Lenten Meditation Wed. Holy Week 2006
"Accused"
DESTROY THIS
Today we consider Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin and especially Jesus being accused and worthy of death. This entire scene takes place at one location: the house of Caiaphas the high priest. It is a complex scene with many characters: Jesus, Caiaphas (High Priest), Peter, teachers of the law (Pharisees), elders (council called 'Sanhedrin'), guards and two unnamed witnesses – presumably false witnesses. This room is a rough-and-tumble place filled with commotion, smells, ruckus, anxiety, fear, anger. If you and I stood in this room, we could have felt the tension in the air, we could have smelt the fear, tasted the shame. At the end of our story, Jesus stands condemned to death – accused of blasphemy.
I would like to focus our attention on one detail in this story; one that increasingly fascinates me. This is the false accusation of the trumped-up witnesses that leads up to Jesus' condemnation to death. Both Matthew and Mark tell of the Sanhedrin seeking false testimony against Jesus to buttress their capital case. Matthew says that they finally found two who would witness against Jesus: they said, "This fellow said, 'I'm able to destroy the
Maybe they were false witnesses in a different sense. Jesus may have said those words technically but didn't really mean that he literally planned to destroy the temple. It was not a factually false witness but a false interpretation of what Jesus meant. Jesus did say this, but the testimony was false in that, he meant (as John says) that this referred to the temple of his body. Jesus had no actual intension of destroying – or even suggesting the actual destruction of – the
But then, why did Jesus say it? Why did Jesus say things that could be understood in this way? Why didn’t Jesus correct the false impression? Why didn't he just say, "I'm going to die and be resurrected from the dead?" Or why didn’t he simply say, “I didn’t mean I was going to actually destroy the temple. I was speaking allegorically – the temple is my body!” It would have been much clearer.
In fact, who can fault anyone for thinking that a man, looking at a huge
But you can see that, if Jesus indeed said those words, and according to John's gospel he did (2:19), you can see the Jewish concern. Jesus seemed to be (not actually – he only said he was able) threatening to destroy the very heart of the Jewish religion. The Pharisees and Sadducees were genuinely concerned that Jesus would actually call for the destruction of the temple. This would be blasphemy because the temple was built following the model of the tabernacle which God commanded Moses to build in the desert. This is God’s temple – commanded by God to be built.
JUST IMAGINE!
Imagine if religious radical street preacher who was drawing huge crowds was genuinely talking about blowing up all the churches in Barbourville, don't tell me you wouldn't be outraged. You would say, 'We just got it built! You have no idea how much effort went into this." And if they later said, "Well, I don't really mean 'blow up' but I mean . . ." I don't think you would feel comforted and feel all was well. We need to see the story through the eyes of the Sanhedrin – they weren't bloodthirsty power mongers; they simply wanted to protect their beloved temple and keep people from rioting. This Jesus was an upstart and a radical. We're too quick to heap scorn on the Jews of our story.
I think we need to feel the irony here. The Sanhedrin sought testimony (Matthew calls it 'false') but they got the truth – truer than they were bargaining for. While the physical temple is not endangered by Jesus' presence, Jesus could actually destroy the temple and rebuild it. Jesus did pose a real threat! These words, spoken repeatedly by false witnesses, are profoundly true – as John notes. This accused Jesus is a threat to all our established patterns and we need to feel the radical nature of the threat. Jesus felt like a radical threat, he seemed scary, unpredictable, a loose canon, a wild-fire, a wild-eyed street preacher claiming (or sounding like it) that he was going to blow up all the churches in Barbourville.
THE DOMESTICATED JESUS
My question for you today is this: who domesticated this radical accused Jesus? We do not encounter Jesus this way. To us, Jesus is safe. He is the shepherd of our souls, the light of the world, the bread of life. Jesus is safe, appealing, gentle meek and mild. He isn't a threat. He doesn't seem to be threatening to blow things up, to shake things up, to threaten our existence. We have domesticated this Jesus. We perhaps have lost the radical side of Jesus.
What do I mean? I think we think of Jesus as being our greatest church cheerleader. Jesus is very impressed by our churches, our church budgets, church buildings, church activities. How could he not be – we're doing it all for him, aren't we? I think Jesus might say, "Take it all away and I could build it back in three days. You could destroy every Christian building and institutional structure to the foundations and I could have it back in no time."
Here is my point; we need a fresh realization that the
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
Let's try something. This is what is called a thought experiment. Imagine that Jesus was here at this Lenten lunch as your speaker instead of me. Jesus said, "My message for you today is this. I want every pastor in Barbourville to get a real job and pastor on the side. I want every church to sell its property, liquidize their assets and give the money to the poor. I want all those who really want to worship me to meet in the largest auditorium in town. I want you to outlaw all committee meetings, and take all your spare time and go tell people who don't know of my saving grace about my it. Preach the gospel and help the poor."
Would we do it? Or would we crucify Jesus? Or just ignore him? If we did do it, would the
Jesus understands we need our churches, our institutions, our heat and air, our hymnals and padded pews. But he can work just fine without them – maybe better! Jesus came to establish a Kingdom that doesn't need buildings with heat and air. Jesus could say about every church in Barbourville, "Destroy them all and I could rebuild them in three days." Jesus only needs hearts afire with God's love, compassion for the poor, love for justice, desire to proclaim the good news of God's saving power and grace. The institution of the church is important; it isn't vital. The
Jesus says to us, "If every Christian asset was liquidized today, the kingdom wouldn't stop or even be slowed down." My call for you today is very specific. I'm asking you to ask yourself this question: How do we obey Jesus' call to seek the