Matthew 27: Courtroom drama and an execution.

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A birthday orchid on our window sill.
The trial of Jesus before Roman Governor Pontius Pilate doesn't read like unfamiliar territory to those who watch the news. There are courtrooms where the rule of law takes precedence over the raw tramplings of power, where justice remains a real possibility for those who are accused.

But there are courtrooms in our world where this is not the case.

Reading Jesus' trial record in Matthew again can trigger a wide range of emotions and thoughts. One view might be that Jesus was obviously tried “unjustly” but that that doesn't really matter since he chose not to defend himself and had already predicted that this trial and its consequences would be part of an inevitable and necessary end. The lamb being led quietly to slaughter as a human sacrifice.

A second attitude might be that this trial and its verdict model the depth of human weakness and depravity, that the scattering of the disciples, the ridiculing of Jesus and the mob's demands for his death are the basic scriptural imagery of the struggle between good and evil. God's goodness does not prevail on this earth but persists in expectation of eternal fulfillment.

For me, there are problems with all those interpretations that shroud the trial, the death and resurrection stories in mystical fogs; that make it part of an apocalyptic drama with the Good God and the Evil God waging war over human souls and God buying our salvation through the sacrifice of a son.

I didn't say I don't accept it; I said it's problematic for me as it is for many.

What is less problematic is recognizing in this story of Matthew's the real condition of human experience on our planet: yesterday, today, forever. The important aspect of the story then becomes a celebration of the life—not the execution—of a man so filled with the spirit of mercy, justice and love that nothing could stop him from becoming mercy, justice and love . . . not even death. The resurgence of the principles Jesus championed should clearly be championed now by his church, or else the resurrection (next chapter) loses its meaning.

The drama of the trial, sentencing and execution of Jesus has subplots: Pilate's ambivalence and his wife's cautions, the gambling for his robe, Jesus cries of abandonment, the wine and the sponge, the secure entombing of his remains. There are many stories here, all familiar to us as a consequence of past Lenten and Easter services. Each of the stories provides a basis for a sermon, at least, in this lead up to Easter morning.
Good Friday and Easter will come and go again. For some, it will be a spring festival with new bonnets, lilies, end-of-winter sense of freshness. But it will go away as it always has . . . until next year. Would that one of these times it would resurrect in all of us the impulses for mercy, justice and love so that our tongues would be loosened, our limbs invigorated to carry on the project that Jesus began.

New clothes, decorated crosses, Easter bread. These alone won't do it, may even serve to cloak the significance of the story in our churches and in our minds. 

Give us another feel-good Easter.

To do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God might make us feel even better. 

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