March 26, 2011 Who Killed Jesus?
The Rev. Dr. Patricia Ramsden First Presbyterian Church
What struck me the most at the movie was the silence. In the beginning, it was like any other movie night. The theatre was filled with all the usual pleasant conversations between friends, the rustling to get comfortable and find the right seat, the steady munching on popcorn. But once the movie started there was no sound, no more movement in the seats, no rustling, no whispered conversations. Just silence.
And the silence continued long after the film was over as people rose without comment and filed out to the parking lot stunned by what they had just seen. There was no “So what did you think?” No “It wasn’t what I expected.” Just silence as we filed out one by one trying to take in the horror of what we had just seen
The movie The Passion Of The Christ made headline after headline. There were TV specials, mailings, and entire books focused on this film. You can still buy Passion key rings, bookmarks, t-shirts, and prayer books.
It is a movie that still raises significant and controversial questions of the faith, including the question that raises its head every year at this time: Who killed Jesus?
Members of the Anti-defamation League claim that the film The Passion focused in on the members of the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees in a way that would justify a hatred and condemnation of Jews to this very day.
While we cannot and should not rewrite the historic role of the leaders of the Sanhedrin in the crucifixion, we cannot afford to dismiss the fears of our friends and neighbors who are Jewish. The unfortunate, and to me reprehensible, reality is that each year during Holy Week, Jews are still subjected to cries of “Christ-killers” and signs of swastikas painted on their homes and businesses.
Too often those who are motivated by hate rather than faith have used the story of the crucifixion as justification for the torture and death of an entire race of people. Scenes of men, women, and children being marched into death camps are still too fresh on all of our minds to dismiss such fears as mere exaggerations. We must watch and guard against any conversations that would give credence to such hatred.
And yet there are lessons to be learned from the Sanhedrin’s role as they sought to crucify the Christ. These were the religious leaders of the day, the bureaucracy of the church, if you will, and they found their power, as well as their faith, dangerously challenged by this Jesus who preached a gospel of love rather than sheer obedience to the Law. These men did not want some upstart Jew from Nazareth threatening their status quo and their power structure, so they sought to silence Him.
Too often, we also seek to silence the radical message of the Christ to love one another. Such love threatens our status quo. Instead we want to silence those bits of the gospel that call on us to sell all that we have and give to the poor, those bits that demand that we love our neighbor and care for our enemies, those bits that proclaim salvation to heretics and sinners as well as to the righteous. We want to force Jesus to fit into our comfort level, rather than change our lives to fit His vision, God’s vision, of who we should be as the children of God.
So did the Jews kill Jesus? No. A relatively small group of men trying desperately to protect their own power and the status quo of their faith sought to have Him crucified.
This image of power run amuck, power out of control, power protecting itself continues as we look at Pilate and Herod, for each of them played a role in the sentence of death.
They were the power of the state – the only authorities who could pronounce a sentence of death by the means of a cross --- and they could find no fault in this Jesus that would deserve such a penalty. They wanted to let Him go, but their job security got in the way, so Pilate tried to wash his hands of the entire affair. It is his image we need to hold in our minds when we prefer to wash our hands of those in need and say “It is not my fault. I am just an innocent bystander. Somebody else is to blame.”
Which brings us to the cries of the crowd shouting “Crucify!” How often has the minority of the moment been “crucified” on talk radio or facebook --- Fox news and MSNBC? How often have we joined in on the condemnation? How often have we been a voice in the crowd?
So who killed Jesus?
Not just the Jewish leaders.
Not just Pilate and Herod.
Not just the crowd shouting “crucify”.
We all had a role to play in this crucifixion and we still play those roles today.
A young woman named Sally was in a seminary class taught by Dr. Schmidt who was famous for his elaborate object lessons. One particular day, Sally walked into the class and knew they were in for a fun session.
On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were lots of darts. Dr. Schmidt told the students to draw their own target of someone who made them angry and beyond angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at that image.
One of Sally’s classmates drew a target of the girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew one for his domineering older brother. Sally’s was for a former friend who had betrayed her trust.
The class lined up and began throwing darts at their targets, with much laughter and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. But Sally never got her chance. Dr. Schmidt asked the students to go back to their seats before she could take her turn.
As Sally sat there thinking about how angry she was, Dr. Schmidt began removing the original target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus.
An embarrassed hush fell over the room as each student viewed that mangled picture of Jesus. Holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced and torn.
Dr. Schmidt said only these words, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, so you have done it unto Me.”
We crucify the Christ each time we turn away from love, each time we turn away from God.
