#Pilate Sentencing Jesus

[bojackson54]

A Sentence That Wasn't A Sentence: Was Pilate Complimenting Jesus?

One of the most unusual testimonies about who Jesus was is expressed in a short sentence that wasn’t a legal sentence: “I find no fault in this man.” Consider the reactions of Pontius Pilate and his wife: “While he [Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of…

[no-passaran]

The story of Jesus Christ Superstar is the tragedy of its characters coming to realise that they have no power over their lives, fighting as much as they can against the role that history/God is forcing them to fulfil, but failing because they were doomed from the start.

Jesus in Gethsemane desperately asking God why should he be killed, how is that going to make anything better, only to realise that it doesn't matter what he believes or wants because it's already fixed ("why then am I scared to finish what I started? What you started, I didn't start it.") and there is nothing that can be done. Against his will, he will have to continue performing this role to its bitter end ("God, thy will is hard, but you hold every card. I will drink your cup of poison, nail me to your cross and break me, bleed me, beat me, kill me. Take me now, before I change my mind.")

Judas realises later, after he has already fulfilled his role in the story. This realization and regret leads him to commit suicide, being the only way out of a life that has already been fixed to make him the eternal villain ("you'll be remembered forever for this", "I shall be dragged through the slime and the mud")... even though this apparent choice of suicide was, following the same reasoning, also taken for him ("my God, I'm sick! I've been used! And you knew all the time. God! I'll never know why you chose me for your crime. Your foul, bloody crime. You have murdered me! Murdered me! Murdered me!"). Judas understands what he did, and he understands what he will be, forever. He understands that not only has he been Judas, he now knows what it means to be Judas: Jesus insulted him by telling him ("you liar, you Judas"). In the very end, he completely understands what it means to be a Judas, because of what he had done.

And Pilate is the last one to try by all means to escape his destiny. He's seen it in his dream, but he refuses to follow it. He refuses to sentence Christ, telling the crowd that he's a crazy man but that's not a crime, trying to convince them that it's against their best interest to ally with Rome, and begs Christ to let him help him get saved ("why do you not speak when I hold your life in my hands? How can you stay quiet? I don't believe you understand!") but of course, the post-Gethsemane Jesus already has accepted that they're doomed, and he's the one to tell Pilate ("you have nothing in your hands, any power you have comes to you from far beyond. Everything is fixed, and you can't change it."). The realization is dawning on Pilate as he desperately continues trying to cling to his ability to take meaningful choices, literally begging Christ to let him take that decision ("you're a fool Jesus Christ, how can I help you?") but with the crowd's shouts for crucifixion, and the crowd circling him and pushing him against the wall, he really does realize it: he has no choice; he will have to play his part in the story. And he knows how it will end, he knows what his role will mean, he also knows what it means to be Pilate ("then I saw thousands of millions crying for this man, and then I heard them mentioning my name and giving me the blame"). The only thing he can do is remove himself from it, but even then he is aware that that won't stop the already-fixed history ("I wash my hands from your demolition. Die if you want to, you innocent puppet").

After all, we saw it from the very first scene. Isn't this what the story's framing means? The overture shows the actors arriving to the filming set by bus and getting ready to play their role. And, at the end of the film, they pack and leave. They came here to recite a script that someone else wrote, to fulfil a story where everything is fixed, and they can't change it. That was what they were made for. Innocent puppets.

[therealvinelle]

What if Bella had John Coffey's powers, but was also simple minded like him as well?

John Coffey is a Jesus metaphor, Bella Swan is not.

John Coffey is a man who never sinned, who devoted his existence to loving even the smallest creatures and using his power to help others. He is sentenced to death, and forgives his executioners. The narrator, a prison guard at the death row who realizes that John Coffey is innocent but is powerless to save him, is Pontius Pilate.

More pointedly, John Coffey is a black man accused of raping and murdering two little girls, who never stood a chance against the justice system. The Green Mile is a commentary on racism, using a Jesus metaphor.

There's no way to separate his powers and simple mindedness from the story and giving them to Bella without massively insulting the point King tried to make, I hope you understand why I feel this way.

[judasiscariotsfemalehysteria]

I watched Judas (2004) and welp

So erm this was supposed to just be a couple sentences but ended up becoming a full-blown rant, please bare with me

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD AND BRIEF MENTIONS OF SUICIDE ⚠️

So basically it all started when Judas saw Jesus going bonkers in the temple and got really horny-

Then he decided to invite Him back to his place for some grapes (malewife mode activated)

Afterwards Caiaphas and co. abduct Judas (this happens a total of three times) and attempt to blackmail him

Caiaphas calls Judas ‘son’

Judas ignores Caiaphas and runs away with Jesus. They start play-fighting and end up wrestling on the ground

Jesus says “I want you to spend eternity with me“

Unfortunately the harmony is short-lived. Judas sees Jesus hugging Matthew and gets jealous

Pilate, Herod and Caiaphas regularly get together for tea and crumpets

Here Judas is basically the stand-in for Simon Zealots. We learned that his father died in an attempt to stir up a Jewish insurrection. Flower!child Jesus asks Judas why he’s staying despite their contradicting beliefs and he replies: “I’m drawn to you like a thirsty horse to a riverbed” 😳

Babygirl 🌸

Supportive mama Iscariot tells her son he should invite his new boyfriend over for Passover, then promptly dies

OMG THE KISS

Judas really just smushed their faces together 🥴

The cinematic choices here are really cool, Jesus is almost always surrounded by light Star Wars hologram lookin ass whereas Judas is consumed by shadow the edgelord

After turning Jesus in Judas instantly regrets it, and tries to get the apostles together to rescue Him. It doesn’t work (obviously) so he screams and cries his way through the trial before going to hang himself

His last thought is of Jesus asking him to join the Eternal Kingdom 🥺

JESUS AND JUDAS’ DEATHS PARALLEL EACHOTHER

The disciples take Judas down because they know it’s what Jesus would have wanted, praying for him as the screen fades to black

The end 🥲

Conclusion

Judas has the vibes of an early 2000s made-for-tv movie (which it is) so I got what I came for. Definitely a fun ride if you like JCS and want to see attractive people acting out a biblically-inaccurate rendition of The Passion in the style of Gladiator (2000) or Troy (2004). The language used is modern, everyone speaks in American or English accents. Pilate even uses the term ‘rabble-rousing’ Overall I give Judas 18 silver pieces out of 30, for being corny and anachronistic but homoerotic enough to satiate all the freaks out there like me

To think this all could have been prevented if Judas just took his iron pills

Bonus quotes:

“Don’t leave me, I thought I was special to you!”

