The Holy Week Part 3

Jesus, the King of kings, Lord of lords and creator of the entire cosmos was being spat upon, tortured and the worst was yet to come. Following on from our discussion concerning the Holy week, we will now attempt to expound on the events that changed the entire world via an act that portrayed the vehement love and mercy of our creator in the most humble and profound way.

A week prior to Jesus finding Himself amongst those crying "crucify Him" these same people were singing "Hosanna", it is said that a herd mentality is rather persuasive and this mentality was reflected in the attitudes of these people in the most abysmal way. Jesus was staring at those who only a week ago were worshipping Him and now they wanted to see Him dead, the hurt He must have experienced at this moment would have been overwhelming for most people, He loved them so much but they despised Him.

Pilate, we read, saw no fault in Him and trying to appease the crowd asked if they wanted Jesus or Barabbas to be released as per a custom that Pilate had initiated (Matthew 27:15) and they yelled out to Pilate to have Barabbas released. There is a deep spiritual significance behind this choice, Barabbas translates to Son of the Father and as we are aware Jesus was also known as the Son of the Father. God utilised a man whose name was of a similar nature to that of His own Son so that the Jews could make a conscious choice as to who they would ultimately serve, God or man. St John Chrysostom writes the following -

He then was unmanly and weak; but the chief priests wicked and criminal. For since he had found out a device, namely, the law of the feast requiring him to release a condemned person, what do they contrive in opposition to that? They persuaded the multitude, it is said, that they should ask Barabbas.

2. See how much care he takes for them to relieve them from blame, and how much diligence they employed, so as not to leave to themselves so much as a shadow of an excuse. For which was right? To let go the acknowledged criminal, or Him about whose guilt there was a question? For, if in the case of acknowledged offenders it was fit there should be a liberation, much more in those of whom there was a doubt. For surely this man did not seem to them worse than acknowledged murderers. For on this account, it is not merely said they had a robber; but one noted, that is, who was infamous in wickedness, who had perpetrated countless murders. But nevertheless even him did they prefer to the Saviour of the world, and neither did they reverence the season because it was holy, nor the laws of humanity, nor any other thing of the kind, but envy had once for all blinded them. And besides their own wickedness, they corrupt the people also, that for deceiving them too they might suffer the most extreme punishment.

Since therefore they ask for the other, he says, What shall I do then with the Christ, in this way desiring to put them to the blush, by giving them the power to choose, that at least out of shame they might ask for Him, and the whole should be of their bountifulness. For though to say, He had not done wrong, made them more contentious, yet to require that He should be saved out of humanity, carries with it persuasion and entreaty that cannot be gainsaid.
But even then they said, Crucify Him. But he said, why, what evil has He done? But they cried out exceedingly, let Him be crucified. But he, when he saw that he profited nothing, washed his hands, saying, I am innocent. Why then did you deliver Him up? Why did you not rescue Him, as the centurion did Paul. Acts xxi For that man too was aware that he would please the Jews; and a sedition had taken place on his account, and a tumult, nevertheless he stood firm against all. But not so this man, but he was extremely unmanly and weak, and all were corrupt together. For neither did this man stand firm against the multitude, nor the multitude against the Jews, and in every way their excuse was taken away. For they cried out exceedingly, that is, cried out the more, Let Him be crucified. For they desired not only to put Him to death, but also that it should be on a charge of wickedness, and though the judge was contradicting them, they continued to cry out the same thing

As the crowds continued to stir up Pilate, he washed his hands from the blood that was to be spilt and ordered Jesus to be scourged and crucified. We read in Isaiah 53:5 "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed". An ancient prophecy written almost 700 years prior to this event taking place was being fulfilled as the entire creation looked upon what sinful man was handing to its Creator.

During the time that Jesus was being tortured by the Roman soldiers, He was also mocked, spat upon and beaten like a common criminal. He was handed over to the heathen to receive His punishment and truly it was a travesty of justice unlike anything known in the history of civilisation. The soldiers whipped Him, beat Him and insulted Him by placing a crown of thorns on His head and bowing before Him, we read in Matthew 27:27 - 31 -

27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

Jesus, forced to carry His cross after suffering an extremely torturous night and morning was led away to be crucified, a slow and painful death that restricted His breathing and caused excruciating pain to be felt through the nerves due to the nails being driven into His wrists and feet. His arms were spread out and He was naked upon the Cross, so ashamed was the sun that it hid itself (Matthew 27:45) from the tragedy which was unfolding. Jesus, before breathing His last, asked the Father to forgive those who were responsible for these events, He promised a thief that He would be in paradise with Him and He entrusted His Holy mother into the hands of the disciple John. He also spoke the words "it is finished".

We shall continue with the theme of the Holy week as there is much to discuss regarding these events and those leading up to the resurrection.

Amen.

The Holy Week Part 2

Continuing on with the theme of the Holy week, we will now discuss the events that changed the world and displayed the great love, mercy and grace that God bestowed upon all humanity.

