Reflection, not revelry time
IT is in our character as human beings to turn e very anniversary into a celebration. There is dancing and rejoicing. Easter is here and what will h appen in Christendom was already foreshadowed last Sunday during Palm Sunday processions. Tomorrow which is Good Friday, except in places some young men act the crucifixion of the Lord to remind the world of the brutality and horror visited on the Son of God, Jesus, hardly would seriousness this time calls for be demonstrated. The Palm Sunday is yearly a re- enactment of the enrapturing reception for the Lord during Passover in Jerusalem. Passover was a thanksgiving celebration of the liberation of the Jews by Moses from Pharaoh’s Egypt. The occasion is described as the triumphal entr y of the Lord into Jerusalem for the Passover . The r eception was, to an unsuspecting great many, deception to entrap the Sa viour. The elaborate plan laid out was that His entr y would be hailed amidst cries in celebration: “Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” ( John 12: 13).
It all began from Judas Iscariot who made contact with a Resistant Movement who had been agitating to remove the Roman yoke on the Israelites. They believed rebellion against Emperor Tiberius was the answer. Members of the movement were to come for Passover Festival disguised as pilgrims so as not to arouse any suspicion, particularly that of the Romans. The resistance members persuaded themselves that since Christ was the one generally believed to be the Messiah, he perfectly fitted the bill to lead them in the rebellion against Rome.
The Romans were to be driven away. By their own understanding the mission of the Messiah must be political. Whether Jesus, whether he liked it or not, was to be proclaimed king.
The grouse of Judas was that the Lord Jesus had no interest in material things. Everywhere Christ spoke his audience was always deep- moved; they watched His healing miracles with awe and in disbelief: The blind received their sight back; the lame and infirm walked and He raised the dead. Because of his own love for the material, he was always ill- at- ease watching Jesus turning down gifts. Those healed offered their wealth which He always declined. How Judas wished such wealth or sundr y gifts were his. He could not understand why in the face of opportunities they, that is the Lord and His Disciples could be living from hand to mouth and wandering about like vagrants when as the promised Messiah royal dignity should be His lot. He sa w how Jesus held His audience spell- bound and exercised power over them through His Person and His Word. Judas was convinced such power could be converted in pursuit of earthly affairs and made to manifest in an earthly way. It would, in his reckoning, be history fulfilling itself and he being part of that history.
The day of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem with fanfare came, and the reception by the multitude was as the members of the Resistant Movement wished it with the hailing: Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” It surprised Jesus and felt uneasy with it, seeing through it all. He went to the Temple where he addressed the congregants who were ostensibly pilgrims for t he Festival. He called for peace and for love of fellow men. He spoke of submission to the Will of God, the Father. He then went on to command them to love their enemies. The battle- ready pilgrims were astounded by what they heard and their leaders pressed to meet and speak to the Lord personally , knowing the risk they had taken upon themselves. They wanted to seek confirmation from the Lord of what they had laid out as His role to lead the Jews to battle and also words of encouragement. But Judas could not arrange it as the danger to which he had exposed the
Lord and the Disciples dawned on Him. His breach of loyalty would be exposed. He alone among the rebellious group knew that the Lord would not allow Himself to be made an earthly king. He could see that the Lord was far distant from the role penciled down Jesus would play.
Before the Passover, the Son of God had raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany. It was widely believed, not the least by the political establishment that acts of raising people from the dead were veritable signs that the time of the promised Messiah and concomitantly the liberation and triumph of Israel was at hand. In Jerusalem, the Great Sanhedrin was totally perturbed by the development. They had a special meeting session where they asked themselves: “What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” ( John 11: 47- 48).
Realising that his conspiracy had blown up in his face, Judas suffered from inner turmoil and engaged in a fierce struggle with himself. He got confused and his turmoil got to the point he grew in hatred for the Lord. He soon fell into the hands of Caiaphas who soon got persuaded that the hatred Judas had developed for his Master was genuine. The plan was hatched as to how Judas would report the movement of the Lord to the authorities. He pledged that as soon as an opportunity for the arrest of his Master presented itself he would alert Caiaphas, the high priest. When the arrest was effected town – criers went round the streets in Jerusalem to announce it, calling the Lord the fake prophet of Nazareth and blasphemer. The same crowd that hailed the Lord as the blessed King of Israel asked that he be crucified. It was reported that they had placed all their hopes of national greatness and liberation on the Lord believed that they had been betrayed when it was they that did not have a clear recognition nor the understanding of what Christ’s Mission on earth was. He did not come to lead mankind to war, but to show them the way out of the burden of entanglement of the web of sins and wrong- doing. It is revealed in the enlightenment of these times spreading in the world that “coming the Highest, from the Luminous Heights of Eternal Truth, in order through His message to draw the human spirits’ attention to their wrong way of living, and to show them the only way leading upwards, the Son of God had no understanding for such futile, fleeting earthly desires as national pride, political influence or the craving for power.
