To read: Luke 23:1-23
New Revised Standard Version Bible,Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king." Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "You say so." Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for an accusation against this man."
But they were insistent and said, "He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place." When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him."
Then they all shouted out together, "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!" (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!"
A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him." But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.
copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To think about:
"When
Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign." Things are happening fast now. The long journey to Jerusalem has ended and this is how it ends, this recollection of the fateful last days of Jesus. And right to the end, those around him are still looking for him to perform some sign. Parlor tricks. Perhaps some clever slight-of-hand trick. Maybe just one more healing or demon exorcism.
And who can blame them? There is a sense in which those of us who know how the story comes out also would like Jesus to perform just one more sign. Maybe anything except the one last act he will "perform." Dying. This is, after all, why he has made the long journey to Jerusalem - to die. A long journey to die for a world, to be humiliated in a trumped-up trial, to be betrayed and denied by people too much like us to make us very comfortable. Couldn't Jesus instead perform one last sign instead of this one? Wouldn't any of us rather see a levitation, or maybe have him saw a person in half, or pull a rabbit out of a hat?
Instead he chooses to die as his one last sign. He chooses to take frail flesh and die since there is no other way for him to be entirely like us. One of us. One with us. No other way for him to be so completely Emmanuel (God with us).
Oh, by the way isn't today also, and better known as, April Fool's Day? Tricks, jokes are the order of the day. You and I know the whole story of this last best sign that Jesus performs. And we know that God gets the last laugh. The joke's on death and fear and guilt and every kind of shame and terror. The death, that one last best sign, turns out to be the way of life. Dying &and behold we live. Thanks be to God.
To pray:
In place of a specific set of words to pray, here's a suggestion: Spend just ten minutes in silence. Begin by thinking of one place in the world or one person you know where suffering or pain is present. Hold that place or person in that sacred silent space by name. Then ask, again in silence: What is it that you want for that place or person? What healing? What new wholeness? Then after a bit more silent reflection ask a second question: How does God seem to be already present and active in that very place? With that person? Then conclude by simply, in rhythm with your own breath, silently repeating the name, resting in the awareness that God is holding everything in heaven and earth in God's own shalom. Or you could conclude by simply repeating the ancient words of the Kyrie Elieson, "Lord have mercy," again in rhythm with your own breath. Remember, prayer is God's breathing in and through you and all of us.
Northern Great Lakes Synod Council member
Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Marinette, Wisc.