-Judas

“I wish you could love yourself the way I love you.”

-Jesus

P.S. I’ve seen Jonathan Scarfe referred to as ‘the whinier Glenndas’ so please proceed with caution if you do plan on giving it a watch! Here’s the link:

[unhonestlymirror]

How to recognise organized harassment on tumblr (on example from hetalia, the most normal fandom):

First of all, it often starts with "Block this person!" Often with many exclamation marks. Never "please be aware". That's not the accusing who should be responsible for your decisions to block/not block.

Secondly,

There are too many accusations at once. This one example of wording sounds hilarious. There is some recognisable pattern in such a kind of harassment: you are necessarily being accused of transphobia + racism + islamophobia/zionism. All these accusations in a 1 post at once are a red flag, you should check the information very precisely and objectively. Otherwise, you have a very high risk of participating in harassment and misinformation's spread about innocent people.

Like, I've seen callouts about tankies/vatņiki and they are VERY different from organized harassment.

Thirdly, if there is more text from the accusing than actual screens/links - that's also a red flag - you shouldn't share the post immediately. Those who harass innocent people want you to believe that if you don't share the callout post right here, right now, the world is gonna collapse. It's not. Check the information.

Fourthly,

Wtf is this. It's not even recent? You are just bored and you want to make a fuss? Red flag. I would not trust the author after this. Five sentences ago, you encouraged us to "block this person!!!" - and now you say "I'm urging y'all not to block"? Sure, grandma, let's get you to bed.

No, my dear, the only person with dangerous views trying to hide behind "valid criticism" is you. Once again, "just block this person", right after "don't block this person".

Anyway, organized harassment doesn't necessarily have a lot of profanity because assholes became a bit smarter. Organised harassment makes an accent on rather the personality of the accused than the actual deeds. Organised harassment uses the Pontius Pilate's rhetoric. Organised harassment makes it a show, a Broadway musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar", leaves the accused no opportunity to explain themself, and leaves the people no opportunity to ask the accused.

There are surprisingly many people who cooperate with each other in harassment. Organized harassment makes its authors feel like they have some power. Maybe because in real life, they are too wretched.

Even if the accused actually has weird views, such a callout post makes me too disgusted with the author to share it.

Please don’t participate in harassment. Please check the information.

P.S. Accusations of zionism? Has anyone ever tried to ask Jews what is zionism? It's like accusing of patriotism. I accuse the author of the post of anti-Semitism.

P.S.S. I think I've seen the author sharing "how hetalia characters would sing in their native language" (AI covers), but I'm too lazy to search.

[artandthebible]

Christ Before the High Priest

Artist: Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592-1656)

Genre: Religious Art

Date: circa 1617

Medium: OIl on Canvas

Collection: National Gallery, London

Christ Before the High Priest is an oil on canvas painting by Dutch artist Gerard van Honthorst, created around 1617. It now hangs in London's National Gallery. It depicts Jesus Christ being questioned by the High Priest Caiaphas shortly before being sentenced to death.

Who was Caiaphas?

Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, the former high priest, which may have accounted for his own rise to power. Caiaphas was also a member of one of the ruling Jewish sects, the Sadducees. Sadducees were often wealthy men of high position and, as they sought to appease their Roman rulers, were heavily involved in politics. They held the majority seat in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court, over which Caiaphas ruled for the 18 years he served as high priest. In terms of theology, Sadducees denied the afterlife and any existence of the spiritual world (angels, demons, etc.). Because of these things, they were often at odds with Jesus due to His teachings about humility, heaven, and His own deity.

When the Jewish leaders had Jesus arrested at Passover, they first brought Him before Annas. After he had questioned Jesus, Annas sent Jesus to his son-in-law Caiaphas, who as the high priest would be the one to rule on Jesus’ fate. When Jesus stood before Caiaphas and the entire Sanhedrin, many false witnesses were brought forward, but nothing was found to warrant a death sentence (Matthew 26:59–60). Finally, Caiaphas stood up and addressed Jesus directly, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (verse 63). Jesus replied just as directly, “You have said so... But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (verse 64). Caiaphas had what he was looking for; he tore his robe and cried, “Blasphemy!” (verse 65). The result of the sham trial was that Jesus was pronounced “worthy of death” and beaten and mocked (verses 66–67). However, since the Jews could not legally execute prisoners, Caiaphas sent Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

[mrthology]

Jesus🚶‍♂️🤩 is about to DIE😵☠️ for your sins😩😏 so get it out now, sweaty💦😇 It’s GOOD Friday📆✝️ bitches but you better be real👅 fuckin’😳 BAD😈 So get your hands wet💦🙏💦 with some🌊holy water🌊 grab on to His big👁 WOODen🌴✊ cross✝️ and suck 😛😫on some ❤️c🧡o💛l💚o💙r💜f❤️u🧡l💛 hard😟 Easter eggs🥚ω🥚 STRAP👡💆‍♂️ on your crown🤴👑 of hornys🐏😈 and give Peter🐰🌷 some good 🐇cottonTAIL🐇 Pontius Pilate🧝‍♂ is about 2️⃣ sentence YOU to 6 🕕 hours of NAILING🔨🔩 Judas🤫 will be Roman around your bedroom waiting👤 to STAB🔪you in the back with his big🐘 THROBBING🌚 peep🐣🍆 Put 🕳holes🕳 in MY hands🤲 and i'll put my hands🙌 in YOUR 👉🍩holes🍩 You better be FUCKIN’ ✝️ hung🍆👀 cuz it’s gonna take😯 you to your last breath😵💨 Send this💌 to your top 1️⃣0️⃣holiest HOES😇 or Jesus🏃‍♂️🧟‍♂️ won’t take you to his ⚰️tomb😉😜 this Easter🐰😲

I.......

[murderouscaiaphaas]

The Jewish Head Priest of Jerusalem Synagogue and his follower evil Priest Annas made JESUS stand for trial and disagreed with him and when Jesus,Son of Mary and Joseph who was severely lashed and punished with wounds,insulted and was to be let off after Pontius Pilate did not find him guilty of any wrong,then Jewish Head Priest Caiaphas and jewish Priest Annas and all the clergy instigated the common people to condemn JESUS to be crucified,when Roman head Pontius Pilate was to condemn Barabbas the robber murderer to be crucified ,they said JESUS will create riots as he is saying Blasphemy of Scriptures of Moses and if they are riots( that will be created secretly by Caiaphaas ) then who will be responsible.So the whole group of people wanted innocent good JESUS crucified and murderous Barabbas forgiven and shouted Crucify JESUS. Pontius Pilate helpless washed his hands off with water ,saying this good man's death is not on me,my family and then the jewish mob including Annas and Caiaphaas his death and blood will be on our heads and our family generations heads and JESUS was sentenced to be Crucified to Death

[sleeplesssmoll]

So I've been reading the traces recently and came across a line that seems like it should be important to well at least something but I haven't seen anyone talk about it? Here's the line btw:

It's specifically the "you're imitating the Messiah" Part that's like making me think. So uhh yeah I just wanted to share it.

