The cross is at the very heart of the Christian faith. This can be seen through the church's use of the cross, whether empty (Protestantism) or with Jesus still present (Catholicism, Orthodox and Episcopalian) in our worship spaces. It can be seen through our use of the cross as jewelry and decoration on the walls of our homes or offices. While these uses would certainly have seemed shocking to the early church, considering that the cross was a means of execution, it was not long (2nd century) before the cross became the church's most widely used symbol.
In order to gain a better understanding of why the cross (and Jesus' death) is so central to our faith we will spend a few weeks looking at the process that led to Jesus' arrest, trial and death on the cross. As was noted in last week's article Jesus seemed to be aware of the constant possibility of arrest. John the Baptist, along with any others who questioned the lives and power of the Romans or their client kings were regularly rounded up and executed. This called for Jesus to be on the move and to avoid any hint that he might be creating an alternate empire to that of Rome and the Herodian dynasty. However that was exactly what Jesus was doing. He was initiating the Kingdom of God, in which God and not Herod or Caesar would be king. This transfer of power would turn the world upside down, placing the have-nots on top and the haves on the bottom. Ultimately Jesus would have to make his plans clear, which would put him in direct confrontation with the political authorities.
Jesus' declaration of his initiating the Kingdom of God would also put him at odds with the religious authorities. It would put him at odds with the Pharisees who believed that the Kingdom would only come through strict adherence to the Torah and all of its rules. It would put Jesus at odds with the Sadducees who believed that the Kingdom of God was already present through the rituals and sacrifices of the Temple. It would put Jesus at odds with the Herodians who believed that the Kingdom was here because there was a Jew (Herod Antipas) on the throne in Jerusalem. Finally it would put Jesus at odds with the Zealots who believed that the Kingdom of God could only come through political and military rebellion. None of these powerful groups were ready to welcome Jesus' message about his bringing the Kingdom of God into the world.
The stakes then could not have been higher as Jesus approached Jerusalem for Passover for the last time. Passover was the Jewish feast of liberation. It was the holy day on which the people remembered God's deeds of power in which God forced the Egyptian Pharaoh to let's God's people go. This meant that the festival carried with it not only religious overtones, but political ones as well. Because of these political implications the Romans always had additional troops ready to act. This however is where the story becomes a bit tricky. Depending on which Gospel one reads Jesus, his disciples or the crowd (you choose) decided that it was time to name Jesus king. The symbolism used during Jesus' entry into the city was an overt declaration that Jesus was claiming (or others were claiming for him) leadership in God's in-breaking Kingdom. As we noted earlier this put him at odds with all the existing powers and increased the odds of his arrest. The tension rises as Jesus disrupts the work of the Temple (scaring the Sadducees), teaches non-traditional ideas (scaring the Pharisees) and gathers large crowds around him (scaring the Herodians).
Jesus' arrest thus becomes inevitable. He was a threat to everyone. The exact nature of the conspiracy seems a bit obscure, again with each Gospel giving a slightly different account. The bottom line however is that the religious authorities believed Jesus' to be a severe enough threat to their own beliefs and/or authority that Jesus had to go. He was the wild card which could upset all of their plans. The Temple authorities therefore arrest Jesus at night in order to avoid a riot and secret him away to stand trial, with the hope being they can have Rome execute him, forever removing him from the scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment