"...respect for others, friendship across class divides, the value of each individual and a commitment to justice and peace." 

This Lenten season has come and gone so quickly. Here we are already in the post Easter season. The drama of Holy week gives us a clue to interpret and apply the Easter story. And what a drama it is. An arrest, a court scene, betrayal, abuse and brutality, friendship, love, loyalty all ending in a brutal execution. One of the worse ever invented by man.

It is all  unfolded before our eyes. Sit back and take it all in. Holy week is like no other on the Catholic calendar. You will go through all the emotions, joy, elation, sorrow and sadness. But my question to us all is this. Where are you in all this. A refrain I will keep repeating is this. The gospel story is my story, where am I in the story? Where are you in the story?

The Religious Authorities

 Are you the religious authorities? The ones who instigated the entire proceedings. The scribes and Pharisees. John 18.12

12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Note the reference “The Jewish officials.” Is that you? Are you the accusing type, jealous, legalistic, unforgiving. Sitting on the side pointing fingers, finding faults. There are some people who just love to sit on the side and point fingers. They have a critical attitude. They know what everyone is doing wrong from their position of superiority. Is that where you are in the story?

The Crowd

Or are you part of the crowd? The crowd, what an interesting group. “Crucify, him” Is that you? Some people like the crowd mentality. It is there you lose all sense of yourself. You have no individuality. You just follow along. In a crowd you don’t know whether you are going or coming. It is such a comfortable place to be. But God did not make us this way. We are individuals. We are unique. We were given the ability to decide for ourselves.

The soldiers

Or are you one of the soldiers. “Then the detachment of soldiers with their commander arrested jesus.” Later they will go on to brutalize him, poke fun at him, mock him. Is that your style? Abuse, manipulation, control. You must ask someone who knows you well for an honest appraisal of your character. You might be quite surprised. There just might be a bit of the soldier in all of us. Bullying, belittling, teasing, initiating gossip, slander, ill-will and enjoying seeing others fall. That is the soldier in us. Our lives are filled with lies, malice and gossip. The gospel story is my story, where am I in the story.

Peter and the Disciples

Or are you peter and the disciples? Filled with fear and doubts. Some people their mantra is “I really don’t know, I’m not quite sure.”

John. 18.

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

Fear and doubt. In the face of difficulty, we run away, we escape, we hide. It is called being wishy-washy. We make excuses. We are always making excuses. “It wasn’t convenient, wasn’t the right time, we’re not sure. The situation was different. We become a skilled debater, we learn how to embellish the truth:

          Adultery is indiscretion

          Alcoholism is social drinking

          Pornography is free press

          Abortion is terminating a pregnancy

We have words and cute phrases for everything.

The passion story is my story, where am I in the story? Where are you in the story?

Pilate

Probably the most interesting character and probably the most relevant is Pilate. The man who asked Jesus “What is truth.”

He asks all the right questions. “Take him yourself and pass judgement on him.” “Are you king of the jews?” “What have you done?”… Pilate is the modern man. He takes the modern stance of arrogance. A KIND OF PHILOSOPHICAL CYNICISM. What is truth? What rubbish are you talking about? What he is saying in effect is that religion is really a private matter. Stay in your corner. Which is the stance of modern governments as well.

Don’t bring your religious practices into the public domain. In response to Jesus’ remark that he “…has come into the world to testify to the truth”  Keep your superstition to yourself. I wash my hand of this matter. Pilate decided to take the middle road. Not to choose. And many people today have decided to live that way. They have decided not to choose. They will not be like simon of cyrene who took a risk and decided to help jesus to carry his cross. To stand out, to commit. Many persons prefer to stand on the side to wash our hands. To sit on the fence in their private little world.

Because commitment is a risk, it will complicate our lives and make it too difficult. It would not be convenient. So do the convenient thing. Let the people decide. Who do you want? Jesus or barrabas.

But convenience is not truth. At some point you gotta decide. Are you for Jesus. The message of holy week is this: Are you for Jesus?You gotta decide. You can't sit on the fence any more. Because truth is a man.