Sorry if it's a strange thing to send I wanted to see someone else's opinion on it.

Reverse1999 loves to put Vertin in the position of Jesus. We saw this at the end of Chapter 2 where she was sitting in Judas's position and Schneider was in Judas's spot. Arcana calls her "the savior" and describes Vertin in an almost biblical manner whenever she's interacting with her. Even her little Suitcase is called an "ark". However, this instance is a bit different.

Disclaimer, Idk much about religion but I did try to look this bit up because it reminded me of something too. If anyone has more experience in the matter pls feel free to correct me or add on. I will do my best but I might get stuff wrong.

Note: Vertin was placed in a coma because the Foundation wanted her out of the way. This is relevant to the theory.

Here is what I found:

Source

The Jewish high priests were apparently looking for a reason to get rid of Jesus. As the revolutionary leader of a new movement that challenged the religious status quo, he posed a threat to their power. But they couldn’t just take action themselves. Ultimately, sentencing was up to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor at the time. And they needed to provide him with a legal justification for Jesus to be crucified. The trial of Jesus A number of witnesses testified against Jesus before the Sanhedrin, a Jewish court. Although the Gospel of Mark says many of them gave false testimony, Jesus didn’t confirm or deny their accusations. In fact, Jesus remained quiet through most of his trial, refusing to respond to the charges leveled against him. But he did respond to one question. Asked, “Are you the Messiah?” he seemed to admit that he was. Caiaphas, the chief priest, called this blasphemy. And then the others agreed that Jesus should be put to death. 

This trial parallels Vertin's story.

Moving on, this trail is in the chapter where Madam Z is playing ping-pong while trying to convince her friend to vote for her decision. The whole thing is an analogy to referring to how Vertin started off as the simple Timekeeper who kept records of the end of eras and now she plays this pivotal role that is rocking Foundation's core. She is the real ping-ping ball being batted between two factions of the Foundation. She has no say in the matter because she is now an object in a bigger game. Her fate relies on the people around her. Poor little Vertin is always a pawn in someone else's game. I highlighted some bits in red from the trail posted below that helped me put it together in my head. You can see it if you click "Keep reading." I hope this helps!

Also, thanks for giving me a chance to really look at this. I glossed over it the first time but the scene is even more intense now and I have a deeper appreciation for it. Any corrections or additions are welcome cause I'm out of my depth here.

Source: Chapter 4-16 Ball Game

Ping, pong. Ping, pong. Ping pong ping pong ping, pong. Ping. Pong.

An imitation show?

Yes, an imitation show. A ball imitation show, little thing.

You're imitating the Messiah, while I'm imitating an orange ball made of plastic.

Being pushed back and forth by two rackets, I have nowhere else to go. Once they apply a force on me, I can't help bouncing to the sky. 

You can see how the air flows across my dry, wrinkled skin ...

Oh, what a coincidence! Aren't you in the same situation as mine now!

Ha! Look at your frowning face-

Your face wrinkles from the eyebrows to the nose tip, but people can barely see those light furrows. We know what that means. You have a poker face, and it's never your fault.

But for now, your face is not the thing that matters. Well, maybe for someone it is, but still, it's not. You know what really matters?

The game! Yes, it's the game, of course the game matters!

Everyone loves the game. They gather at the stadium, yelling or roaring vehemently. They choose one team to become its fan and spend good money on a team uniform or an autographed ball.

Yet, it's just a ball. You see where I'm coming from?

Just a ball. Its outline, a circle, could be found in any geometry textbook and anywhere in this world. When the first hominid picked up a coconut and threw it to the sky-and caught it—and threw it—and caught it-and threw it again, when she felt joy and yelped, had she ever thought of the future?

The future where a simple ball has become so complicated and enchanting, now we call it the present.

Complicated and enchanting?

Hahahahahaha! Yes, sure! Complicated and enchanting!

Use your silly and smart head to think about this ball game carefully.

The complex scoring rules, the harsh requirements for reactive agility, the countless possible foul points ... Your fingers, your wrists, and arms, a correct way of using them will lead to victory!

What matters more is, like every ball game, it focuses on how you serve the ball and hitting it back.

It's not an easy job as it sounds. When you are in the game, you need to concentrate. Where will the ball come from, and how will you return it to your opponent-you need to figure that out within half a second.

Use your power in a proper way, move your feet in a stable pace, inhale and exhale at the right timings.

Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong...

The sound will last forever and ever until that bouncing little thing falls to either side of the court.

[prolifeproliberty]

Good Friday - Part 4

”And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him. (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: (who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.) Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.

But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.“

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭13‬-‭25‬ ‭KJV‬‬

[coddlefish]

Jesus🚶‍♂️🤩 is about to DIE😵☠️ for your sins😩😏 so get it out now, sweaty💦😇 It’s GOOD Friday📆✝️ bitches but you better be real👅 fuckin’😳 BAD😈 So get your hands wet💦🙏💦 with some🌊holy water🌊 grab on to His big👁 WOODen🌴✊ cross✝️ and suck 😛😫on some ❤️c🧡o💛l💚o💙r💜f❤️u🧡l💛 hard😟 Easter eggs🥚ω🥚 STRAP👡💆‍♂️ on your crown🤴👑 of hornys🐏😈 and give Peter🐰🌷 some good 🐇cottonTAIL🐇 Pontius Pilate🧝‍♂ is about 2️⃣ sentence YOU to 6 🕕 hours of NAILING🔨🔩 Judas🤫 will be Roman around your bedroom waiting👤 to STAB🔪you in the back with his big🐘 THROBBING🌚 peep🐣🍆 Put 🕳holes🕳 in MY hands🤲 and i'll put my hands🙌 in YOUR 👉🍩holes🍩 You better be FUCKIN’ ✝️ hung🍆👀 cuz it’s gonna take😯 you to your last breath😵💨 Send this💌 to your top 1️⃣0️⃣holiest HOES😇 or Jesus🏃‍♂️🧟‍♂️ won’t take you to his ⚰️tomb😉😜 this Easter🐰😲

