Preached at Christ Church, Billericay, 15 April 2022 (Good Friday)
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is, perhaps, one of the most horrible ways that mankind has invented to kill someone. It is designed to be painful – very painful and slow. To cause as much suffering as humanly possible. This is the final act of violence that Jesus suffers on Good Friday, but there are many others also the way.
Where we are going
So, I’m going to look at the various acts of violence and calls for violence in the gospel reading and reflect a little on each of them. Human beings, it seems, have not changed. We hear of awful acts of violence every day. But maybe we should have, and we’ll look at that at the end.
Betrayal (18:3)
The betrayal is the first potentially violent act. Judas brings a detachment of soldiers. They are, of course, armed. It would be interesting to know what the chief priests and Pharisees were expecting. But here we get one of the main causes of violence – the soldiers are afraid of Jesus. They draw back, and become submissive. They have heard things about Jesus, but probably not the truth.
Let them go (18:8)
Jesus’s concern is that His disciples should not be arrested at the same time. This is to fulfil what He said in 6:39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me” and of course, if they are arrested they will not be there to build the church.
Ear (18:10)
In 18:10, Peter is the first perpetrator. He attacks one of the soldiers, Malchus, and cuts off his ear. Peter is his usual impulsive self and at this point has not really learnt much from Jesus. Only Luke, tells us that Jesus healed the wound. This one rash act could easily have led to an escalation, but the Roman soldiers are a disciplined force.
Arrest
Without further actual violence, the arrest is completed in 18:12. But use of force is there, it could so easily have gone another way.
Interrogation
Now we skip over Peter’s story and look at the so-called interrogation. In 18:22, we see the reaction of a brutal regime, to a simple, straight forward answer that does not fit their own narrative.
When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in
the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”
he demanded.
This is not the Romans, this is one of the officials of the high priests.
Right of execution
The interrogation proves exactly what they had already decided it should prove. They have already judged Jesus and that justifies, in their own minds, that His death is necessary. They have a problem - the occupying force reserves the right to commit executions, presumably under penalty of death. So they have to plead and manipulate the system. They will end up denying their own beliefs to get their way.
Servants would fight
This leads to a further interrogation, where we learn from Jesus in 18:36, that His servants would fight, he says:
“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would
fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from
another place.”
Pilate is getting out of his depth, but at least he knows that this particular fight has been avoided.
Flogged / Crown of thorns
He has Jesus flogged in 19:1-3. That’s a default punishment, and he’s hoping it will be enough to get rid of the Jews. The soldiers have flogged many people, they know how far to go to cause serious pain and enough injury so that there is not too much permanent damage. While they’re at it, they might as well have a bit of fun – so there’s a crown of thorns and a royal robe. He is struck on the face again. After all it’s probably the first time they’ve flogged someone whose claims to be king were taken even slightly seriously.
Crucify!
In 19:6, Pilate brings Jesus to the chief priests to show what he has done, but it is not enough, and they shout for his death. “He’s broken our laws, He must die” they say.
Pilate is a politician, he has bigger things than one death to think about, the constant chants of “Crucify!” finally win the day.
Carrying the Cross
When we say “We all have our cross to bear”, I doubt we are thinking of such an extreme situation. Having been flogged, which would mainly damage the flesh on your back, and then being asked to carry two large pieces of wood, that you could barely lift when normally healthy, just adds to the sadistic approach of the death that Jesus endured. We know from the other gospels that this was too much for Jesus, and one of the crowd was forced to help out.
The Crucifixion and Death
The final act of violence is the crucifixion itself. John spares us the gory details, and concentrates on other things. Being nailed to the cross, having the cross dropped in the hole and then just hanging there, each breath causing pain, but your body compels you to take them.
With what Jesus had been through it is no surprise that he was already dead when the soldiers came to break His legs, so they didn’t bother, but to be sure they pierced his corpse. That leaves us with some important testimony, to prove his death.
Necessary
Experiencing all this suffering and violence was somehow necessary for Jesus to complete His mission. It is the only way that He can pay for our sins, and set us free from them. He went through it for us, that decision was made in Gethsemane the night before.
What has changed?
So, we have been put right with God and have access to him, you’d think that might make a difference to us. It’s there at the end of the reading from Isaiah:
he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD'S will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and
though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his
offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper
in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be
satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will
divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life
unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
But what has really changed for us?
It seems that the very early church, the generations immediately after these events, took non-violence seriously, and preferred to imitate Jesus’s sacrificial life. This must have led to many deaths. It was only after Constantine that the church developed concepts like “Holy War” and “just war”.
Today
Where do we stand today? After all we have heard, and the horrors brought to us in the daily news, what should our approach be
Have we overcome the fear?
Have we overcome the impulsiveness?
Have we overcome our sense of judgement?
Do we prioritise peace and life over getting our own way?
Tweet
I’d like to leave you with this tweet from the Rev. Benjamin Cremer
We want the war horse. Jesus rides a donkey.
We want the eagle. The Holy Spirit descends as a dove.
We want to take up swords. Jesus takes up a cross.
We want the roaring lion. God comes as a slaughtered lamb.
We keep trying to arm God. God keeps trying to disarm us.
Amen
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