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PART II
19. THE CROSS AND THE
CRUCIFIXION
WITH THE TONGUE
“O my God! How the powers of Hell conspire against me!
How busy are evil tongues! I scarcely know which way to turn."
(
This introduces us to another
area, which is amply seen during the Passion of Christ. It is the evil done
through the tongue, which is part of the
crucifixion Jesus goes through.
The crying out of the crowds
calling for Jesus' crucifixion and the false accusations of the religious
authorities before Pilate to get him to condemn Jesus, are a clear example of evil through the tongue. It was words that led to the condemnation
and crucifixion of Jesus.
When Pilate heard these words he brought
Jesus out and seated him on the judge's bench in the place called Stone
Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day
for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I
crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
(John 19:13-15)
The mockery when Jesus is being crowned with thorns:
Weaving a crown out of thorns, they
placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him,
they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:29)
And when He
is nailed to the Cross:
Let the Messiah, the King of
St. James, in his letter,
addresses this evil head on, when he compares the evil of the tongue with a flame that can set a forest on fire, or
like a rudder, that controls the direction of a ship, and he uses other
symbolic comparisons to describe the power
of the tongue.
Not many of you should become teachers,
my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all
fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a
perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to
make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they
are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small
rudder wherever the pilot's inclination wishes.
In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great
pretensions.
Consider how small a fire can set a huge
forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a
world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our
lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile
and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is
a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father,
and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and
cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.
Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish
water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine, figs?
Neither can salt water yield fresh. (James 3: 5-12)
This extends into our lives
today, as we crucify one another through
defamation, gossip, lies to cover up one's own shortcomings, and through
exaggeration of others’ shortcomings, led by a spirit of sensationalism. The
tongue can be used to spread false teachings as well, like making partial
truths of the whole truth, which is a very clever way of the devil to lead
people astray as we have just seen during the trial of Jesus before the sanhedrin and Pilate. When leaders misuse their tongue, the damage is even worse,
because of their influence on others, which
can even cause the death of many. Dictators, autocratic leaders, that claim
absolute power over others and institutions of a country, as well as using the
press in their favor, are very destructive forces that cause havoc in a nation
and even in the world, if their influence is that broad. Think of those who
have been behind 'ethnic cleansing', of fomenting
racism, and other types of division, sowing fear and anxiety in a population.
Certain terms enhance this hatred:
name calling or words like 'cockroaches', a name that the Hutus used towards
the Tutsi in
20. THE CROSS, THE SWORD
AND THE WAR ON EVIL