Subsequent to Jesus being handed over to His enemies, Jesus was led to the Sanhedrin in chains bound up like a common criminal. The sheer magnificence of this event should immediately be evident to us all, here we have the Creator, King of glory and the indescribably powerful Son of God bound up in chains, being mocked and beaten by the very same people whom were previously promised eternal glory and salvation. He was being spat on (in a Semitic context this is possibly more degrading than being beaten), beaten and humiliated in front of people whom He knit together whilst they were in their mothers womb. The immense act of humility and self restraint displayed by Jesus should always be a reminder in such times where our ego and pride tend to determine our course of action,

Being confronted by the elders, Jesus was questioned and no fault could initially be found in Him, that is until He was asked "are you the Messiah, the Son of the living God?" Then in an apparent act of self-righteousness the Pharisees began to tear their clothes and scream "blasphemy!", we read in Matthew 26 -

⁵⁷ Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. ⁵⁸ But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.
⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. ⁶⁰ They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, ⁶¹ and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶² The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”
⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; ⁶⁶ what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”
⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

Again, what hypocrisy, what sheer arrogance displayed by those very same people whom God had continually tried to teach that "God desires mercy", was mercy displayed here? Did the pharisees attempt to stop the beatings? No, they condoned it and scoffed at Him.

We also see that Jesus was left alone, many of the disciples promised to die with Him, but with divine foresight we read what Jesus previously stated in Matthew 26:31 -

Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, 'I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.'

Simon Peter, the 'brave' disciple was warming himself at a fire with those who accused Jesus, three times he was questioned were you not with Him also?" three times he denied his Messiah, three times he turned his back on Jesus, three times he saved himself, three times he failed to deny himself, three times did the apostle to whom the keys were given to forget that Jesus raised the dead to life, three times did Peter forget his own words “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away”. Peter, it seemed, was concerned about keeping warm and ensuring that he would not be entangled in the brutality on display.

Jesus, we then read, was taken to Pilate to receive judgement, again the spiritual significance of this event is worthy of discussion. So distant were the hearts of the 'chosen' people from God that they delivered Him to foreigners, symbolising that they wanted nothing to do with their Lord, symbolising that they wilfully chose to reject the Messiah because He failed to fit their presuppositions of Him. Their mind's were fixated on worldly aspects of the faith, they were spiritually blind and could not recognise Him nor the prophecies concerning Him, so they cast Him out of the vineyard, we read in Luke 20 -

   9And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. 10“At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11“And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12“And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. 13“The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14“But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15“So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16“He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!”

May it never be indeed, this is exactly what they did as foretold by our Lord and Savior, many instances previously occured in Israel's past where prophets were treated scornfully and with contempt, finally God sent His Son in an attempt to soften their hearts and lead them to a life of repentance.

We will continue on with this series of the Holy week, and we shall discuss the spiritual significance of the other events that ultimately lead to our salvation.

Amen

Easter - The Holy week

This week is of great significance, for Christians and non-christians alike, please allow me to explain myself. Christ's atoning sacrifice that reversed sin, conquered death and satan was for the whole world, those who choose to accept the sacrifice that Christ took upon Himself, will be heirs and children of God, those who reject it will receive condemnation. Yes, this week is significant to all but especially to us who will experience sorrow and joy, sorrow for the remembrance of the barbaric torture and death of our Lord, and joy for the remembrance of His glorious Resurrection.

During this week our Lord made His great entrance into the Holy City, Jerusalem, it is written in Matthew 21 -

 ⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷ and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on ^[b]the coats. ⁸ Most of the crowd ^(E)spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
   “Hosanna to the ^(F)Son of David;
^(G)BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Hosanna ^(H)in the highest!”
 ¹⁰ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is ^(I)the prophet Jesus, from ^(J)Nazareth in Galilee.”

Subsequent to the glorious entry of the Lord, which fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, our Lord exchange several words with the Pharisees and Sadducees as they tried to find fault with Him so that they may arrest Him and put an end to His teachings. But as we read, the wisdom of our Lord was superior in every way and they could not resist Him, they were left silent.

As so many Jewish people were listening to His preaching the elders (Pharisees and Sadducees) became increasingly angered, these people loved the high life, the greetings in the market place, the respect from men and Jesus taught the people the exact opposite. They were indignant as He taught humility, love for the enemy, respect for the poor and widow.

Jesus was then betrayed by Judas Iscariot and I would like to spend a little bit of time on this issue, particularly, why was Jesus betrayed? Well biblical manuscripts don't tell us the specifics of Judas' motives, but a case could be made based on the erroneous held beliefs that the Messiah would establish an earthly kingdom and when Judas saw that this was not Jesus' intentions, he thought about himself and decided to make a quick buck by betraying Him. What was He betrayed for though? It is very possible that Judas knew the Pharisees wanted to seize Christ and that they couldn't do so whilst His followers were with Him as it would of caused an eruption, therefore Judas betrayed Christ by simply leading the soldiers to His whereabouts whilst most of His disciples were not present. Judas revealed Christ's whereabouts and led them to Him so that they could capture Him by 'stealth', as it is written in Matthew 26:4 "and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him."

Judas' betrayal of Jesus occurs frequently, we all betray Jesus by turning our back on Him, fleeing into the night (darkness) and sinning against Him. What should make us different is realising our sin and through continual repentance, absolution by a Priest, by partaking in the Holy Eucharist and asking mercy from God to restore His Spirit within us.

We will delve into the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord in another post this week God willing.