland (1972) and worked as a journalist on the New Zealand Herald (1972-3), and as travelling secretary for Tertiary Student Christian Fellowship (TSCF) (1973). He has lived in the Netherlands since 1975, and has travelled and spoken in almost every European country. For twenty years following the fall of communism, he was the European director for the international and interdenominational mission organisation, Youth With A Mission. He was chairman of the international, trans-denominational movement, Hope for Europe, for which he organised two pan-European congresses in Budapest in 2002 and 2011. In 2010, he established the Schuman Centre for European Studies (www.schumancentre.eu) to promote biblical perspectives on Europe’s past, present and future, to encourage effective engagement in issues facing Europe today.