[quinn-gaither]

sam and drake as the trial before pilate; or, an analysis of the powerplant incident

religion is all over gone. it's there in abundance, from the names to the internal dialogue to the very acts and events that happen. the overlap of traditional religious idiosyncracies between different characters are so plentiful it is difficult to sit here and say that this character represents this religious figure; they are an amalgamation of different gospels, showing how theology and the themes of the bible can apply to gone as a wider subject matter to stretch out the dystopia, show how the worst of people brings out the very humanity of them.

as such, i don't know for certain if this parallel or idea was intentional or ever in MG's mind as he wrote the scene, but it is something that has stuck with me a lot in my reread: how the drake/sam whipping in the powerplant strongly mirrors jesus' trial before pilate. the extract sticks out to me particularly in terms of understanding how the whipping of sam impacted his arc and his character for the rest of the novel. full disclaimer, i am not an expert in christian theology nor am i christian, and this comparison only came to my mind recently, so it may not have the depth and nuance of others, but it’s something i have thought and researched a lot about, so i hope it will suffice!

under the cut i go into some brief religious context, followed by how this fits in with the scene in the powerplant alongside quotes pulled from the various books to underscore how pivotal the lashings were for sam. so, if you're looking for some unnecessarily deep analysis of sam and drake as religious paragons: look no further than under the cut!

pilate's court: a contextual debrief

for starters, what was the trial before pilate? in brief, it is as follows. in the christian gospels they refer to the final period before jesus' death as 'the passion'; or, 'the passion of jesus'. the passion includes jesus' entrance to jerusalem, his anointing, the last supper, his agony and arrest, for example. it does also include his trial before pilate, the governor of judaea.

this trial is what essentially preceded the denouncement of jesus before he was sent to be crucified. throughout the trial, much to pilate's confusion, jesus was silent, perhaps accepting his inevitable fate or not seeing reason to protest something when he knew he would never win. pilate, at first, didn't believe there to be enough reason to sentence jesus to death and, consequently, elected to flog him as punishment. the bible does not outright state the amount of lashings jesus received, but it is thought the number could have been 39 (due to jewish commands restricting the amount of flogs from surpassing 40).

and so jesus was lashed, and then he was sentenced to death. it is widely agreed that the punishments jesus endured represent him absorbing everyone's sin, seeing him become the icon of rebirth and allowing humans to start all over again.

so, i hear you ask... how does this relate to the drake and sam incident in the powerplant?

drake as judge, jury & executioner

as i mentioned before, i'm not here to say that sam and drake are direct reflections of jesus and pilate. quite the opposite is true, really, and it is more the themes rather than the behaviours and characteristics that tie them together with this gospel. the theory and symbolism behind the trial before pilate can apply in a somewhat inverted way; sam is whipped though he doesn't necessarily die (more on that later), and drake isn't necessarily trying to find ways to punish sam without killing him as pilate was for jesus. drake wants sam dead and, had brianna not interfered when she did, he probably would have killed him. the events at the powerplant are not a complete mirror image of the trial but are, rather, foils to it.

the lashing of sam sees drake attempting to denounce all the perdido beach kids, trying to assert a specific way of thinking over the whole fayz. whether that be the beliefs of caine and the coates clan or the legislation of the gaiaphage is up for debate, but he is still decidedly torturing sam in response to disagreeing with the word he is spreading and the way he is leading. in the same way the roman crowds saw jesus’ behaviours as undermining the king ceasar, drake is acting out as he sees sam undermining his own personal king.

in terms of the text, this all occurs within hunger. however, before diving into that, i'm flashing forward to plague for an interesting excerpt from a conversation between brittany and astrid. it is, in fact, the very passage that got me thinking about all this to start with:

here we have a direct reference to pilate in the books themselves! how crazy is that? pay attention here to the specifics of "and pilate... to crucify him so that he might redeem us." if, in this instance, we are perceiving sam as a jesus-emblem, what brittany is essentially saying here is that sam needs to be punished for hope he might redeem all people. all the perdido beach kids, all the fayz inhabitants.

sam stands to be the symbol for all those who follow him. he is a leader, first and foremost, but he is at base level the most direct representation of all the lives he, begrudgingly, protects. sam is a microcosmic perdido beach resident while also being one of the most powerful mutants. see, then, how jesus is said to represent all despite being the son of god.

the lashing of sam kickstarts the redemption of the fayz kids, even so early into the book series. this happens in hunger, before any of the real horrors begin, but it is in this scene when the tides perhaps turn and the chance of a tunnel out of here manifests within sam's mind. the lashing is part of the passion of jesus, or the passion of sam, and as a result it sets him on a different path that places him in the mindset to understand that murdering drake is something which must happen in order for the barrier to come down. even if he doesn't quite have the foresight to see it at the time - perhaps more focussed on the murder angle rather than the reason - the seeds for drake's death are set in motion right here at the end of hunger.

just to contextualise the whipping within the timeline of the book. it starts halfway through chapter thirty-seven, with 1 hour and 6 minutes before the climax of the novel. brianna appears at the end of the chapter. thirty-eight sees us with 53 minutes later. so, with that knowledge, we can assume that the lashing lasted, at most, thirteen minutes. brianna administers the morphine packet within this chapter, too.

so, after about fifteen minutes since the lashings began he gets his first pain medicine. in thirty-nine (47 minutes) he wasn't feeling particularly intense pain as he was starting to hallucinate. at 33 minutes, he is still under morphine but is once again in pain. note: 33 minutes is when he first declares his intent to take a life. this is, obviously, a very instrumental part of sam's character arc. when he goes from seeing killing as something to be done only as mercy, to put someone out of their misery, to something that is to be done to avenge.

sam notes that the morphine is wearing off with 7 minutes left. so, with all this textual information in place, we can determine that he underwent torture for approximately thirteen minutes, and saw the pain mostly off with a dose of morphine that lasted 46 minutes. it's important to note also, i think, that this lashing happens concurrently with the human crew hunting and essentially sentencing hunter to death in the church.

it is interesting that two heavily religious events are happening at the same time, especially as the events are both underscored by the overarching sense of sacrifice, lawfulness and establishing dominance. the human crew are wanting to metaphorically crucify hunter while drake is flogging sam: they both want to be the power in charge, and they do so without taking into account any jury or justice. they act singularly, for their own gain.

the first 'death' of sam temple

now, earlier up, i mentioned that sam "doesn't necessarily die". he is, after all, not crucified or murdered in any way, he is just flogged. however, i believe that he was fundamentally changed after his encounter with drake, and while he didn't perhaps die physically he did die mentally.

he was on the brink of real death, all but bleeding out on the powerplant floor, and spent at least 46 minutes in a sort of purgatory state where he was hallucinating his better moments in life and wondering if he was going to make it. under the effects of morphine he sees the school bus incident, perhaps a demonstration of him walking towards the light before he awakes and finds himself back in the powerplant.

