Matthew 27: No Justice

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

Because the Jews live under the occupying power of Rome, Jesus must go through several levels of justice. The Romans allow the Jews to have their own court, the Sanhedrin, before which Jesus first appears. When he identifies himself as the Messiah, the members of the Sanhedrin convict him of the religious charge of blasphemy, a capital offense under Jewish law.

Since the Romans do not permit the Sanhedrin to carry out a death sentence, the religious court must now seek the sanction of the Roman government, so Jesus' opponents send him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Aware that the charge of blasphemy will likely not impress the unbelieving Pilate, the accusers instead emphasize the political threat Jesus poses to Rome. They portray him as a dangerous revolutionary who has declared himself king of the Jews in defiance of Roman rule.

Pilate has grave misgivings about the charge, and his wife's premonitions compound his sense of uneasiness. He seeks a way out of his dilemma by referring the case to Herod, the ruler over Jesus' home district, who has come to town for the festival. Herod, disappointed by Jesus' silence and his refusal to perform miracles, ultimately returns the prisoner to Pilate.

As Pilate tries to get the religious leaders to release their prisoner, the fury of the crowd only swells. At last, facing a mob scene, the canny governor gives in, but only after showily washing his hands of innocent blood. Through all these legal proceedings, Jesus maintains an almost unbroken silence.

Pilate seems to recognize, at some level, not only the enormity of the injustice he allows, but also his role in it. (Luke 23:4 records that Pilate initially declares Jesus innocent, despite pressure from the crowd.) He eventually has a notice of Jesus' "crime" prepared and fastened to the cross. It reads, in three languages, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." When the chief priests protest that it should read only that Jesus claimed to be king, Pilate answers, "What I have written, I have written" (John 19:22).

Matthew 26: Appointment with Destiny

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

In a stroke of bitter irony, the intimate scene of the Last Supper butts up against the brutal scene of betrayal in Gethsemane. The ordeal begins with Jesus praying in a quiet, cool grove of olive trees, with three of his disciples waiting sleepily outside. Inside the garden, all is peaceful; outside, the forces of hell are on the loose.

An armed mob makes its way toward the garden to seize and torture Jesus. He feels afraid and abandoned. Lying face down on the ground, he prays for some way out. The future of the human race- more, the universe- comes down to this one weeping figure whose "sweat (is) like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44) Blustery Peter is prepared to fight evil in the traditional way- by force. When he hacks off a guard's ear, however, Jesus stops the violence and performs, notably, his final miracle: He heals the guard (Luke 22:50-51).

Although Jesus has the power to defend himself- he could dispatch squadrons of angels to fight his battles- he will not use it. When the disciples realize that they can expect no last-minute rescue operations from the invisible world, they all flee. Fear extinguishes their last flicker of hope. If Jesus will not protect himself, how will he protect them?

Matthew's account of what transpires in Gethsemane and before the Sanhedrin shows that, in an odd inversion, the "victim" dominates all that takes place. Jesus- not Judas, not the mob and not the high priest- acts like the one truly in control. "Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God," the high priest demands. Jesus finally answers, simply, "Yes, it is as you say."

That single admission condemns Jesus to death, for the members of the Sanhedrin have a different expectation of the Messiah. They want a conqueror to set them free by force. Jesus knows that only one thing- his death- will truly set them free. For that reason he has come to Earth.

Mark 14: A Scent of Doom

Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.

The Passover, an annual commemoration of the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt, is a high point of the Jewish calendar. In Jesus' day, all males older than 12 years of age travel to Jerusalem for the holiday, filling the city with many thousands of pilgrims. Passover festivities culminate in a solemn meal at which family and close friends remember the Exodus, the time of liberation. They taste morsels of food, sip wine, and read aloud the stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. They also select a lamb to take to the temple and offer as a sacrifice to God.

Jesus has entered the city in a moment of triumph on Palm Sunday, but soon a sense of doom steals in. Death is on Jesus' mind. When a woman splashes him with expensive perfume, he calls it a form of burial preparation.

Outside the room where Jesus celebrates the Passover, his enemies are stalking, waiting for an occasion to seize him. Inside, the disciples swear loyalty to their leader, even as he insists that all of them will soon forsake him. It is at this somber meal that Jesus makes a profound declaration. "This is my blood of the covenant," he says as he pours the wine. "Take it, this is my body," he says, breaking the bread.

Though the disciples do not fully understand, a dream is dying, their dream of a mighty nation. Jesus is announcing a new covenant, sealed not with the blood of lambs, but with his own blood. The new kingdom, the kingdom of God, will be led not by Jewish generals and kings, but rather by this scared band of disciples gathered around the table.

Today, virtually all Christian churches continue the practice of Communion (or Mass, the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper) in some form. This solemn ceremony dates back to the Passover meal when Jesus instituted the practice.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

John 17: Commissioning

"I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours."

