From Laughter to Laughing Stock
The Fun Day is over. We are back in the real world. So what does Jesus see, feel and think in those dying moments?
He sees a crowd trying to force him into a role he never sought or wanted — rank abuse. An inner core of faithful but inactive supporters and one or two unsure of themselves, one using inside knowledge to undermine and another too scared to acknowledge any kind of association — the fickleness of people. An army ready to obey orders — yes-men. And of those who held the keys, A (Caiaphas) sends him to B (Pilate) who quickly passes him on to C (Herod) who just as quickly returns him to B, who despite a warning and a feeble attempt to pass the buck to the crowd, concedes defeat and washes his hands — downright irresponsibility. All nails in his coffin and still with us.
What was Jesus thinking and feeling? Getting his deserts? Surely not. Rejection? Inevitably. Failure? Almost certainly, but not in the way others saw failure. Misunderstood? Very likely. Physical pain, If it did not render all thinking unthinkable, may have been the least of his problems. Hence from the void the cry of dereliction. It's the moment when you clutch at straws — any straw — and in desperation you are liable to see them even if they are not there.
Next time you hear 18:33 read in public note where the emphasis falls. Mockery par excellence or a genuine Gentile in search of justice? The Greek certainly puts the emphasis on 'you' but try saying it two ways: once hostile, once with a smile and raised eyebrows. And when Pilate said 'what is truth' did Jesus think he spotted a twinckle in his eye and a bit of fellow-feeling? Remember Jesus is at the end of his tether. At last, somebody takes him seriously. And his response? Scornful, just another puppet like the rest? Or an unprejudiced Gentile seeker looking in a different place? Subsequent events suggest not, but that brief interlude might well have been a welcome break for a dying man — the threat of lightning overpowered by a ray of sunshine before the clouds quickly return.