The Gospel for TUESDAY, June 28, 2005 (Irenaeus)
Luke 22:63-71
Meanwhile the men who guarded Jesus were mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you then?’ And they heaped many other insults on him. When day broke there was a meeting of the elders of the people, the chief priests and scribes. He was brought before their council, and they said to him, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the Power of God.’ They all said, ‘So you are the Son of God then?’ He answered, ‘It is you who say I am.’ Then they said, ‘Why do we need any evidence? We have heard it for ourselves from his own lips.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
Kangaroo Court
We see "justice" like this handed out by the forces of darkness on a daily basis. It hurts us now as it should have hurt them, then.
A Reflection
The truly horrible aspect to this is story is that the One Who came to show the face of YHWH to humans is shown the face of the evil one, in darkness, with all the horror that the church and the state can bring to bear, at their collective worst.
The stories near and after the time of the crucifixion are tinted, a bit. The justifications of the early church fathers' lay along the positions they took, especially as the new "rabbinic" orientation of Judaism sought to create a clear separation between Jesus-Jews and the unconverted.
For me, the story certainly could have unwrapped itself this way, and some variation on it is highly likely -- and it really doesn't matter. The facts are that Jesus was executed as a religious/political radical who posed too great a danger to both the Roman state and the Temple rulers.
I take from this story, however, a deeply personalized insight into the worst offenses of legal systems gone far astray; and I take away Jesus' courageous stand against the systems as both inspiration and model for us, today.
Will we die for our beliefs? People do, every day. Some wittingly, some caught up in the machinery of illicit governments unchallenged by the "church" or honest women and men.
What will we do, short of death?
The Collect
Almighty God, who upheld your servant Irenaeus with strength to maintain the truth against every blast of vain doctrine: Keep us, we pray, steadfast in your true religion, that in constancy and peace we may walk in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
3:30:24 PM 
|
|