the lashing of sam is unequivocally the worst experience he endures in his time in the fayz. the worst experience of his whole life, something that shifts his entire perspective of not only drake but also the type of pain he can endure. the memory of it lasts even through light:

even after everything - four more whole books of action - nothing lives up to or usurps the agony of his lashing in the powerplant. it does not kill him, but it kills his soul. similarly to how the darkness kills lana and sucks the light from her life, sam's experience with drake does the same for him.

taking this back to the gospels, then, jesus is battered and bruised when he gets to the crucifix and, as a result, doesn't last long up there. sam is similarly battered and bruised, literally on his last legs of life after drake is done with him. brianna is able to come and administer the morphine and bring him back to physical life, but he is psychologically different after the whippings. jesus's trial before pilate is a distinctive turning point in christian theology; it is where he essentially admits to his fate, refuses to put up a fight, and leaves the ending of his life in the hands of pilate. he understands that his people have given up on him, that he has lost the crown of king of the jews, that he has been so betrayed by those closest to him. and, yet, in the aftermath of the trial and even after the crucifixtion and rebirth, jesus is different. the world is different. it turns into a place where a better ending rests at the end of all the trials and tribulations.

sam accepts his fate. sam understands that he is losing control of perdido beach. if drake wasn't the one to beat him down, the human crew probably would've tried to at some point. in this analogy where drake is a twisted version of pilate, the human crew are perhaps the crowd outside the temple who are calling for the death of jesus; the death of sam. for fifty-nine minutes sam was reduced to nothing but a boy bruised. he was no longer a four-bar mutant, he had no use of his hands, and he was no longer school bus sam either. he was just sam temple, a fifteen-year-old kid dying on the floor at the hands of someone who took it upon themselves to play judge over his life. jesus, in his trial, became the same thing. just a person enduring the worst sort of torture. god couldn't save him, didn't save him, nor did his people or his reputation or his powers.

the powerplant scene puts the fayz over the precipice. it sends drake down a path from which he never recovers, and it pushes sam to the brink of something he almost doesn't save himself from. it sets in stone that sam will come back - stronger - and those who put him through the agony will repent for what they did. in such a short extract, MG essentially plots out the ending of their relationship: sam will prosper while drake will die.

so, overall

i could expand on this entire thing further because, as i said before, there is such an astonishing amount of overlapping religious theology in these texts that it's impossible to sum them all up in one go. but i like to think of this powerplant moment as an opening, as something thematically intrinsic in the way the rest of the novels work out. it's an instance which can be explored even more if one is to bring caine into the narrative too, and consider sam/caine as twin versions of jesus/judas. which doesn't even take into consideration the very on-the-nose naming of them as sam and david and the way that gospel plays into the whole series, too.

i could even bring in one of my favourite pieces of artwork, the angels hovering over the body of christ in the sepulchre by william blake, and perhaps analyse how the angels are symbolic of drake/brittany in later novels, how their constant back and forth as they oversee the rebirth of sam as he conquers them, and the fayz.

anyway… gone is crazy detailed when you look at it through these sorts of theological lenses. i think, to a certain extent, some of the overlaps must be intentional. the fayz is very much a microcosm of particular religions, of the way gods contend against each other and leaders prevail against crowds of opposition.

either way, to conclude: the meeting between drake and sam in the powerplant greatly mirrors the trial of jesus before pilate, just before his crucifixtion. it perhaps represents how sam is forced to shoulder the sins and the misgivings of the perdido beach kids in order to see through to a way of beating the darkness and freeing them from the barrier. though neither drake or sam are perfect reflections of pilate and jesus respectively, the way their actions correspond to and follow those of the gospels brings to surface really interesting observations about the ways the characters and their fates are almost predetermined, how you can see how the books will end even from only the second one in the series.

[rabbitprayer]

Good Friday Timeline

6 AM

Jesus Stands Trial Before Pilate (Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-37)

Jesus Sent to Herod (Luke 23:6-12)

7 AM

Jesus Returned to Pilate (Luke 23:11)

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:23-24; John 19:16)

8 AM

Jesus Is Led Away to Calvary (Matthew 27:32-34; Mark 15:21-24; Luke 23:26-31; John 19:16-17)

9 AM - "The Third Hour"

Jesus Is Crucified - Mark 15: 25 - "It was the third hour when they crucified him" (NIV). The third hour in Jewish time would have been 9 am.

Father, Forgive Them (Luke 23:34)

The Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus' Clothing (Mark 15:24)

10 AM

Jesus Is Insulted and MockedMatthew 27:39-40 - And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!" (NLT) Mark 15:31 - The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself!" (NLT)Luke 23:36-37 - The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" (NLT)Luke 23:39 - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" (NIV)

11 AM

Jesus and the Criminal - Luke 23:40-43 - But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV)

Jesus Speaks to Mary and John (John 19:26-27)

Noon - "The Sixth Hour"

Darkness Covers the Land (Mark 15:33)

1 PM

Jesus Cries Out to the Father - Matthew 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (NKJV)

Jesus Is Thirsty (John 19:28-29)

2 PM

It Is Finished - John 19:30a - When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" (NLT)

Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit - Luke 23:46 - Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)

Original Source

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

24th March >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections for Today's Mass Readings (Inc. Mark 14:1-15:47) on Psalm Sunday (B): ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’

Palm Sunday, Cycle B

Homilies (7)

(i) Palm Sunday

In many ways, the story of Jesus’ passion and death is a difficult one to hear. The worst instincts of human nature are on show there. Jesus is betrayed by one of the Twelve, the group in whom he had invested so much of himself. Three of them fall asleep when he needed them to be awake and present to him. He was denied publicly three times by the leader of the Twelve. At the moment of his arrest, all of his disciples deserted him and fled. He was put on trial by the religious authorities, with his enemies ready to give false evidence against him. As a result he was sentenced to death and handed over to the Roman authorities. A weak Roman governor gave in to the demands of the religious leaders for him to be crucified. Having been mocked and beaten by Pilate’s soldiers he began the journey to his place of crucifixion, the most terrible form of execution the Romans could devise. As he hung dying from the cross, the mocking continued, by those who happened to be passing, by the chief priests and scribes and even by those crucified alongside him. Is it any wonder that Jesus cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have your deserted me?’

