Church tradition lists today as Maundy Thursday, the day on which the Lord instituted the Last Supper. Where Jesus, in a physical act of memorial, of calling upon the Spirit, spoke to the disciples of his body being broken and his blood being spilled on their behalf.
Ever wonder what it took to kill Jesus?
From God’s perspective, God so loved the world that God gave God’s only begotten Son (in a plan set down from before creation).
From Jesus’ perspective, it takes on many aspects. As it came out at Jesus’ trial, he recognized its limited duration, that the temple (of his body) would be destroyed and raised again in three days. He feared what was coming, as taken from the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but thy will be done.” He inspired, as by his words during the Last Supper.
From the position of the leadership, the chief priests and the scribes, there was jealousy, fear for the nation, some sincere (if mistaken) intent, to deal with a man of power who challenged their power, their legitimacy, who might rile the Romans up into a bloody suppression, who was "speaking" blasphemy. And one of plausible deniability, because they had no authority to actually kill someone. That power was in the hands of the Romans.
From the position of Pilate, serving as executioner for the leadership, realizing it “was from jealousy”, finding nothing in Jesus on his own examination, warned by his wife to have nothing to do with this man… For him, death was a matter of political expediency, keep the locals happy, shut up the crowd, diffuse the feelings of religious fervor built into the celebration of the Passover.
I wonder if Pilate had been briefed on the political symbolism of the Passover, which marked the liberation of the people of Israel from their oppressive slavery under the Egyptians? To consider the easy replacement of “Egyptian” with “Roman”. Were there orders to "keep them happy" with wide latitude of interpretion.
From the position of the crowds, deluded by the lies of their leadership into calling for Jesus’ blood? At the beginning of the week, at the Triumphal Entry, cynics look for a conspiracy to promote Jesus’ kingship. Want a conspiracy? It can be found here in whipping up the public sentiment against Jesus.
From our perspective, we have the story told to us in the gospels, which includes the next steps. The resurrection, the time with the disciples, the ascension, the giving of the Spirit, and the establishment of the church. How should we understand his death? That it was voluntary? That it was the ultimate show of weakness in the eyes of humanity that, in turn, revealed the ultimate show of power from the divine? That all we have suffered found its parallel in Jesus' suffering, that he is the one who can truly say, "I know what you are going through?"
We have the grace of hindsight. We know that at his death, he would return once again. But there is strength and faith and grace to be gained in opening our spirits to feel and to weep and to mourn at all that went into killing our Lord. Don't skip over it. Walk with our Jesus in his most trying moments. It will do two things, in my estimation.
First, it will made the sweet joy of the resurrection all the more powerful.
Second, it will make the reality of Jesus' presence in our darkest moments even more powerful. We will know more powerfully how He walks with us in the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death if we have taken these moments to walk with Him in his journey there.
Peace,
Pastor Peter
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