This Lent we follow Jesus as he faces evil in the hours before his death. What is evil? Who is doing evil against Jesus during Passion Week? What are ways in which we are complicit in evil? Do we take evil seriously? As we experience evil in our own lives, discover how Jesus stands in the face of evil.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord, you know the evil that comes when we are alone. You prayed in the Garden while your friends were asleep. You faced the agony of death and evil alone. Do not leave or forsake us in our isolation. Draw near in the dark of night when no one else is around. Have mercy, O Lord, Amen.
Word
Luke 23:20-21,24
“Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’…So Pilate decided to grant their demand.”
Meditation: People Pleasing by Susan Senechal
No one wants to be unpopular. How many times has my husband asked me where I want to go to dinner and I say, “you pick.” If he asks my opinion on solving a problem with one of our children I am likely to first say, “What do you think?” It’s not that I don’t have an opinion, it’s just that I don’t want to have the wrong opinion. I want to be able to pass the buck and the blame if things don’t turn out well.
It seems rarely do people want to be unpopular, to voice an opinion that might go against the majority. We have Facebook friends that all echo the same opinion we have (or maybe we echo the opinions that they have so they won’t unfriend us.) We want to be liked.
When Jesus was brought before him, Pilate faced a popularity contest as well, and it threatened to bring him down. His first reaction was to pass the buck. When he heard that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction he sent him there, hoping to be done with the problem (Luke 23:7). But when Herod sent him back a few hours later, he was required to act.
Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He wanted to release him. But that decision was unpopular. More than once he tried to offer something else, to punish and release him. But stirred to a frenzy, the crowd demanded instead that he release a known insurrectionist and murderer and crucify Jesus instead. Rather than stand up to the crowd, he granted their request.
I have been both players in this drama. At times I have been stirred to a frenzy, caught up on the bandwagon and gone along with the crowd, letting my voice be one of many because it’s just so easy to go along with the crowd. As part of the crowd, my actions and words have caused harm to others. At other times I have been Pilate, knowing that what I am doing is wrong, but fearing I won’t be popular I abandon my responsibility and give in. It’s just so much easier to blend in than to take a stand, to risk being seen and thus risk being hurt, to risk being voted off the island.
In the months and years that followed Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, the early disciples risked everything in Jesus’ name. As they told the good news to more and more people, they were thrown in jail, brought before the high priest, and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus. Some were imprisoned and flogged. Others were killed. But Acts 5:41-42 says “the Apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Dear Jesus, I don’t want to blend into the crowd. Strengthen and encourage me to be a voice for you even when it is not popular.
Sending
In the face of evil, may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ fill you with every spiritual blessing. Go in his name, Amen.