Is there any ray of light in this awful darkness? In the darkest of human situations there is always so light. Even in the Nazi death camps there were stories of heroic loving service. The same is true of the story we have just heard. At the very beginning of the story as Jesus is about to enter into his passion and death, a nameless woman performs an act of loving service for Jesus, anointing his head with costly ointment. A stranger who had come into Jerusalem from the country, Simon of Cyrene, helped Jesus carry his cross. The women who had served Jesus in Galilee did not flee; they look on helplessly from a distance as Jesus hung dying on the cross. After his death, a member of the Jewish Council, Joseph of Arimathea, courageously went to Pilate and got permission to give Jesus a dignified burial in his own tomb. Some of the women who were at Calvary prepared spices to anoint Jesus’ body when the Jewish Sabbath was over. The Roman centurion, seeing how Jesus died, recognized Jesus’ special relationship with God, saying, ‘This man really was the Son of God’.

There was light in the awful darkness. The greatest light in that darkness was Jesus himself. The purpose of his life was to reveal God’s love to all, to show that no one was excluded from God’s forgiveness. It was his commitment to this mission that brought about his death. Some found the light of God’s love that shone through Jesus too threatening and they set about trying to extinguish the light. Jesus could have avoided death if he had abandoned his mission. Yet, such was his faithfulness to God and to all of us that, in the words of Paul in the second reading, he was ‘humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross’. The worst instincts of human nature could not extinguish the light of God’s love that shone through Jesus. He absorbed all the violence and hatred and he gave it back as forgiveness and love. We are drawn to the image of Jesus on the cross not because of some morbid fascination with suffering but because we recognise there a divine love that is stronger than sin and death, a divine light which no human darkness can overpower.

This Holy Week, we allow ourselves to be drawn by God’s love shining through the crucified Jesus. As we are touched by that love, we are sent out to serve Jesus as he comes to us today in all those who travel the way of the cross. The light which shines upon us from the cross is to shine through us so that the light of God’s love might be brought into someone’s darkness. Jesus said of the woman who anointed his head, ‘She has performed a good service for me… She has done what she could’. Jesus’ loving death can bring out the best in us too, inspiring us to do whatever good we can.

And/Or

(ii) Palm Sunday, Year B

If we were to think of the journey of our lives in terms of colour we would probably find that we would need many different colours to depict that journey. The colour yellow might come to mind to describe those moments of great light when all seemed well and we could see clearly. We might term these our transfiguration moments. We might use the colour red to depict those times when we gave of ourselves in love to serve others in some generous way. This could be termed our last supper moments, remembering that it was at the last supper that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. We might use the colour green to depict those experiences of newness and freshness, those times when we begin some project or other with fresh enthusiasm and dynamism. These might be described as our Easter moments. We might use the colour orange to depict those moments when we experienced the warmth of love, in particular the warmth of God’s love renewing and restoring us. We might think of these times as Pentecost moments in memory of the day when the disciples experienced the coming of the Spirit of God’s love in the form of tongues of fire.

Undoubtedly, we would also find ourselves reaching for the darker colours on our pallet from time to time. We might even find it necessary to dip our brush into the black paint occasionally. We would need that colour to depict those dark experiences that are an inevitable part of all our lives. These will be the times when we suffered in some deep way. The suffering may have been physical or emotional or spiritual, or a combination of all three. We might think of those times when we felt extremely lonely, or when we had to endure some major disappointment, or those times when we were unfairly treated or unjustly deprived of our good name, when something was done to us by another that left us feeling diminished. We might also think of times of great loss, when we had to let go of someone whom we loved deeply, because they went on a journey away from us. The greatest loss of all is when our loved ones go on that final journey from this life to the next. When we look back on all these moments in our lives, we remember them as traumatic, as deeply painful and very draining. These might be termed our Good Friday moments.

We have just read Mark’s passion narrative, in which the evangelist tells the story of Jesus’ Good Friday moment. Each of the four evangelists tells this story, but Mark’s account is the darkest of all four. The account of John, which we read every Good Friday, has the most light in it, and in between Mark and John stand the accounts of Matthew and Luke, with Matthew a little less darker than Mark and Luke a little less darker again than Matthew. Mark depicts this experience of Jesus in very dark colours indeed. The three disciples who were closest to Jesus fall asleep in the garden; he is betrayed by Judas, one of the twelve, denied by Peter, the leader of the twelve, deserted by all his disciples at the moment of his arrest, falsely accused before the Jewish Sanhedrin, handed over to be crucified by a governor who surrendered his authority to the mob, jeered and mobbed as he hung dying on a cross, and with his last words crying out to God in deep desolation. From the moment Jesus shares his last supper with his disciples until the moment of his death the story as Mark tells it seems to have no redeeming feature. Apart from Jesus, everyone in the story is deeply flawed. Jesus goes to his death surrounded by the worst instincts of human nature, let down and abused by deeply flawed human beings.

Yet, in the midst of all this terrible darkness, the evangelist knows that there is a light for those with eyes to see it, the light of God’s love, the light of God’s presence. In the story as Mark tells it, a pagan recognizes this light at the very moment when Jesus dies. The Roman centurion declares, ‘Truly, this man was the Son of God’. He recognized the light of God’s presence at the heart of all this darkness. This pagan had eyes to see the deeper meaning of these ugly and painful events. God was indeed working powerfully through the awfulness of Golgotha, bringing good out of evil, new life out of death, transforming a story of human sin and pain into a story of redemption. The evangelist is saying to all his readers, to us, that God is at the heart of all our own darkness. God is present in all of our Good Fridays, working in the same life-giving way as he did on that first Good Friday. God is not absent from our darkest moments, even from those moments when we find ourselves crying out, ‘My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?’ Even though there may be darkness over the whole land, over our own personal world, the light that darkness cannot overcome continues to shine, the light of God’s life-giving presence. We might pray on this Palm Sunday for the eyes of the centurion so that we too may recognize and worship the Lord present with us even in our darkest moments. ‘Even though I walk through the valley of darkness, you are there with your crook and your staff. With these, you give me comfort’.

And/Or

(iii) Palm Sunday

We can have certain expectations of people and when those expectations are not met we can be tempted to dismiss them and, perhaps, even turn against them. Sometimes the expectations we have of someone are very reasonable and that person’s failure to meet those expectations reflects badly on them. At other times, our expectations of someone do not do justice to the person in question and our negative reaction to those expectations not being met can be saying more about us than about the person in question.

