It was deeply moving tonight to do a Tenebrae service with eleven of my folk in the church at Boroughbridge. To read the passion narrative slowly is very powerful. These verses from Luke hit me as I read them:
Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”Subversion, stirring people up, coming here. Jesus had a radical agenda which clashed with the Jewish and Roman authorities. It was bound to. The Kingdom of God heralded will be explosive and exciting and challenging! I’ll explore the theology of the cross on Good Friday but just as a political preacher he was a threat and he needed to be dealt with.
Later on, after the resurrection, the disciples provoke a similar reaction. In Acts we are told “these people who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
We’ve been asked if Christianity today were outlawed, would there be enough to convict us? Jesus put his body where his mouth was and wasn’t frightened to speak out and to confront a religiosity that was negative, controlling and narrow. We’ve known churches haven’t we where life is full of do nots or bitter moaning and unpleasantness.
I guess as Holy Week progresses we have to ask the question of ourselves. Is our discipleship really Jesus focussed and courageous or it is just a comfort blanket we keep in a safe place? Discuss!
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