Loving God, you know us through and through, and yet, you still love us.  Thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus, and the salvation he brings, for in his name we pray.  Amen.

            Today, we hear some reflections from one of the chief priests about the events that unfolded in today’s gospel:

         “Something had to be done about Jesus of Nazareth.  We all knew it, but things were complicated.  Our brother Caiaphas had spoken the truth when he said that it was better for one man to die than for the whole nation to be destroyed (Jn. 11:49-50).  The question was how to make this happen.  Because he had so many followers and had performed so many signs, it had to be a public death.  They had to be able to see that this man’s influence had come to an end.  However, because of the Romans, we couldn’t do it ourselves.  Somehow, we had to get Pilate to condemn Jesus to death.

         Truthfully, we couldn’t stand Pilate.  He had trampled all that we hold sacred far too many times.  However, we did see what he had done to those Galileans when they were causing a disturbance – killing them right there at the Temple when their sacrifices were being offered (Lk. 13:1).  Perhaps Pilate would think that Jesus is just one more trouble-maker from Galilee and would take him off of our hands.  And so, after questioning Jesus ourselves, we took him to Pilate.

         Much to our surprise, Pilate seemed to want to release Jesus.  He was stubborn to the core, and tried his darnedest to oppose us.  He kept saying that there was no case against Jesus, and had the audacity to suggest that he release Jesus for the Passover.  Then he had Jesus flogged and brought him back out to us all dressed up like a king.  It seemed as though we weren’t getting anywhere with Pilate - until we let him know that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God.  That seemed to get his attention – especially since the emperor also claimed the title “son of god.”

         After that, Pilate still tried to release him, but we saw what line of argument was going to work.  Surely somebody who claimed to be a king would be seen as a threat to the emperor?  Surely Pilate would be seen as opposing the emperor, as well, if he were to release Jesus?  And so, we kept on pressing our point.

         Finally, when he sat down to give the judgement, Pilate once again tried to tell us that Jesus was somehow our king.  This man really did not know when to stop.  Finally, in exasperation, we yelled out, “We have no king but the emperor,” and that was the last word (Jn. 19:15).  And I can’t believe that any of us ever said this!

         Pilate had to have known that it was a lie, but he didn’t care.  He had goaded us into saying it, and that was good enough for him.  I think all of us knew that we had just uttered what we hated the most – blasphemy!  Our allegiance was supposed to be to the Lord – blessed be He – and never to these Gentiles from Rome.  We got what we needed, but at what price?  Every single one of us needed to go and offer sacrifices and purify ourselves.  Every single one of us needed to go and seek forgiveness and purification at the Temple.”

         It really was like a tug-of-war, with Jesus caught right in the middle.  One might wonder, however, if anybody actually won.  You could certainly make an argument that pretty much everybody who was involved was a loser.  However, this would mean discounting the fact that the power of God was still at work – even though it didn’t seem like it.

         In the end, it was not Jesus who was on trial, but human nature – and what we see throughout the passion narrative is all manner of human sinfulness.  We see cruelty, jealousy, injustice, lying, fear, self-preservation, hypocrisy, and hatred, with most of it directed at Jesus.  From Jesus, by contrast, we see only sorrow and love.  The gospel of John makes it clear that Jesus lays down his life of his own accord.  He does so, knowing that it will accomplish his mission here on earth.  He does so, out of love for us.

         In response, our job is not to lay blame for the death of Jesus, which so many have done over the centuries.  Rather, our job is to see ourselves in the story, and to recognize that we are no different than all of the human beings who participated in condemning Jesus to death.  No – our job is not to lay blame, but to recognize our own sinfulness, and graciously to accept the love of God through Christ, who gave himself for our sake, and died so that we might live.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Lent 5 (NL 4)                                    John 19:1-16a

April 3, 2022

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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