Ernest Schmitt, in his work on ‘ The Son of God— Birth and Trial of Jesus ( in its Historical, Political and Religious Aspect)’ says: “But when in fulfillment of Divine promises he really did appear, it was just the leading religious circles who, having treated the prophecies about His coming so cheaply in order to make the people tractable for themselves, became his embittered enemies. Every word uttered by the Envoy of God exposed the emptiness of their doctrines, and the arrogance of their claim to leadership. With their power threatened, and seething with hatred, they only schemed how they could silence the troublesome admonisher.
“But even among those who honestly longed for the coming of the Messiah, many a one still passed him by unsuspecting, not being sufficiently alert, and in false expectation dreaming of a different fulfillment. Only a few were able to rise up to a divining of the greatness of the sacrifice that lay just in taking upon Himself the hardship and difficulties of an incarnation. Since also the Divine on earth is subject to the eternal and unchangeable Laws of God, It shows purely outwardly no striking difference from men.
“The impending expectation which should have created the soil for a speedy, joyful recognition of the Promised One actually formed a dividing wall, because those who awaited Him had, in the way of men, pressed it into the demand of their earthly- political worldly wishes. Thereby a connection with the Son of God and His
Light- Message was made impossible.”
At the time of the Passover Festival, the priests had sentenced the Son of God to death but they could not have Him arrested because of the throng of the admiring crowd. Members of the priestly establishment unceasingly met to an unbearable situation of crowd milling round Jesus, all a threat to their power and influence. They felt that there was no way they would attempt to arrest him and it would not trigger serious disturbances. The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew His whereabouts, the person should report to the authorities for His arrest. ( John 11: 57). Judas knowing where the Lord could be found with His Disciples – Kidron Valley garden— led soldiers and police from the chief priests and the Pharisees armed with lanterns, torches and weapons to arrest the Lord. They tied Him up. He kicked, scorned, mocked and a crown of thorns was placed on His Head.
The Nazarene was taken to Pontius Pilate, the representative of Tiberius. Pilate who did not see Christ as constituting any threat to Rome, thought of setting Him free. His wife too had warned him not to have anything hand of the “innocent man.” She said to her husband: “Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” ( Matthew 27: 19). He was determined not to yield to the pressure of the Jews. The Jews had said in reply to Pilate’s questioning: “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Ceasar, saying that he himself is Christ King.” ( Luke 23: 2). But Pilate returned the verdict of not guilty in favour of the Lord Christ. “I find no fault in this man.” But the crowd instigated by the priests further pressed the case which Pilate had thought was closed by his pronouncement. When the rabble would not give up, he referred the matter to Herod. He was again later to turn to the crowd and said to them: “I find in him no fault at all. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” And the rabble said they would prefer the release of Barabbas. He said for the third time that he found no fault in Jesus the Lord. The crowd answered the appeal for their compassion with a more even hateful and dreadful outcry: “Crucify him!” At this point Caiaphas then stepped in employing political blackmail: “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” ( John 19: 12).
In the end the death sentence on the Lord was supported with the invocation of Section 82 of the Jewish law which states: “Even the execution of an innocent person can serve in the maintenance of law and order, and the salvation of God’s people.”
I have recounted these developments to show that the Lord did not die in order to take away the sins of humanity. He was dastardly murdered through the conspiracy of the priestly and political Jewish establishments of the era. The Almighty Father could not have sent His son, to be sacrificial lamb for the sins of us mankind. Even in normal human law it would be horrifying and considered great injustice to have an innocent man seized and executed in place of a criminal. The Lord brought peace and love but was repaid with hate and gruesome, most brutal death. There is nothing inscrutable about the perfect Laws expressing the Holy Will of the Almighty Creator which is All- Justice and perfect from the very beginning governing the whole of Creation. Easter Festival therefore calls for nothing other than deep reflection and remorsefulness, not revelry.
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The Almighty Father could not have sent His son, to be sacrificial lamb for the sins of us mankind. Even in normal human law it would be horrifying and considered great injustice to have an innocent man seized and executed in place of a criminal. The Lord brought peace and love but was repaid with hate and gruesome, most brutal death.