In the title song of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, the spirit of Judas, who by this point has committed suicide, asks Jesus a series of questions. It’s clear from the words of the song that Judas simply doesn’t understand why Jesus did what he did in the way that he did and he’s looking for answers, as he says repeatedly in the song,
“I only want to know.”
So, amongst other things, Judas asks Jesus why he let things he did “get so out of hand?” Why didn’t he plan things better and come at a time when mass communication would have enabled him to reach “a whole nation” rather than choosing “such a backward time in such a strange land?” And he asks whether Jesus’ death was intentional or whether it was “a mistake?”
Of course, Jesus Christ Superstar is a work of fiction, albeit one set against the backdrop of the Gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, leading up to his crucifixion. But the questions that Judas asks in this song, are questions that people really do ask about Jesus, and especially about the events of that last week of his earthly life. Anyone who’s ever watched the kind of ‘search for the historical Jesus’ type of documentary we tend to see on the TV around this time of year will no doubt have heard someone ask this type of question. Whether Jesus deliberately provoked the events that led to his death, or whether things simply got out of hand and out of his control? Whether it was all a mistake and Jesus had simply miscalculated things, whether he’d over-estimated the true level of support he had among the people and under-estimated the depth of opposition he faced among the religious and civil authorities?
And in one sense, these are quite valid questions to ask because if we look at Jesus mission and ministry from purely human terms, how could we describe it as anything other than a failure? The purpose of his mission and ministry, his own stated purpose, was to bring the lost sheep of Israel back to God. So the very people his mission and ministry were aimed at winning over, rejected him, and his message. Not only that, those same people arrested him, handed him over to a foreign, and quite ruthless, ruling imperial power, and then connived at his death to shut him up and get rid of him, and the few followers he had actually managed to gather round him. In human terms, how could that be seen as anything other than a failure?
If, as St Paul says, the Jews were looking for signs, what signs did Jesus give them that they should believe in him? He was a great preacher and teacher, perhaps a prophet, and a reputed miracle worker. But there had been other preachers and teachers and prophets and miracle workers before Jesus so what signs did Jesus give that he wasn’t just like all the others? What signs did Jesus give that he was the Messiah, the Son of God? If he were then surely God would never have allowed it to end in the way it did? Of course, there was the Resurrection, but that was in the future. In any case, the risen Jesus only appeared to his followers, to those who had listened and been convinced by his message, and who had faith in him. So even that wasn’t the clear, unmistakable sign that the majority of people seemed to be looking for.
And if the Greeks were looking for wisdom, what wisdom did Jesus show them that they should believe in him? There’s a great deal of wisdom in his teaching, but what wisdom can we find in the way it all ended? What wisdom was there in Jesus cleansing the temple? In a lot the ‘historical Jesus’ documentaries I mentioned earlier, this is seen as the pivotal moment in Jesus’ mission and ministry because it was a direct challenge and threat to the religious authorities, and one they couldn’t let go unanswered. And what wisdom was there in Jesus’ death? Human beings can do some horrendous things to one another but to put someone to death by crucifixion is one of the worst they’ve ever invented. So seeing Jesus crucified was hardly likely to rally people to his cause, in fact, quite the opposite. That was one of the purposes of crucifixion, to deter people from doing what the crucified had done for fear that they’d end up nailed to a cross too. It was one thing for Jesus to say that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him, it was quite another for them to see what that actually meant in Jesus’ case, and might mean for them too. In human terms, there really didn’t seem to have been much wisdom in following Jesus and continuing his mission and ministry. In fact, what happened to Jesus seems to have been almost guaranteed to signal the end of him,his message and his followers.
But then, perhaps we shouldn’t be asking these questions of Jesus at all. After all, he said he was only obeying the Father’s will. So, if it was God’s plan, perhaps we need to ask these questions of God?
So where was the Wisdom that the Scriptures speak so highly of when God came up with this one? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried the same sort of thing before. How many prophets had God called and sent to the people of Israel already with the same message of repentance and the same mission and ministry to bring the people of Israel back to him? And how many of them had been rejected, along with their message? So what on earth, or perhaps more accurately, what in heaven’s name, was God thinking when he decided to try the same plan again? This time, of course, it was his own Son he was going to send, but he wasn’t going to send him in glory, accompanied by legions of angels so that everyone would know exactly who he was and why he’d been sent. No, he’d simply send him as a man, just like any other. In human terms, it seems an utterly stupid plan, a plan devoid of any of the any clear signs or wisdom that would give it even a fighting chance of succeeding. And, in human terms, it ended in the way it could have been expected to end; in disaster and failure.
But all that is in human terms, and this wasn’t a human plan. It was God’s plan and, as St Paul tells us,
‘God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.’
And. If we think about it, hasn’t that been shown to be the case?
There can’t be any doubt whatsoever that the same Jesus who suffered such a humiliating rejection and shameful death, is the most famous human being who has ever lived. His life, his mission and ministry, and his death, have influenced the world in a way and to an extent that no other human being who ever lived, ever has. The humiliating rejection and shameful death that, in human terms, must have seemed to have marked the failure and the end of Jesus’ life and his mission and ministry, in fact, simply set the scene for his message, his mission and his ministry to be taken up by his followers and spread, not just to the Jews, but to people throughout the world. And from those faithful few who saw the risen Jesus and who, despite the danger and difficulties of doing it, despite the seeming foolishness of the message and of proclaiming it, went out into the world as witnesses to his Resurrection, there has grown a faith and a Church that now claims almost 1/3 of the entire population of the world as it’s own. From what, in human terms, seemed to be the failure and end of Jesus’ life, and his mission and ministry, there has come the greatest victory ever, the victory over death itself. And from the darkness of the sealed tomb that seemed to be the sign of the final and complete failure of Jesus’ mission and ministry, has come the brightest ray of hope ever to shine into the lives of men and women, the hope and promise of the resurrection to eternal life. So perhaps God’s plan was not so foolish and weak after all?
In that song from Jesus Christ Superstar, the spirit of Judas questions Jesus because Judas doesn’t understand and wants to know. We’re like that too at times, aren’t we? There are times when we don’t understand what’s happening in the world or to us in our own lives. We can’t see any sign that what we’re seeing and experiencing can be part of God’s plan. It can all seem so pointless and senseless and, because of that, we might think that, if God does have a plan for us, it’s a foolish one because there must be an easy or less painful way for us to serve God’s will and purpose. But it’s at time like these that we need to remember St Paul’s words that
‘God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.’
That’s not always so easy to do but just what that might mean for us, and for our lives, was expressed in the words of a prayer written by St John Henry Newman. They’re words that, I think, we all need reminding of from time to time, but perhaps especially when we’re going through bad times when we can’t see any sign of God in our lives and don’t understand why things have to be so hard. In those times when we’re tempted to think that we know better than God and could find better way to follow Jesus than the hard and foolish road we seem to be on.
You may have read or heard this prayer before, but whether you have or not, it’s one that I do recommend you have and keep a copy of, and that you do use. The prayer goes like this:
God knows me and calls me by my name.…
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission—I never may know it in this life,
but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes…
I have a part in this great work;
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection
between persons.
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good,
I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth
in my own place, while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am,
I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;
In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be
necessary causes of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life,
He may shorten it;
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends,
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—
still He knows what He is about.…
Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—
I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.
Amen.
The Propers for the 3rd Sunday of Lent can be found here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 