Tread Softly because You Tread on My Dreams
Delivered on Friday 21 March 2008 in St George's Chapel
Good Friday
What do you expect of Jesus? Crucifixion.
What does the kingdom of God look like? A young man nailed to a wooden cross.
These questions came to light on Palm Sunday, and then last night at the Maundy Thursday service. These answers were hardly top of the disciples' list. You don't give up the fishing industry to have all your dreams collapse around your ears on a dark Friday afternoon, at an execution site outside the walls of the capital city. Where did it all go wrong?
To that question there are several possible answers. One could look to Caiaphas the High Priest. To be fair to Caiaphas he had a rather tricky job. He was the middle man between the Jewish population and their Roman governors. As far as the Romans were concerned the Jews could get on with most of their business as long they paid their considerable taxes and didn't disturb the peace. As far as Caiaphas was concerned, he needed to make sure that he kept on the right side of the Roman authorities while also representing the cause of the Jewish population. There is no doubt but that he wouldn't have taken to Jesus. I don't suppose this had much to do with religion but much more to do with politics. One of Caiaphas' tasks was to make sure that there were no public riots or uprisings. So when Jesus arrived into Jerusalem on a donkey - proclaiming to be king; and when Jesus then went out of his way to chuck furniture around the Temple precinct, Caiaphas would have sensed trouble. No doubt he will have remembered the words he spoke to the chief priests shortly after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead: It is more expedient that one man should die for the people, than that the whole nation should be destroyed. [1] Expediency. We can't have this man inciting a riot; the Roman troops will just row in with enormous loss of life. Better - cleaner - more efficient if we just get rid of him. And so Jesus was on his way to Pilate.
According to John's account of the trial, Pilate is shown in an uncharacteristically tender light. And that may well have been so. But historical records show that Pilate was a cruel man - well known for his briberies, his outrageous torture, and execution without trial. He may well have been curious to find out more about this Jesus but, in all likelihood, he would have seen him as no more than a religious fanatic. Moreover, Caiaphas had said that this Jesus thought he was king of the Jews - and that certainly wouldn't have been music to Pilate's ears. I suspect he did interrogate Jesus, he may even have made a case for him, but when all that didn't work out immediately, he will have had him flogged and sent to the cross without a second thought.
As Caiaphas and Pilate saw things, this was all in a day's work; they were just doing their job. As the disciples saw it ... well, I don't know. There was Judas. History records that he betrayed Jesus. Did he? Or was he just trying to force the pace. His nationalistic fervour may have got the better of him, and he decided to bring Jesus face to face with the authorities - just to bring matters to a head. There was Peter. The rock turned to dust when put under pressure; when questioned by a servant-girl his courage left him and much to his regret he denied that he knew Jesus - not once but three times. And the others - where were they?
The disciples had come to this point with great expectations but here at the foot of the cross their hopes and dreams were nailed and extinguished. They had come into Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus as King, only to find that their King's throne was nothing other than an execution cross.
Perhaps as they helplessly looked on they will have seen echoes of their great hymn book, the book of Psalms. The drink of vinegar, the division of the garments, the mocking, even Jesus own cry from the cross - all these are recorded in those earthy hymns of praise. But all that symbolic action - if they were attuned to it - will have appeared empty. Overshadowed by two overwhelming questions: who then is this Jesus? And what on earth did he mean, all this time, by the kingdom of God?
And we, who stand at the foot of the cross today, what do we make of it? With the advantage of two thousand years of Christian reflection - unlike the disciples - we understand that this day is GOOD Friday. It is good because in some sense - some significant sense - Jesus died for us. But there is a temptation to disguise the sheer violence of that first Good Friday. The beautiful gilded cross must not be given precedence over the rugged wooden gibbet. This was an event of unadulterated violence, in a world saturated with violence.
And you may well ask, is our world any better? International relations is beset by warfare, terrorism and threats of biological and chemical attack. Our economic fabric is often plagued by unbridled competition and a preposterous desire for self-aggrandizement; the advance of one at the expense of the many. Even the Church, in parts and at times, shows an abuse of power and exploitation of the vulnerable. Of course, we not all equally blameworthy for the terrible evils of violence and death that beset our world but we are - if we are honest - all caught up in these webs. We participate in the same violent order that sent Jesus to his death.
Our world is a world where the desire to dominate incites to acts of violence. It is a world that collides with the love of God. So it is that when we face the cross, we do so in penitence, in thanksgiving, and in recognition that the one who is there enthroned is the one who demands of us, our soul, our life, our all.
May the God who said, 'Out of darkness light shall shine,' cause his light to shine in our hearts, the light which is knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [2]
[1] John 11:50
[2] 2 Corinthians 4:6
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