Something seems to settle in Jesus' mind as he hears the disciples' response to his words. "You believe at last!" he says with obvious relief (16:31) and then concludes the intimate get-together with his longest recorded prayer. In it, Jesus sums up his feelings and his plans for the tight circle of friends gathered around him.

The famous prayer represents a kind of commissioning or graduation. In it, Jesus hands over his mission to the disciples and, by extension, to all believers who will come after them. Their previous missions, the preaching and healing excursions in the countryside, have been mere warm-up exercises. Now he is turning everything over to them.

Using language full of mystery, Jesus tells them that he must leave the world but that they must remain in it to proclaim him. They will now attract the hatred and hostility that have previously been directed toward him. Although they live "in the world," they are not quite "of the world." Something sets them apart from the world and binds them together to him in unity with God- a unity so close as to defy all explanation.

Jesus prays, too, for the unity of believers who will join them, stretching in an unbroken chain throughout history. "I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." And then he leads the frightened little band toward his appointment with death.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

John 16: Grief into Joy

"Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

Good-byes are always sad, and for the disciples, this farewell speech is especially so. They have staked their lives on Jesus, and without him they can see no future. Jesus turns from word pictures and speaks directly about what will happen to the disciples. Some of it they comprehend; some of it they do not. John shows them whispering to each other, trying to figure out Jesus' meaning.

Perhaps the strangest words of all are these: "It is for your good that I am going away." Good? How could it possibly be good for Jesus to abandon them, thus dashing their hopes of a restored kingdom?

Jesus' analogy of childbirth gives a clue. Although childbirth may involve great pain, the pain is not a dead end. The effort of giving birth produces something- new life!- and results in joy. In the same way, the great sorrow he and the disciples are about to undergo will not be a dead end. His pain will bring about the salvation of the world; their grief will turn to joy.

Jesus concludes with a ringing declaration, "Take heart! I have overcome the world." How hollow this statement will seem the next evening when his pale, abused body hangs on an executioner's cross and the disciples slink away into the darkness. As the Book of Acts shows, only after Jesus' departure do these confused disciples fully grasp the meaning of his death and resurrection and begin to proclaim it joyfully to everyone around them.

Lenten Tour of the Gospels

John 15: Vital Link

"No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine."

A sense of urgency intensifies inside the stuffy, crowded room. Jesus has just a few more hours to prepare his disciples for the tumult that lies ahead. These are his closest friends in the world, and he is about to leave them. What will happen to Jesus' little band after his departure? He foresees fierce opposition and hatred, beatings and executions. The disciples will face all these trials on his behalf, without his physical presence to protect them.

As he has done so often before, Jesus reaches for an allegory, a parable from nature, to drive home his point. Just outside Jerusalem rows of vineyards cover the hills- probably, he and his disciples have walked through them on their way to the city- and Jesus summons up two images from those vineyards.

First, he uses the image of lush, juicy grapes. Not long before, the disciples were drinking the product of those grapes while listening to Jesus' deeply symbolic words about the blood of the covenant. In order to bear fruit, Jesus says, one thing is essential: They must remain in intimate connection with the vine. Jesus also reminds the Twelve that he has handpicked them for a specific mission: "to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last."

Then Jesus mentions one more image: a pile of dead sticks at the edge of the vineyard. Somehow these branches have lost their connection with the vine, their sole source of nourishment. A farmer has cut them off and thrown them in a heap to be burned. They no longer have a useful function.

Most likely, Jesus' disciples do not understand everything this night. But the symbolism, with its abrupt contrast between juicy grapes and withered branches, will stay with them. The spectacular history of the early church- the fruit of Jesus' work- gives certain proof.

Mark 13: A Day to Dread

"Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come."

Fast-forward a few days beyond the events of Mark 13 to the time when Jesus is prodded by Roman soldiers toward the place of execution. A group of women follows behind, hysterical with grief. Suddenly Jesus turns and silences them with these words, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children...For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:28, 31).

As chapter 13 spells out in grim detail, Jesus does not expect the war against God's kingdom to end with his own death He predicts that evil will only intensify until, after on final spasm of rebellion, the earth gives way to God's full restoration. This chapter echoes, and quotes from, the Old Testament prophets. At the end of time, God will take off all the wraps. And when Jesus returns, he will appear in a new form: not as a helpless babe in a manger, not nailed to a crosspiece of wood, but as "the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."

Some of Jesus' dire predictions find fulfillment in A.D. 70 when Roman soldiers break through the walls of Jerusalem and demolish Herod's temple- the same temple Jesus' disciples are admiring when Jesus first speaks these words. Other predictions apparently have not yet been fulfilled.

Just a few decades after Jesus' death, scoffers mock the notion of the second coming of Christ. "Where is this 'coming' he promises? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation" (2 Peter 3:4). For all such scoffers, Jesus and the prophets have two ominous words of advice: Just wait. God will not let you go on scoffing forever. One day, the earth and the sky will flee from his presence.