Easter Answers for Good Friday Questions
Apr 15, 2020 14:17:53 GMT -6
Post by Todd on Apr 15, 2020 14:17:53 GMT -6
There are several sorts of outlooks and behaviors exhibited by the people surrounding Jesus at his trial and crucifixion. These are assumed or explicit in the texts, the ones more noteworthy naturally given more space. The thing is, while these “types” of personalities and behaviors give a true historical context, they also provide a psychological index, perhaps incomplete, but interesting nonetheless.
We’re told throughout the New Testament that we are to become like Jesus. And this is as it should be. But who are we like right now? Or who were we like before becoming Christians? Who might we most closely resemble? Are we tenderhearted, like Mary? Are we not so much followers of Jesus as merely horrified at such barbarity? Are we like Pilate, eager to do his difficult job, in order to move up the ladder (an out of Judea)? Does the fact that we see no fault in Jesus not prevent us from succumbing to political bribery and blackmail?
Those who are like Peter are impetuous and believe themselves to be willing to die for Jesus, but are they not really only willing to kill for him? How could Peter know that dying for Jesus would save Jesus? No one wants to live a worthless life or die meaningless death. Yet how many of us would swear love and allegiance to Jesus in safety, but flee the moment things went sideways?
Or might not some of us be like the robber on the cross who became “wise” after it was too late to do him any earthly good? And on that note, how many of us are like the unrepentant thief on the cross?
How many of us are kindred spirits to Barabbas, thinking only how to improve the things of this life? How many place all their eggs in the basket of political power, or put their faith in one form of human government or another?
Might some of us not be like the soldiers who from boredom and peer pressure mocked Jesus, beat him nearly to death, and spat on him? Or worse, like those so devoted to job security and seeking approval, or fearing reprisals from superiors, gladly drove the nails home through those holy hands and feet? Or worse still, how many of us are, to a greater or lesser degree, are like those political animals, the Pharisees, who entrapped Jesus because He threatened their social standing, and who did not scruple to blackmail Pilate into having Jesus crucified?
Might some of us be like the uninvolved, emotionally “neutral” observers who just wanted to see something grotesque? Might many of us have been the onlookers, who merely wanted to know what Jesus was saying while dying suspended above the ground? Maybe we are like those cowardly spectators who felt safe hurling insults at a man fixed to a cross and dying. Perhaps we are like the man from Cyrene who probably neither knew nor wanted to know Jesus, but was conscripted to carry the cross for the nearly dead Jesus. Maybe bearing our own cross has never entered our minds, and carrying another man’s burden seems unreasonable.
Perhaps we are like those who cried? Or perhaps like Joseph of Arimathea? We might grieve helplessly and offer only such services as will not spare Messiah, but only aid the fulfillment of prophecies.
These questions are important. But they are especially pertinent on Good Friday. We need to know ourselves before it is too late! We need time to grieve about the kinds of people we know ourselves to be. We need to prepare for better. Because after Easter, all these things may change.
Novelists, literary critics, and psychologists all have a deep interest in personal character and in character development. But only after Easter can the most profound character development take place. Ask those who knew Peter, or James, or John, or Thomas. For not only did He rise, but they came to believe that we may rise also, spiritually now as well as physically at sometime in the future. And although it will sound crazy, it is the former, the here and now spiritual change, that is more important. For it is only by spiritual change that we change who we are, or are are likely to be of any value to others. Moreover, who could stand to live with himself, as he is now, for eternity? I, for one, could not. If I cannot be better than I have been, or even as I am now, I do not want to live forever.
And Easter is the promise of better. The better present and the perfect future.
-Todd
We’re told throughout the New Testament that we are to become like Jesus. And this is as it should be. But who are we like right now? Or who were we like before becoming Christians? Who might we most closely resemble? Are we tenderhearted, like Mary? Are we not so much followers of Jesus as merely horrified at such barbarity? Are we like Pilate, eager to do his difficult job, in order to move up the ladder (an out of Judea)? Does the fact that we see no fault in Jesus not prevent us from succumbing to political bribery and blackmail?
Those who are like Peter are impetuous and believe themselves to be willing to die for Jesus, but are they not really only willing to kill for him? How could Peter know that dying for Jesus would save Jesus? No one wants to live a worthless life or die meaningless death. Yet how many of us would swear love and allegiance to Jesus in safety, but flee the moment things went sideways?
Or might not some of us be like the robber on the cross who became “wise” after it was too late to do him any earthly good? And on that note, how many of us are like the unrepentant thief on the cross?
How many of us are kindred spirits to Barabbas, thinking only how to improve the things of this life? How many place all their eggs in the basket of political power, or put their faith in one form of human government or another?
Might some of us not be like the soldiers who from boredom and peer pressure mocked Jesus, beat him nearly to death, and spat on him? Or worse, like those so devoted to job security and seeking approval, or fearing reprisals from superiors, gladly drove the nails home through those holy hands and feet? Or worse still, how many of us are, to a greater or lesser degree, are like those political animals, the Pharisees, who entrapped Jesus because He threatened their social standing, and who did not scruple to blackmail Pilate into having Jesus crucified?
Might some of us be like the uninvolved, emotionally “neutral” observers who just wanted to see something grotesque? Might many of us have been the onlookers, who merely wanted to know what Jesus was saying while dying suspended above the ground? Maybe we are like those cowardly spectators who felt safe hurling insults at a man fixed to a cross and dying. Perhaps we are like the man from Cyrene who probably neither knew nor wanted to know Jesus, but was conscripted to carry the cross for the nearly dead Jesus. Maybe bearing our own cross has never entered our minds, and carrying another man’s burden seems unreasonable.
Perhaps we are like those who cried? Or perhaps like Joseph of Arimathea? We might grieve helplessly and offer only such services as will not spare Messiah, but only aid the fulfillment of prophecies.
These questions are important. But they are especially pertinent on Good Friday. We need to know ourselves before it is too late! We need time to grieve about the kinds of people we know ourselves to be. We need to prepare for better. Because after Easter, all these things may change.
Novelists, literary critics, and psychologists all have a deep interest in personal character and in character development. But only after Easter can the most profound character development take place. Ask those who knew Peter, or James, or John, or Thomas. For not only did He rise, but they came to believe that we may rise also, spiritually now as well as physically at sometime in the future. And although it will sound crazy, it is the former, the here and now spiritual change, that is more important. For it is only by spiritual change that we change who we are, or are are likely to be of any value to others. Moreover, who could stand to live with himself, as he is now, for eternity? I, for one, could not. If I cannot be better than I have been, or even as I am now, I do not want to live forever.
And Easter is the promise of better. The better present and the perfect future.
-Todd