Holy Week--Friday

A trial for the ages……and to placate the Jews. Pilate’s wife warned him, “Do not do what they want you to do.” What did this ‘local’ matter really have to do with Rome anyway. Except, of course, all matters had to do with Rome if it kept those under Roman rule from becoming unruly.

The Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, had passed Jesus along to Pilate. After all, the crowd screamed for Jesus’ blood, and after Jesus answered an important theological question (“Are you the Son of God?”) by denying them a denial but, rather, by quoting scripture at them, Caiaphas, and the other priests, scribes, and all Jews with any interest in the status quo screamed for Jesus’ death. The mighty Roman Empire alone, though, could exercise state-sanctioned capital punishment. So, off to Pilate they went.

And Pilate’s wife shared her dream. “Have nothing to do with that Righteous Man.” And why? Did she know something Pilate didn’t? Had the servants been talking?

No. Rather, “.....for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” (All italics mine).

Pilate had such trust in his wife that, while he didn’t believe the angry mob in front of him would allow him to just release Jesus, he came up with what he believed an out for himself. He gave the crowd a choice. Before Passover, Pilate traditionally released a prisoner.  “I’ll release this man Jesus……or that no good thieving, scoundrel Barabbas.” One of the Gospels called Barabbas “notorious.”

And the crowd cried, “Release Barabbas!”

“And what of Jesus?” You can almost hear Pilate’s voice quiver. There was, after all, his wife with whom to contend. But, no hesitation or softening of sound from the mob watching. “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Pilate washed his hands. “I am innocent of this man’s blood!” Oh, is it that easy to pass the buck? “I COULD stop this wrong…..but, on your head be it.”

And the throng howled, “His blood will be on our heads,” and, then, if already we do not wonder at their frenzy, if we are not shocked at how lightly they toss aside the life of a Man from whom they had taken teachings and miracles and bread and healing and love and life, hear the horde bawl, “on our heads……and the heads of our children.”

I do not know, of course, we cannot know. But this Christ who so loved children (“Do NOT stop little children from coming to me!” He had commanded His disciples) must have felt His heart, already so broken and battered from a night of betrayal and rejection from people He had loved so fiercely at the cry for the curse falling onto innocents—people so consumed with hatred of a blameless man, the Son of God, that they easily and gladly passed blame to their children, must have felt the break in His heart grow even bigger.

Some of the Caves from
Sign above

Pilate, then, having whipped Jesus earlier, handed Him over. In such caverns as shown here, the Roman soldiers—egged on, helped?, by the frenzied Jews—stripped Jesus, put on him a royal purple robe to mock that title “King of the Jews.”  Taking a plant like a vine of thorns, they constructed an artificial crown and rammed it on his head, blood now coursing into his eyes, so much

Caves from Sign Above

so that they thought beating Him about the head would make some kind of point, all reason well gone by this time.

And, finally, Jesus carried the cross bar of His crucifixion down that Via Delarosa—“The Way of Suffering”—the traditional path He walked out Jerusalem to Golgotha, “The Place of the Skull.” The picture of that spot here was taken in the 1960’s. In that picture, a skull can still emerge from the hillside as you look, though certainly blurred after 2000 years of elemental wear. Imagine the reality of that skull face looking out on the road in the First Century. In the 21^st Century, the face on the hill has faded away, or I could find no outline of it. But that place still stands there, a reminder of that Friday afternoon, of that one particular, significant execution.

Calvary, 1960's
"Place of the Skull"

The beautiful paintings show Jesus high up on a hill, His cross above those of the two men crucified with Him. Probably, though, the men were nailed to crosses on the road, visible to all who walked within sight of that Skull Hill and those three dying men. “Let this be a warning…..Mighty Rome could do this to you as well……..” No beauty in that scene.

Watching along the road, Mary, Jesus’ mother. How did she bear it?

The soldiers whose job it was to carry out this execution mixed with sightseers. Public executions happened in all kinds of cultures word wide until recently, it seems.

Other followers of Jesus watched their dreams fade as His blood drained down that cross, down a hill, down the road. We know John, that youngest of the disciples, watched with Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Even then, Jesus saw to the needs of those around Him. His beloved mother now would live with that young disciple, John. If, as Protestants believe (and I am a Protestant) Mary and Joseph had other children after Jesus, He did not trust the care of his beloved mother to them.

Jesus also looked to His side, to a thief being crucified at the same time as Him, one who recognized the difference of Jesus and other men…..”Today, you and me, in Paradise.”

What a wealth in that sentence.

And then, from that despicable, appalling, shameful, vile cross, the Son of God cried, “It is finished!” Even now, we do not understand completely all the work completed on that cross.

And from a Roman soldier, “Surely this was the Son of God.” Such was the impact of His death.

I wonder, as Jesus’ spirit left His poor, broken, scarred body, I wonder if angels in Heaven heaved sighs. “Finally!” What did Heaven look like that day when Jesus and the thief from the other cross met again—Jesus’ promise kept. “Today, you and me, Paradise.”

I wonder how God the Father held back the archangel Michael, that mighty warrior, from coming to wreak havoc and revenge on those mere humans who had so wickedly handled the body of the Son of God……..

A First Century Tomb
with  Ossuaries

Because they wanted to bury the body, not for altruistic reasons, but to be sure it was buried and so that no one could say anything crazy like, oh, Jesus had risen from the dead, the Jewish leaders made absolutely sure Jesus was dead on that cross.  Then, a wealthy follower, Joseph of Arimathea, provided a nice grave—much nicer than anyone in Jesus’ earthly family could have given.  They prepared the body as best they could in the time they had—Sabbath began at sundown—put Him in that cave, rolled a huge stone in front of it, a stone like a big disk pushed along a small gulley in front just for that purpose, persuaded  Rome to position guards, and went away satisfied their work was

done, complete.

If they only knew.

The disciples and followers of Christ went away….to hide, to pray, to cry, to grieve. He had told them, but who could understand what He truly meant by “resurrection”? By “be not afraid?” All their dreams and hopes for overthrowing Rome, all their aspirations for helping Jesus rule over their hated enemies. They went away, some together, some alone, as their world fell apart……

If they only knew.

 

Calvary Today