Reflection for Good Friday

The good folks at Pax Christi USA have been offering a series of Lenten reflections. The one for Good Friday notes:

The Judeans and the Empire appear to be having their day of victory. As Jesus is arrested by an absurdly large contingent of Temple police and Roman soldiers, the disciples scatter, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus is herded, like countless truth-tellers over the centuries, into the backrooms of power to be questioned, beaten, mocked and prepared for execution. Pilate, the imperial representative, supremely confident in the power of Empire to defeat any royal wannabe, hauls Jesus into the palace to mock him and also to mock the Judeans’ captivity to Roman rule. The Judeans are willing to put up with Pilate’s pranks so long as the scapegoat is dispatched.

And, of course, there is an entirely different way to understand what unfolds before us. It is in fact the Empire and the Judeans who are on trial in the court of God’s Messiah. Far from being afraid of the threat of crucifixion, not the slightest bit cowed by mocking and beating, Jesus, the Light of the World, stands in silent judgment of all that dwells in darkness and sin. Before the scene is completed, it is Pilate whose fear is revealed, and the Judeans whose loyalty to Empire rather than to God is “confessed.”

The rest of the reflection is here.