by Dr. Lani Wilson

Good morning, faithful warriors. Memorial Day is upon us: How did that happen? It was just New Year’s Day a minute ago. As God allows, we move on with time, following its tide as we are blessed to do so.

ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense ‘befitting, becoming, suitable’): from Latin convenient -‘assembling, agreeing, fitting,’ from the verb convenire (see convene).
Apple Online Dictionary

And of course, we know the definition and different usages of this adjective.

fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans: I phoned your office to confirm that this date is convenient.• involving little trouble or effort: the new parking lot will make shopping much more convenient.• (convenient to) situated so as to allow easy access to: the 34-story building is convenient to downtown.• occurring in a place or at a time that is useful: put the blame on a convenient scapegoat.
Ibid.

There is the familiar verse from Paul about preaching when it is convenient and inconvenient. In this sense, the word means that the Gospel must be preached regardless of the conditions of the place, person or things.

Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction.
II Timothy 4:2 (NET)

In Acts 24:25 (TMB) it seems to be used as an escape from judgement.

As Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and his people, about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgment, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed him. "That’s enough for today. I’ll call you back when it’s convenient."

Another use of the word describes Judas’ attempt to find the right set of circumstances
to deliver Jesus into the hands of the Romans, Pharisees, and Sadducees.

When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him.
Mark 4:11 (NET)

Thus, we have three situations when convenient is a descriptor of a persistent state (II Timothy 4:2), anxious distancing from a truth (Acts 24:25), and opportune circumstances for personal gain (Mark 4:11).

Yet, as noted in the origin of the word at the top of the page, there is another perhaps deeper meaning to the word convenient: When there is a confluence of circumstances that are “agreeable,” “befitting,” “becoming,” “suitable,” “fitting” or “assembling.” This derived meaning is less pejorative than its other descriptive uses and is somewhat baffling. It is, of course, in the mystically different book of John - outside of the teachings of Paul in Timothy, the documentation of Mark, and the drama of the beginnings of the church in Acts - that we find the quixotic, terse use of this adjective convenient.

So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.
John 19:42 (TMB)

Was anything about Jesus the Christ’s life, death, and resurrection situationally convenient?

Jesus came from a family of modest means that presumably did not own a rock-cut tomb. Because Jesus died and was removed from the cross on the eve of the Sabbath, there was no time to dig a trench grave for him. For this reason, Jesus’ body was placed in the rock-cut family tomb of a wealthy follower (named Joseph of Arimathea in the Gospel accounts).
Jodie Magness, Ossuaries and the Burials of Jesus and James. Journal of Biblical Literature, 2005, 134 (1), pg. 122.

Jewish burial customs were complex according to custom and culture. In other words, there was Jewish law, Jewish class distinctions, and Jewish adaptation to culture. In this case it was Hellenistic culture, for example, as influenced by the ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians.

Monumental tombs marked by a pyramid became a raging fashion after Simon constructed the family tomb at Modiin.⁵⁹ The ultimate source of inspiration for these tombs was the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which presumably none of Jerusalem’s elite in the Hasmonean period —not even Simon—ever saw.
Ibid, 135.

The timing of Jesus’ death on the cross meant that He had to be buried immediately before sundown at the beginning of the Sabbath - Friday. But because there was no time, and specifically no money because Jesus was a poor Galilean, to properly bury Him, another option had to materialize. During the First Century AD (or BCE) wealthy Jews adopted the fashion and practices of their colonizers, especially after Jewish rule was established again in Palestine with the Hasmonean dynasty in place in the person of Herod.

Jesus came from a family of modest means that presumably could not afford a rock-cut tomb.114 Had Joseph not offered Jesus a spot in his tomb (according to the Gospel accounts), Jesus likely would have been disposed of in the manner of the poorer classes: in an individual trench grave dug into the ground. In the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, non-elite burials consisted of individual inhumations in simple cist graves.115
Ibid, 145.

