Word in the Hand

Today is the start of the Great Week. The last week of Jesus's life on earth. The Church gives us a big theatrical show; every day is different; every day appeals to different parts of our emotion and understanding of what it really is all about. What other faith has a God who died for his followers? Gods don't die -  people die for them.

It can be a momentous journey if we can only try not to remember how it ends; not to look at it in hindsight. To take each day as it comes and put yourself into that day through new eyes.

But the Church doesn't make that easy because today is Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem as the Messiah, the Warrior King,sent to free the Jews as Moses had done all those years before.

But we don't just get that part of the Gospel. We get the whole of the Passion of Our Lord, from the Last Supper, through the Crucifixion and Death, to the Laying in the Tomb. The Church gives the whole story away a week early!

Why? Well, one thing it does is it gives us the opportunity to look at all the other players in this tragedy. Because it isn't the 'right time' we can step back a little and consider the whys and the wherefores behind all those decisions that ended up with the crucifixion of the triumphant prophet and rabbi of today.

When you look at the other characters, apart from the women, they are a very sorry bunch. None of them seem able to stand by their convictions. This is such a sharp contrast against the surrender of will that Jesus makes. But today we are not thinking about Jesus, so let's think about two other main characters: Judas and Peter.

Judas was a zealot, a freedom fighter. He wanted the Warrior King; he wanted the Romans out. The entry into Jerusalem, with the crowds cheering and shouts of Hosanna, must have given him such optimism. Jesus was going to 'turn it on'. The amazing miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead could have the whole Jewish population believing in him. And if Jesus could raise the dead, it would be nothing compared to what  Jesus could do to the Romans if he wanted to. But Jesus didn't want to, he went into the Temple and started praying and preaching. No clandestine meetings with the zealots, no battle plans - just the same message of love and acceptance. Judas was just like the freedom fighters of today. He wanted 'them and us'; he wanted answers; he wanted action. Not only was Jesus not delivering any of this but he was bringing his message of love into Jerusalem. If Jesus' teaching took hold here there was no hope for rebellion. Judas' betrayal comes from the disappointment of a fervent nationalist. Though misguided, there must be many who can see why he did what he did.

Peter has much less of an excuse; Peter was Jesus' friend - best friend. Loved and Chosen. He had been there through it all. Andf through it all he had remained a bit of an oaf; always saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question, making the wrong moves. He believes in Jesus, but he can't get his head around what Jesus intends. He is going along with it because he loves Jesus but you get the impression he would be much happier if Jesus was just a prophet and rabbi. Sometimes you can almost feel him wanting to get back to the fishing boats, back in control, knowing where he was. He doesn't know how he ends up in that courtyard, he doesn't have a rescue plan, he's hoping it's all a mistake, he's hoping no-one will even notice him. But they do notice him because he is an outsider, and then he realises that it's not a mistake; Jesus is going to die, and he is on his own. So he does what most of us would do. Knowing that it's the end, still not believing in the promised resurrection, what would be the point of him being arrested? Better for him to go back to his boats. So he covers his back and he lies. He lies three times, and each time it gets easier, until the cockerel reminds him of Jesus' words and then, distraught, he goes away.

Two men, guilty of betrayal, yet one eternally condemned, and the other the patron of the Head of the Catholic community.

Judas, having taken his journey as far as it would go - a man who needed definites -  saw no alternative and so his last act of control was to take his own life. In doing so he took away any possibility of making amends, any act of atonement, any hope of salvation. He takes himself out of God's hands and there is nothing that God can do for him. 

 Peter, on the other hand, realises he has got to live with what he has done and that life can go on. Peter can bring all the disciples back together and finding the hiding places necessary  for their survival. He can lead them back to the Galilee because there he can keep them safe. He can become their 'all too human' leader because he doesn't know how else to make sense of the fact that he is alive and Jesus is dead. And when he meets Jesus after the resurrection, he has the courage to look him in the eye, knowing what he has done, and say that he loves him. And, again we are back onto reconciliation,  that gives all of us, always, the chance to do the same.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this