There is a very sharp contrast between the short gospel we read at the beginning of Mass and the story of the passion and death of Jesus we have just heard. The crowd who cried ‘Hosanna’ as just entered Jerusalem on a colt went on to cry ‘Crucify him’. Those who welcome him with great euphoria went on to jeer and mock him as he hung from a Roman cross. Why such a sudden change of attitude? When Jesus entered Jerusalem he was welcomed as one who would usher in the ‘kingdom of our father David’. Here, it was believed, was the king who would restore the fortunes of King David and rid the land of Roman occupation. This was the people’s expectation. However, within the space of a week those expectations were shattered. Their king would end up on a Roman cross. Whereas people wanted victory, the cross spoke of defeat; whereas they looked for a power greater than Rome’s, the cross spoke of weakness; whereas they had hoped for a wise leader, the cross spoke of foolishness; whereas they looked to Jesus to demonstrate God’s powerful presence, the cross spoke of God’s absence. The shattering of their expectations turned their jubilation into hostility.

Yet, there were a few people who saw the horror of Jesus’ crucifixion with very different eyes to most of the people. A pagan soldier, the Roman centurion who looked on at how Jesus died exclaimed, ‘this man was a son of God’. A prominent member of the Jewish ruling council took the bold step of going to Pilate because he recognized that this man was worthy of a dignified burial, rather than being thrown into a common grave which was the normal fate of the crucified. The woman disciples who looked on from a distance took note of where Jesus was buried and went away to prepare spices to anoint his body at the earliest opportunity. These two men, a pagan and a Jew, and this group of woman saw with different eyes and behaved in a fashion that was noble and generous.

The story we have just heard invites us to identify with those who looked beneath the surface of the broken and bloodied body on the cross and glimpsed there something of God. When we look upon the cross with the eyes of faith, we see a divine love that is stronger than sin, a divine light that shines in all our darkness, a divine power that brings new life out of all our deaths, a divine poverty that enriches us at the deepest level of our being. We have just heard the story of Jesus’ last journey in the space of ten minutes. This Holy Week, the church invites us to travel that journey at a much slower pace, day by day as it were. This is a good week to read through Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion and death slowly and prayerfully, a little every day. As we read we are invited to travel that journey with Jesus, and to travel it with the eyes of faith, with the eyes of the centurion, of Joseph of Arimathea and of the women. We look beneath the surface of what is happening, we listen deeply to all that is taking place, so that we see and hear the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that we may have life and have it to the full.

And/Or

(iv) Palm Sunday

There is a very sharp contrast between the short gospel we read at the beginning of Mass and the story of the passion and death of Jesus we have just heard. The crowd who cried ‘Hosanna’ as just entered Jerusalem went on to cry ‘Crucify him’. Those who welcome him with great euphoria went on to jeer and mock him as he hung from a Roman cross. Why such a sudden change of attitude? When Jesus entered Jerusalem he was welcomed as one who would usher in the ‘kingdom of our father David’. Here, it was believed, was the king who would restore the fortunes of King David and rid the land of Roman occupation. However, within the space of a week those expectations were shattered. Their king would end up on a Roman cross. Whereas people wanted victory, the cross spoke of defeat; whereas they looked for a power greater than Rome’s, the cross spoke of weakness; whereas they had hoped for a wise leader, the cross spoke of foolishness; whereas they looked to Jesus to demonstrate God’s powerful presence, the cross spoke of God’s absence. The shattering of their expectations turned their jubilation into hostility.

Yet, there were a few people who saw the horror of Jesus’ crucifixion with very different eyes to most of the people. A pagan soldier, the Roman centurion, who looked on at how Jesus died exclaimed, ‘this man was a son of God’. A prominent member of the Jewish ruling council took the bold step of going to Pilate because he recognized that this man was worthy of a dignified burial, rather than being thrown into a common grave which was the normal fate of the crucified. The woman disciples who looked on from a distance took note of where Jesus was buried and went away to prepare spices to anoint his body at the earliest opportunity. These two men, a pagan and a Jew, and this group of woman saw with different eyes and behaved in a fashion that was noble and generous.

The story we have just heard invites us to identify with those who looked beneath the surface of the broken and bloodied body on the cross and glimpsed there something of God. When we look upon the cross with the eyes of faith, we see a divine love that is stronger than sin, a divine light that shines in all our darkness, a divine power that brings new life out of all our deaths, a divine poverty that enriches us at the deepest level of our being. We have just heard the story of Jesus’ last journey in the space of ten minutes. This Holy Week, the church invites us to travel that journey at a much slower pace, day by day as it were. This is a good week to read through Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion and death slowly and prayerfully, a little every day. As we read we are invited to enter into that journey with the eyes of faith, with the eyes of the centurion, of Joseph of Arimathea and of the women. We look beneath the surface of what is happening, we listen deeply to all that is taking place, so that we see and hear the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that we may have life and have it to the full.

And/Or

(v) Palm Sunday

There is great hostility in the story we have just heard, all of it directed against Jesus. There is the hostility of the chief priests, of the Roman soldiers, of those who passed by and jeered as he hung from the cross. Alongside the hostility of those who rejected Jesus, there is the failure of those who had been closest to him. His disciples all deserted him and fled; Judas betrayed him and Peter denied him publicly. Yet, there were a few people who responded to Jesus in that dark hour faithfully and nobly. There was the anonymous woman who in an extravagant gesture of love and respect anointed the head of Jesus. Then there was the Roman centurion, who looked on as Jesus died and exclaimed, ‘this man was son of God’. A prominent member of the Jewish ruling council, Joseph of Armimathea, took the bold step of going to Pilate to ensure Jesus had a dignified burial. The woman disciples who looked on from a distance took note of where Jesus was buried and went away to prepare spices to anoint his body at the earliest opportunity. All of these people men and women saw Jesus with eyes of faith and love.

The story we have just heard invites us to identify with those who saw Jesus with the eyes of faith and love, who recognized the light of God in the darkness of Jesus’ passion and death. When we look upon the passion and death of Jesus with such eyes, we see a divine love that is stronger than sin, a divine light that shines in all our darknesses, a divine power that brings new life out of all our deaths, a divine poverty that enriches us at the deepest level of our being. We have just heard the story of Jesus’ last journey in the space of ten minutes. This Holy Week, the church invites us to travel that journey at a much slower pace, day by day as it were. We are invited to enter into that journey with the eyes of the anointing woman, the centurion, Joseph of Arimathea and the group of faithful women. We look beneath the surface of what is happening, we listen deeply to all that is taking place, so as to recognize the good Shepherd who laid down his life for us all, so that we might have life and have it to the full.

And/Or

(vi) Palm Sunday

There is a sharp contrast between the short gospel we read at the beginning of Mass and the story of the passion and death of Jesus we have just heard. The crowd who cried ‘Hosanna’ as just entered Jerusalem went on to cry ‘Crucify him’ five days later. Why such a sudden change of attitude? When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he was welcomed as one who would usher in the ‘kingdom of our father David’. It was hoped that here was the king who would restore the fortunes of King David and rid the land of Roman occupation. However, within the space of a week those expectations were shattered. Their king would end up on a Roman cross. Whereas people wanted victory, the cross spoke of defeat; whereas they looked for a power greater than Rome, the cross spoke of weakness; whereas they had hoped for a wise leader, the cross spoke of foolishness; whereas they looked to Jesus to demonstrate God’s powerful presence, the cross spoke of God’s absence. The shattering of their expectations turned their jubilation into hostility.