If a Jew violated Mosaic Law, capital punishment was limited to stoning, burning, strangulation or decapitation: Crucifixion was not part of the Mishnah.

Hengel argued that Jesus “died a criminal’s death on the tree of shame,” since crucifixion was a sadistic and humiliating form of corporal punishment reserved by the Romans for the lower classes (including slaves).⁹⁰ Hengel’s claim that Jesus was buried in disgrace because he was an executed criminal is now widely accepted and has become entrenched in scholarly literature.91 In my opinion, this view is based on a misunderstanding of archaeological evidence and Jewish law. Jesus was condemned by the Roman authorities for crimes against Rome, not by the Sanhedrin for violating Jewish law. The Romans used crucifixion to punish rebellious provincials for incitement to rebellion and acts of treason; they were considered to be common “bandits.”⁹² For this reason, the local (provincial) governor could impose the penalty of crucifixion to maintain peace and order.⁹³ Although victims of crucifixion could be left on their crosses for days, this was not usually the case.⁹⁴ According to the Gospel accounts, Pontius Pilate approved Joseph of Arimathea’s request to remove Jesus’ body from the cross for burial.⁹⁵ The capital sentences listed by the Mishnah do not include crucifixion. This is because after Judea came under direct Roman rule, crucifixion was imposed only by the Roman authorities.⁹⁶ Those found guilty by the Sanhedrin of violating Jewish law were executed by stoning (like James), or were burned, decapitated, or strangled: “Four modes of execution were given in the court: stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation” (m. Sanh. 7:1).⁹⁷
Ibid, 141.

It is important to remember that Jesus had to be convicted under Roman law to be crucified. Because He and his family were impoverished Jewish peasants, He would have been buried in a trench if it were not for the fact that it was conveniently Passover, a major Jewish festival and the precipice of the Jewish Sabbath. There was no time to dig a trench, not to mention a rock-hewn tomb that only the wealthy could afford. Wealthy Joseph of Arimathea, who may or may not have been a member of the Sanhedrin, offered his family’s tomb. Fashionable burial practices of the wealthy during this time in antiquity also included ossuaries, urns or containers that held the bones of the deceased after the flesh had decayed away. Obviously, this required a waiting period before the bones could be collected for preservation in an ossuary to be placed in a tomb: This practice was obviously reserved for the wealthy. Ostensibly, Jesus’ remains could have been preserved in an ossuary or buried in a trench in a potter’s field for the poor, away from His birthplace of Nazareth because His family was poor.

From the earliest periods, the layout and decoration of Jerusalem’s rock-cut tombs exhibited foreign cultural influences and fashions. Evidence for such influence—and indeed, for the use of rock-cut tombs—is attested only in times when Jerusalem’s Jewish elite enjoyed an autonomous or semiautonomous status: in the late First Temple period (eighth and seventh centuries until 586 B.C.E.) and the late Second Temple period (from the establishment of the Hasmonean kingdom until 70 C.E.). During these periods the Jerusalem elite adopted foreign fashions that were introduced by the rulers or governing authorities.
Ibid, 127.

Although we are used to the story of Joseph of Arimathea getting permission from Pontius Pilate to take down Jesus’ body and place Him in his own family tomb, this great irony must not be lost on us. A presumed illiterate, impoverished, itinerant, rabble-rousing, economy-disrupting, enigmatic, teacher-peasant Jew was placed in a wealthy family burial tomb after torture and a humiliating death under the extremes of Roman capital punishment. The word convenient in this case can only refer to an optimal set of circumstances converging at the correct times to produce a rare, if not, impossible outcome. What stands out the most when we think about the circumstances around Jesus’ death and burial is the hyperbolic economic extremes within the Jewish community: Wealth disparities. That should ring a 21st century gong (not a bell) for all of us. Apparently, in ancient Palestine there was no middle-class, no buffer class, between the elite class of Jews and the Jewish impoverished.

