I was recently speaking with someone about the play Hamilton. It was an extraordinary play and and I am still enjoying the music on CD in my car. The play was far better than I had realized and I am actually thinking of seeing it again. The reaction of the person I was talking with was quite obvious. An immediate cold front, if not a glacial attitude swept across her face as if to say she would never see this 'Black' play. She hated rap and wasn't fond of black people either. I would have been only slightly surprised if the "N" word was uttered. How incredibly sad racism is. How ingrained it seems to be, how mindless and un-Christian it is. Willful ignorance. This person with whom I was having a pleasant conversation up until that point simply shut down.
That situation makes me weep and I am sure God is shaking her head in horror herself. I realize this is an extreme example but how often do we do this ourselves? Oh, maybe not over big things but over so much of the things of life. Without minimizing the horror and revulsion of bigotry I think we need to realize that it is not a solitary isolated example of how we respond to situations.
When I speak and recommend wholeheartedly the idea of the Examen and self introspection, I am utterly serious. It is not a new age, sissy kind of thing for holy rollers trying to make the world a soft place. Self reflection and personal growth is the stuff of growth and even survival. When we respond in rote unthinking ways we actually begin to die. Death of the mind can occur long before our bodies succumb to any other disease or age.
When this passage relates that Pilate was fully aware of why the Scribes, Chief Priests and Elders turned Jesus over ( Jealousy ) it is a telling sign of a malignancy of the mind we are all prone to in lesser and greater degrees. I often find my own knee jerk reactions are ones not backed up by thought, love or the light of reason. It is only in reflecting on our own daily life that we have a chance to fully see what our actions and opinions are based on. Do our actions meet squarely with our professed beliefs? Are we as open and loving as we want to be and are called to be?
We are called to be as loving and as radical as Jesus is. We are called to challenge even our own assumed correctness with love, wisdom and the light of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 27:11-23
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You say so.’ But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?’ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.’ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ All of them said, ‘Let him be crucified!’Then he asked, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’
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