“All the chief priests and the elders took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.” “After Pilate had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to soldiers to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor… stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head… they mocked him… They spat upon him… and kept striking him on the head… and led him off to crucify him… After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his garments by casting lots.”
Once a year, at least, we read the stark Gospel truth, the murder of Jesus. Does its stark truth sink in? It seems not, for year after year, around the world, ruling chief priests and elders take counsel against Christs and order their soldiers to murder them. It is rulers’ quest year after year to put the innocent to death, in war and in poverty. And year after year we keep electing these rulers to office and lauding their soldiers as heroes. Always children of God are murdered because soldiers obey rulers’ quest to nail Christs to crosses. Christ killers are oddly hailed as Christ-like, but they are not. Soldiers obey orders to ‘bind up Christ,’ ‘divide his garments,’ and ‘take up weapons.’ They are doing so now during the coronavirus. Soldiers ‘bind up’ resources and supply chains for their war campaigns, preventing nurses from having their resources and supply chains for their healing missions. Soldiers ‘divide’ the nation’s priorities obtaining their expensive garments for personal protective equipment in war, while health care workers cannot obtain their garments for personal protective equipment in their healing missions. Soldiers ‘take up weapons’ for their war campaigns, hindering healers from taking up curative medicine for their healing missions. We can heal soldiers of their quest to kill Christs that ends at crosses with hammers and nails, at IEDs with wires and bombs, at guns with sniper sights and bullets, … Soldiers can join with other soldiers who have made the conversion. It is the healing mission of Veterans for Peace, Deported Veterans Advocacy Group, Veterans Peace Teams, About Face, Drop the MIC, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Operation Recovery. A Lenten journey with peacemakers is not only for a season but for a lifetime. For a lifetime the converted soldiers can reject orders by elders for a quest to torture and kill. The killer’s quest leads every soldier to Good Friday and the cross. It will not lead them to Easter Sunday and the Resurrection.
“And there sat Arthur on the das-throne, And those that had gone out upon the Quest, Wasted and worn, and but a tithe of them… For I was much wearied of the Quest… I swore with them only in the hope That could I touch or see the Holy Grail… My quest was but in vain… The sword was dashed from out my hand, and fell… Was I too dark a prophet when I said To those who went upon the Holy Quest, That most of them would follow wandering fires, Lost in the quagmire. (The Holy Grail – Tennyson)
Prayer: Spirit, our quest is to be healers.
Question: Who are the soldiers I can help turn away from a quest for the cross and toward a journey of healing?
April 05, 2020 Gospel Matt 26:14-27:66 Palm Sunday