The impact of Hellenistic and Roman influence on Jerusalem’s elite is evident in nearly all aspects of Jerusalem’s material culture, with a wide range of imported and locally produced consumer goods appearing around 20–10 B.C.E. As Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom observed in her discussion of ceramic imports from the Jewish Quarter excavations: “the imported pottery from Area A is clear evidence for the substantial changes in lifestyle, culinary tastes, trade connections, and marketing strategies which took place during the reign of Herod; yet it was relevant to a minority only [the elite].”
Ibid, 138.

If you are feeling somewhat uncomfortable right now, that’s a good sign. It means that you are gazing into the mirrored reflection of American society and First Century Palestine. And the question too terrible to ask oneself is, “Where am I?” Perhaps you are secure in the knowledge that you spend your productive hours trying to relieve the suffering of the poor. Yet, it feels like we are drifting further and further away from the shore of communion with those who have the least and need the most. Where is that “walking-on-the-water” Jesus? Where is that land bridge to those with whom He identified and died for? In times of such grave extremes of suffering and satiation, is being a Christian even relevant? Christianus sum. What does that even mean in 2017?

The practice of recording name(s) on ossuaries should be understood as reflecting a concern for recording and preserving the memory of the deceased. The preservation of the names of ancestors was of great importance to the upper classes and priestly families, and above all the high priestly families, who based their social standing and claims of legitimacy on their lineage.
Ibid, 136.

Everyone wants to be remembered, everyone. That is a natural human desire. We see it and we do it every week in church, and it is a good thing to be remembered, to be called by one’s community into community, to belong. But where is the leavening? Specifically, where is the spiritual leavening? Does it somehow emerge after rigorous Bible study or verse memorization or committee service or singing or ushering or any other church role functionary? Bottom line: Is it making a dent anywhere in the growing chasm sitting on International Blvd. and 98th Street? And the worst of the ungodly that this current governmental regime has to offer hasn’t even begun yet...Is there a balm in Gilead?
Am I a coincidence in suffering America?

Mostly, coincidence is considered good fortune or good luck; it’s even used passively, as if something just happened. It’s almost a lazy word for lazy folk. But for those of us who no longer believe in luck and try not to be lazy, do we even believe in coincidence? I confess that I do not. The extremes in the life of The Christ convinced me that there is no such thing. The subtle power of those words in John 19:42b (TMB), “the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it” ring in my brain like a chime calling us to prayer.

...the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.
...the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.
...the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.
...the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.

The more I repeat it, the more powerful it becomes because, of course, it wasn’t meant to be convenient: It was radical birth. He exploded out of that cave like a silent, streaking rocket through death! If Jesus hadn’t been in that tomb where His world said He didn’t belong, the great irony of His existence would be lost. He wouldn’t have risen up through the shroud that engulfed Him. He wouldn’t have walked around for another month and a half to talk to his beloveds. He wouldn’t have appeared to those ecstatic women who cherished Him. He wouldn’t have redeemed those terrified men who deserted Him. And He wouldn’t have come after me to save me.

That God would self-exist in the flesh;
That God would die so soon;
That the greatest human powers in antiquity murdered Him;
That a homeless, bloody, penniless, political criminal would forgive the evil that took His life;
That God would set new Life in motion thousands of years ago for us to discover over and over again;
That because His Name is Jesus the Nazarene, the Master, the One,
I live and have hope;
That is not convenient.
That is conviction.
That is Love. That is Life.

That is Jesus.

We come unprepared, unbelieving, perplexed, premeditated, bedraggled, befuddled, dismantled, discouraged, speechless, sightless, and so often, unrepentant. Forgive our foolishness, our forgetfulness, our fright, and rock our worlds as You did when You first let us find You. Any peace and justice in this world is written in Your blood.

And we thank You.
We thank You.
We Thank You.

Take me to the king
I don’t have much to bring
My heart’s torn into pieces
It’s my offering
Lay me at the throne
Leave me there alone
To gaze upon your glory
And sing to you this song
Please take me to the king.

“Take Me to the King”
Tamela Mann 2012

Take me.

Amen.

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