One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is the great number of people who want authority without responsibility. I’ve come across so many people who want to be in charge and call the shots, and who are then quite happy to accept the credit and praise for things that go well, but who don’t want to carry the can when things go wrong. Rather, when things do go wrong, things which they’re responsible for, they look for a scapegoat, someone else to blame for what they’ve done wrong or caused to go wrong. I’ve seen it in life generally, I’ve seen it in the workplace, and I’ve seen it in the Church, and I’m sure you’ve all seen it too. And when we see this happening, what we’re seeing are people being one of those things that God hates; false witnesses who breathe out lies.
Normally when we talk about people bearing false witness, we’re probably talking about perjury, people lying under oath, perhaps in a court case. But to bear false witness doesn’t only mean that. A false witness is simply a liar and a deceiver, someone who either tells lies or distorts the truth in some way, someone who is deliberately deceptive in order to get other people to think and act in a certain way. And false witnesses are very much at the heart of the heart of the Passion story that we read today.
We really don’t know why Judas betrayed Jesus. We don’t know what passed between him and the chief priests so we can’t say whether there was any false witness, any lies or distortions spoken in their conversation, but what we can say is that the priests, and others, were quite happy to use false witnesses in their plot against Jesus, as we read this morning;
Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”
Even this last testimony, although it was based on something Jesus had said, was distorted and taken out of context. Jesus had said that if the temple was destroyed he would raise it again in three days, but he never said he would or could destroy the temple because he was speaking about his own body and Resurrection, not the temple buildings. But why would people bear false witness against Jesus? To curry favour with the authorities? Perhaps they’d been offered bribes or other inducements, as Judas had to betray Jesus?
But the chief priests also bore false witness against Jesus. Jesus was put to death as the King of the Jews, but when did Jesus ever claim to be that? The only kingdom Jesus spoke about was the kingdom of heaven, and he’d quite clearly shown himself to be no threat to Rome because hadn’t he said, “Give to Caesar what’s due to Caesar, and give to God what’s due to God.”? So he was no threat to the imperial earthly power of Rome. But what did the chief priests say to Pilate? According to St Luke, this:
“We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”
As we read the Gospels, and what Jesus had actually said, we can see these statements as nothing more than lies and distortions, as false witness that was made with the deliberate intention of inducing Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.
As we read the Passion stories in the Gospels, it’s noticeable that only the Romans call Jesus the King of the Jews. The Jews themselves never openly call him that, and indeed, they try to distance themselves from it later when they ask Pilate to change the charge against Jesus to one of claiming to be the King of the Jews. But Pilate himself implies that they put the idea that Jesus was the King of the Jews in his head. We find this in an exchange between Jesus and Pilate in St John’s Gospel:
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me…”
What we also see in the Passion stories is a succession of people in authority who try to evade their responsibilities. Whilst it is true that Rome had forbidden the Jews from carrying out executions, the charge against Jesus was a religious one, and it was their responsibility, not Pilate’s, to deal with it. But they were frightened of how the people might react if they acted against Jesus, so they bore false witness against him in order to make the charge against Jesus a political one so that they could pass the buck to Pilate. Judging political charges was Pilate’s responsibility, but he didn’t want it either. So, he tried to pass the buck to Herod, by claiming that, as a Galilean, Jesus came under his jurisdiction. We don’t know what Herod said or thought about the charges against Jesus, but it’s clear he didn’t want the responsibility of dealing with the case either, so he passed Jesus, and the buck, back to Pilate. And in the end, even though we’re told that Pilate knew there was no case against Jesus, he simply, and quite literally, washed his hands of the whole affair and tells the people who clamoured for Jesus’ death to “see to it yourselves.” The find the symbolism of this in the Book of Deuteronomy where, in the event of a death, a killing, where no responsibility can be found, any guilt is taken away by the sacrifice of a heifer over which those who made the sacrifice wash their hands and, with the blessing of the priests, declare that their hands did not shed blood, nor their eyes see it shed.
