The chief priests and scribes conspire to kill Jesus. Not because they don’t like him. But precisely because they feel justified in wanting to kill him.
for they were afraid
Luke 22:1-6
Jesus faced political opposition from the beginning. Even as he was deeply popular with “the masses,” he was constantly a thorn in the side of the powerful.
In Luke’s telling, this distinction between the vast majority of the people and the governing elites is constant and varied.
When Jesus flouts Sabbath law on multiple occasions, it is the leadership who steps against him. Virtually all the people are amazed.
And even when a powerful leader invites Jesus to eat dinner with him, it is as part of a power game. Like inviting him to an exclusive cocktail party in which all the guests are doctors and lawyers. And Jesus calls the man out for the way he treats the poor.
For Luke, Jesus has some pretty profound ways of speaking to what is going on here. Most importantly that our division is self-imposed. We know “the things that make for peace.” Jesus preaches it constantly.
But I think what confuses us is that we hear about this dichotomy and therefore treat it as either literal or metaphorical.
So Jesus must really mean that leaders and wealth and power are universally a problem.
OR
Jesus doesn’t have a problem with wealth and power per se, just the sin going on inside.
But both of these readings avoid the real trouble Jesus raises: that our human systems empower and oppress. We made them. And we protect them.
Jesus doesn’t hate the rich as a class of people or as a metaphor! He hates that wealth gets in the way of the stuff God is calling us to do!
Why They Hate
So when we see the way the powerful people hate Jesus during Holy Week, we need to see the way they’ve hated him from the beginning. And why.
It is visceral. It’s an existential threat.
They don’t see him as something so mundane as a preacher with different beliefs. They are literally afraid of his message.
Why? Because it would erase their superiority, their exceptionalism.
He’s preaching a kind of equality that steals their power:
They are freaking out because they don’t want this. This isn’t what they were taught!
It angers them because they don’t want to recognize that it actually is scriptural.
It frustrates them because they don’t know how to make sense of it.
What are they supposed to do?
What They Always Want
Well, if they were willing to listen to Jesus, the answer is simple.
Sit down with other people. Then…
Listen. Share. Become.
If they were willing to look into their own tradition, they might find what Jesus found there.
But that’s not what they want. If they did that, they might have to confront how they maintain an unjust system or that the power they’ve inherited may need to be shared with others. No, they’d want to find a different approach. Something that doesn’t threaten their position of power and exceptionalism.
Really, there’s only one option, then.
It’s what powerful people do when they think they are inherently better: they dominate and oppress. But when they think lives are on the line? Well, you give them a choice: turn or burn. Assimilate or die.
The leaders gave Jesus opportunities to change. Then they tried to discredit or humiliate him. None of it worked. Jesus was as popular as ever!
There’s only one thing left. To burn.
This Strange Interlude
This is an interesting interlude for us this morning.
It reminds us that the crucifixion is premeditated murder.
And it gives us this return of the Adversary. The incarnated spirit of evil that tempted Jesus in the Wilderness with offers of power returns to inhabit one of the disciples.
I was just sharing a short while ago that I used to struggle with Satan as a concept in scripture for a host of reasons, too many for this brief homily. But this image speaks volumes to the way evil infects our decision-making and reduces our will. How good, innocent people can be overwhelmed by a spirit of power and destruction.
Because Judas is not to be seen as evil in Luke’s telling. But that he has been lost to evil. Like addiction. Whether that be alcohol or power…or money. Or perhaps, as these leaders, an addiction to superiority and exceptionalism. To their special place in the social system.
I called this an interlude because this moment, this day in Luke’s telling doesn’t have Jesus. And here we are, gathered to hear the good news and our scripture doesn’t have it in it!
Another Way
But…
As we had our tears for Jerusalem on Monday and our warning on Tuesday, perhaps we can see Jesus in the negative space, in what isn’t here.
What isn’t here is…
decency
generosity
grace
thanksgiving
foresight
justice
kindness
equality
concern
hope
faith
love.
In all this self-preservation, vindictiveness, and fear, we see the opposite of Jesus. We see instead, the self-justified machinery of death and its foreboding intention of winning. Of maintaining its place: exceptional, powerful, in charge.
Absolutely nothing like expressing any faith in God.