Yet, there were a few people who saw the horror of Jesus’ passion and death with very different eyes. There was the anonymous woman who in an extravagant gesture of love and respect anointed the head of Jesus before he faced into his passion. A pagan soldier, the Roman centurion, looked on at how Jesus died and exclaimed, ‘this man was a son of God’. A prominent member of the Jewish ruling council took the bold step of going to Pilate because he recognized that this man was worthy of a dignified burial, rather than being thrown into a common grave which was the normal fate of the crucified. Then there was the little group of women disciples, who looked on from a distance as Jesus was being crucified. They took note of where Jesus was buried and went away to prepare spices to anoint his body at the earliest opportunity. This group of men and women, pagan and Jew, saw Jesus’ passion and death with eyes of faith and love, and behaved in a fashion that was noble and generous.

The story we have just heard invites us to identify with this group of people who looked beneath the surface of the broken and bloodied body of Jesus and recognized there the presence of God. When we look upon the cross with eyes of faith, we see a divine love that is stronger than sin, a divine light that shines in all our darkness, a divine power that strengthens us in times of weakness, a divine poverty that enriches us at the deepest level of our being. We have just heard the story of Jesus’ last journey in the space of ten minutes. This Holy Week, the church invites us to travel that journey at a much slower pace, day by day as it were. We are invited to look upon Jesus’ last journey with the eyes of faith and love, with the eyes of the anonymous woman, the Roman centurion, Joseph of Arimathea and the group of women disciples. We look beneath the surface of what is happening, we listen deeply to all that is taking place, and we allow ourselves to be deeply graced by all that God was doing and continues to do through Jesus’ passion and death.

And/Or

(vii) Palm Sunday

Today is the beginning of Holy Week. During this coming week, we will be reflecting on those days leading up to the dark moment of Jesus’ passion and death, and then on Holy Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning we celebrate the joyful event of Jesus’ resurrection.

We have been listening to Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion and death. Some of the worst traits of human nature are on display there. Jesus is betrayed to his enemies by one of the twelve; Peter, the leader of the twelve denies him publicly three times; the other disciples all deserted him, the religious leaders in Jerusalem to protect their own position hand Jesus over to Pilate and he has Jesus executed in a shameful way even though he suspects his innocence. Yet, the story begins and ends with a portrayal of some of the best instincts of the human spirit. At the beginning we have a woman’s loving extravagance, as she anoints the head of Jesus with costly ointment. She showed him a profound respect, worthy of his true identity. At the end of the story, just after Jesus breathed his last, we have the Roman centurion who also recognized that the true identity of the crucified man, declaring, ‘in truth, this man was a son of God’. Present also were the women who had followed Jesus in Galilee who would soon come to his tomb to dignify his burial by anointing him with spices. We also have Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin who had condemned Jesus to death but who now gave Jesus a dignified burial, placing his body in a tomb newly hewn from the rock.

When evil seems to triumph, goodness is often to be found there somewhere. The light of goodness displayed by those people in the story of Jesus’ passion and death is a reflection of the greater light that was there, the light of Jesus’ love. Jesus did not seek death on a cross; he recoiled from it. Yet, he accepted death as the consequence of remaining faithful to his mission of revealing God’s unconditional love for all. Many of the religious leaders of the time found the God of Jesus to be disturbing. ‘Why does this man eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ The new wine of Jesus’ message and life, the wine of God’s expansive and hospitable love, was shattering the old wineskins and this put Jesus on a collision course with powerful people. Yet, Jesus remained faithful to his mission. As the good shepherd he was prepared to lay down his life for those to whom he was sent. He then absorbed all the violence that was inflicted on him, transformed it and gave it back as forgiveness and love. We are attracted to the cross because, like the centurion, we recognize in the one crucified the presence of God, the presence of a love that is stronger than sin and death.

We are all called to reflect in our way of living the light of God’s love that shone from the cross, like the woman who anointed Jesus, like the Roman centurion, the women followers and Joseph of Arimathea. In the darkness of their time, they lit a candle. We are called to do the same. Jesus continues to suffer and be crucified in our world today. We are called to serve the suffering Jesus among us, remembering his words, ‘as long as you do it to the least of these, you do it to me’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[thatswhywelovegermany]

von Pontius zu Pilatus laufen

literally: to run from Pontius to Pilate

to be sent frustratingly from one office or agency to another (often to little avail)

Origin: From the Bible where Jesus was repeatedly sent by King Herod to and from the Roman governor Pontius Pilate before his death sentence was upheld.

[artandthebible]

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ

Artist: John La Farge (American, 1835–1910)

Genre: Religious Art

Date: 1890

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ

What we know of Nicodemus in the Bible is from the Gospel of John. In John 3:1, he is described as a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who were fastidious in keeping the letter of the Law and often opposed Jesus throughout His ministry. Jesus often strongly denounced them for their legalism (see Matthew 23). Saul of Tarsus (who became the apostle Paul) was also a Pharisee (Philippians 3:5).

John 3:1 also describes Nicodemus as a leader of the Jews. According to John 7:50–51, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jews. Each city could have a Sanhedrin, which functioned as the “lower courts.” Under Roman authority in the time of Christ, the Jewish nation was allowed a measure of self-rule, and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem was the final court of appeals for matters regarding Jewish law and religion. This was the body that ultimately condemned Jesus, yet they had to get Pilate to approve their sentence since the death penalty was beyond their jurisdiction under Roman law. It appears that Nicodemus was part of the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.

John reports that Nicodemus came to speak with Jesus at night. Many have speculated that Nicodemus was afraid or ashamed to visit Jesus in broad daylight, so he made a nighttime visit. This may very well be the case, but the text does not give a reason for the timing of the visit. A number of other reasons are also possible. Nicodemus questioned Jesus. As a member of the Jewish ruling council, it would have been his responsibility to find out about any teachers or other public figures who might lead the people astray.

In their conversation, Jesus immediately confronts Nicodemus with the truth that he “must be born again” (John 3:3). When Nicodemus seems incredulous, Jesus reprimands him (perhaps gently) that, since he is a leader of the Jews, he should already know this (John 3:10). Jesus goes on to give a further explanation of the new birth, and it is in this context that we find John 3:16, which is one of the most well-known and beloved verses in the Bible.