And so, as a result of false witnesses and people refusing to accept the responsibility that went with their position and authority, and refusing to accept responsibility for their own actions, Jesus became the scapegoat for the sins of his own people and of the whole world.
What happened to Jesus offends our sense of justice doesn’t it? In fact to see anyone falsely accused and be made a scapegoat for the faults and wrongdoing of others is unjust, and it should offend us. But are we really any better than those who bore false witness against Jesus? Are we any better than those witnesses, than the chief priests and the Council, than Herod, or Pilate? Because don’t we distort the truth for our own ends at times? To use the modern parlance, don’t we all put our own spin on things?
Isn’t it true that, at times, we try to evade our responsibilities and evade taking responsibility for our own actions? When something’s gone wrong or something wrong’s been done and we know that it’s our fault, don’t we twist the truth, or even tell blatant lies, to get ourselves out of trouble, or to make people think that we really weren’t to blame for what’s happened? But if something’s gone wrong and we say, ‘It wasn’t me.’ aren’t we inevitably posing the question, ‘Who was it then?’ and so, also inevitably, shifting the blame on to someone else? If we do something wrong or something goes wrong because of our decisions and actions, and we say, ‘It wasn’t my fault.’ aren’t we automatically implying that it was someone else’s fault, and inevitably, making a scapegoat out of them? Isn’t that also what we’re doing when we plead extenuating circumstances, the ‘Ah, well yes, but….’ response to a problem we’ve caused or a wrong we’ve committed. Because what is a plea of extenuating circumstances other than an admission of guilt but one that’s qualified by an insistence that this would never had happened if someone else had done what they should have done? ‘Yes, I did that, but it’s not really my fault, it’s theirs.’ And haven’t we all, at times, done what those in authority have wanted us to do rather than doing what we know is the right thing to do? Haven’t we all, at times, told someone in authority what they wanted to hear rather than telling them the truth? And haven’t we done these things because it’s been to our own advantage in some way to do them, even though doing them has been to the disadvantage or even harm of someone else?
If we think about the times we’ve been false witnesses who breathe out lies, and we have all done that, it’s not too hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those who bore false witness against Jesus; of those who did and said what the chief priests wanted them to, to put ourselves in the shoes of the chief priests themselves, in the shoes of Herod, and of Pilate. And Jesus said that what we do to others we do to him, so it’s not hard to see that when we have done these things and stood in the shoes of these people, we’ve betrayed Jesus, that we’ve made a scapegoat of him and crucified him, and then tried to wash our hands of it and deny any responsibility for what we’ve done.
As we enter Holy Week, our minds turn to focus on Jesus’ Passion. As we do that and we read and hear about the events of the last few days of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, let’s try to put ourselves in the shoes of those people we read and hear about by thinking about the times we’ve acted just as they did. And let’s do that, with a sense of penitence, a sense of sorrow for the times that we have acted just like them. But let’s also do it with a sense of great thanks to Jesus because, when we come to realise that, at times, we’ve betrayed him, and denied him, and deserted him, and borne false witness about him, we’ll also be able to really understand something else too. We’ll understand, really understand, that, as Jesus was crucified and he prayed,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
he wasn’t just praying for those whose actions had led him to Golgotha and nailed him to the Cross on that day almost 2000 years ago, he was praying for us to. He was praying for you and for me.
Amen.
Propers for Palm Sunday – 2nd April 2023
Palm Liturgy
Entrance Antiphon
Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Palm Gospel
Missal (St Mark’s) & RCL (St Gabriel’s) Matthew 21:1-11
Mass / Eucharist
Entrance Antiphon
Six days before the solemn Passover, the Lord came to Jerusalem,
and the children, waving palm branches, ran out to welcome him.
They loudly praised the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are you who have come to us so rich in love and mercy.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race,
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh,
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27-66
RCL (St Gabriel’s)
Isaiah 50:4-9
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:14-27-66
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 