Love...

Date: 09 March 2013 10:01:50

...does not accuse.

Forty blogs of Lent

Day 22

Scriptural way of the cross

Station 5

Jesus is Judged by Pontius Pilate

The chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He said to him in reply, "You say so." The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, "Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of." Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.... Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be crucified. Mark 15:1-5, 15

Love does not fight back.

Love does not accuse. Love does nor condemn. Jesus could have fought back against his accusers, He could have countered the accusations by counter accusing. That;s the way that justice works, isn't it? If you are sued by someone you will receive a form allowing you to counter sue. If you sue someone they will receive the form. That's the way that justice works, if someone has accused you part of the way that justice works is that you have the right to accuse back. Jesus has the right to answer accusations made against him. Bur Jesus stayed silent. Justice fights back, people have the right to fight back against their accusers. But love is not like that. Love does not accuse. When he is accused Jesus does not accuse back. This is consistent with the story in the Gospel of John where the Scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman caught in an act of adultery. One thing is obvious, the Scribes and the Pharisees are absolutely right. The woman has broken the law and deserves to face the sentence of the law, and the law, the law of God, was clear. The sentence for adultery was death by stoning. No case for leniency, the minimum sentence is the same as the maximum sentence, death. The problem is that the Scribes and Pharisees know the law of God, but they don't know the love of God. The law accuses, love reaches out. Jesus does not accuse the woman, but neither does he condone what she did. In his teaching he is clear, adultery is wrong. Love does not accuse. Jesus loves, that love is shown in that he does not accuse the woman. But neither does he accuse the Scribes and Pharisees, they are the ones who's job is to interpret the law. What's more their interpretation of the law is absolutley right. But they are not motivated by love. Jesus does not tell them that they are wrong, he can't, they are not wrong. Neither does he accuse them of not being loving, he can't, if he accuses them he becomes as wrong as regards love they are. So he talks about sentencing, not about the sentence. Not in what the sentence is, the Scribes and Pharisees are correct here, but in who is to carry out that sentence. In doing so his love reaches out to the woman and to her accusers. This blog is typical of me, when I'm talking about something I find something linked, then waffle on on a tangent: Sometimes it's difficult to get back to the original point. The point is that when Jesus faced accusations against others he does not accuse back. He loves back And when faced with accusations against himself he does not accuse back. He loves back. Jesus reaches out in love even to his accusers. Don't miss the irony here. Jesus is God incarnate. God personified. God in human form. The judge of the universe is being judged. Jesus is being judged, yet it is Jesus who will at the end of time judge the universe. I expect that his attitude then will be the same then as it was at his trial. Not, as the hymn says, "trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored," but reaching out to those who stand before him accused in love. To everyone. Including us.