Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent
Tags: Jesus
Date: 19 March 2013 07:26:04
When the chief priests and the guards saw [Jesus] they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him." ... They cried out, "Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha John 19: 6, 15-17Ever suffered although you've done nothing wrong? Ever taken the blame for something you didn't do. Yes, of course you have, we all have, and if you are anything like me you have got angry about it. It isn't fair. God is a god of justice. It is part of his nature. And it is part of God's nature in us that we also hate injustice, the sad part is that unlike God we often tolerate injustice done to others whilst getting mad when injustice happens to us - or is that just me? Life isn't fair, but it is a lot more unfair for a lot of people than it is to me. The recent Comic Relief telethon has brought that home. There's a theological term for this unfairness, the bowdlerized version of which is stuff happens. A lot of stuff is happening to Jesus in this passage. He's been tortured and ridiculed, and now he;s been found not guilty by the court. Pilate can find no reason to condemn him. But still he is condemned to death, and made to suffer the further humiliation of carrying the gallows to the place of execution. Dead man walking. Jesus is God incarnate, God in human form. God, the God who hates injustice, is suffering injustice. Instead of punishing those who would do the thing he hates, God takes their punishment. And it isn't fair. It is right to fight injustice where we see it happening to other people, whether individuals or groups of people. Jesus said we would be judged by hoe we deal with them. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. Fight injustice for others, feed the hungry, welcome strangers, visit the imprisoned, but when Injustice happens to you, take it, that is following the way of Jesus.