Isaiah 52:13-53:12
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Psalm 22
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Hebrews 10:16-25
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John 18:1-19:42
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We begin today as we left yesterday - with betrayal. Judas has betrayed his rabbi Jesus by identifying him to the Roman and Temple authorities. The disciples have betrayed Jesus by failing to stand up for him when the police came and by disappearing off into the night at the crucial moment. Peter has most obviously betrayed him by denying that he knew him three times before the rooster crowed. The crowds who, on Palm Sunday, lauded praise on the-Messiah-come-to-Jerusalem have betrayed him by calling for his execution instead of his release.
And we, too, have betrayed Jesus. I spoke yesterday about Jesus’ last words to us, that we should love one another, even our enemies, and how our failure to do that was a betrayal of Jesus himself. But there’s more than that. Like the disciples, we too have abandoned and denied Jesus at the most crucial moment. When we have seen Jesus in the poor or the homeless or the marginalised, how often have we spoken up on their behalf? When Jesus has come to us in those people who are on welfare, or social assistance, how often have we turned away so we don’t have to confront the prejudices, including our own, that have put them there? "What you do for the least of these," says Jesus, "you do for me." Well, we haven’t done it for the least of them, and so we haven’t done it for Jesus.
Most seriously, like the crowds, we have called for the execution of Jesus more times than we have called for his release. What I mean is: so many times in our lives we are faced with the choice of proclaiming a Gospel of love and forgiveness or keeping quiet for fear of reprisal. And instead of standing up for those who have been hurt and rejected in the name of Christianity, instead of defending sinners who are just as loved by God as we are, instead of begging for forgiveness when the Christian church commits some egregious error, we choose instead to just keep our mouths shut. We fail to cry out for the release of Jesus - for the release of his love in the world. And this results in the execution of Jesus. Our failure to stand up for others and affirm their life the way Jesus did betrays Jesus and them. It results in the death of Jesus and of them. So let’s not fool ourselves and say, "Oh, if I was there in Jerusalem, I wouldn’t have been like the crowds." Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we would have asked for Jesus to be freed instead of Barabbas. We’re not any different from the disciples or from the crowds - we’re betrayers, too.
But in the midst of all that betrayal, we have Jesus. Jesus, who, the Gospels tell us, knew where his message of unconditional love and forgiveness would take him, and who did not react to betrayal the way we would. Jesus, who, when his disciple took a run at the people coming to arrest him, told him to put the sword away. Jesus spent his ministry reaching out to the outsiders, healing them, proclaiming the love of God to them, and always, always, bringing them life. That was one of the identifiers of the Christ - that he came to bring life to all people. "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly," Jesus says. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "What has come into being in him was life." Jesus’ ministry was centred around life.
So with all that emphasis on life, why did Jesus not defend himself when the time came? Why did he allow us to put him on a cross to die? Some people say that it’s because God preordained it. Others say it’s because Jesus’ blood was necessary as an offering for our sins. But I think that it was because of his commitment to life - our life - that he chose to be put on the cross. You see, Jesus wasn’t the unwilling victim of political oppression, despite what some people think. He chose to be there, because choosing not to be there would have meant denying everything he believed in and everything he said. "Greater love has no one than this: that they lay down their life for their friends." Refusing to die would have meant going back on his own words. It would have meant a betrayal of his own ideals and of us. And so to prove that he meant what he said, he had to die.
Last year, a movie came out from China called "Hero." And although at times it’s a terrible piece of Communist propaganda, there is a scene in it that has direct relevance to today. Towards the end of the movie, it is revealed that one of the main characters, the most incredible swordsman alive - called Broken Sword, has had a change of heart. He has come to the understanding that a swordsman’s ultimate goal in life is actually to lay down his sword. He believes that once a person can "embrace everything around him, only then will the desire to kill no longer exist. Only then will there be peace." Well, this new-found understanding and treasuring of life does not sit well with his lover, Flying Snow. For the last ten years, the couple had committed their lives to plotting the assassination of the king who had slaughtered their countrymen, and now Broken Sword is saying he wants to give up. To, in fact, stop anybody else from even carrying on. Well, Flying Snow challenges Broken Sword to a duel. She believes that when push comes to shove, when his life is on the line, Broken Sword will, in fact, go back on what he says and defend himself. And so the action starts, and at the pivotal moment, when Flying Snow has thrust her blade at her Broken Sword, when one move by him could disarm her and send her flying, Broken Sword gives a small smile and drops his weapon. Unable to pull back, Flying Snow’s blade sinks deep into him, delivering a fatal blow. In shock and confusion, she stares at her dying lover and asks, in a bewildered tone of voice, "Why did you not defend yourself?" And he answers, "So you would finally believe me."
Jesus did not defend himself, and died, so that we would finally believe him. So that we would finally understand that when he said love your enemy, when he said turn the other cheek, when he said that he had come to bring forgiveness and life to all, no matter what their sin, he meant it. You know, it’s funny. Most people would kill to prove that they’re right. But Jesus chose to die to prove that he was right.
And that is where we are left today. Our betrayal of Jesus led him to the cross, and his determination to never betray us kept him there. It meant death for Jesus, but it means life for us. And that means that while we have begun today with betrayal, Jesus has broken that cycle and ended it with life for us. Our ultimate betrayal of our Saviour has been subsumed by his refusal to do the same to us, and that has changed everything. Nothing will be the same anymore. Not even death.
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