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'They almost got away with it!"

“And they almost got away with it!” This phrase was used passionately  and often by John Dominic Crossan as he lectured on “What happened between Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday” at College Street United Church in Toronto early in April of this year. He said he likes to think of the supper held on the Thursday night as being a celebration. The demonstrations of the entrance to Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the cleansing of the temple were over. Because of the mood of the crowds in Jerusalem the authorities hadn't moved against Jesus. (“Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.” Matthew 26: 5) Had they really gotten away with it?

We all know how the story ended. We are all aware of how it has been understood over the intervening years. But what would it have looked like had Jesus and the disciples actually gotten away with it?

Imagine if the events of Good Friday had never happened. Imagine if that little group of friends had returned to the Galilean countryside following the Passover celebration. Imagine if Jesus and his followers had continued to teach for another 10 years or perhaps a little longer. Imagine that in that time, either he or a scribe had recorded some of his teachings verbatim. Imagine what might have occurred if Jesus and Paul had actually met and talked. How would this have changed Christianity as we know it today? Or would it?

Some people might feel that without Good Friday and Easter Sunday, there would be no Christian religion.  They might argue that without the crucifixion and following resurrection, there is no ‘good news’. We know that the Crucifixion of Jesus is an historical happening. But just for a moment, let's consider what if it hadn't actually happened.

The scholars feel that both the story of the ‘Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem’ and the story called ‘the cleansing of the temple’ probably were actual events. They show Jesus as being unafraid to hold demonstrations against the ruling Roman authorities. He would have known that these demonstrations would be likely to get him crucified by those authorities as a subversive; just as Martin Luther King Jr knew that leading the marches and speaking against segregation might well get him assassinated. The outcome isn't what is important to either of these stories, but the courage that both men showed to act on their principles is.

Without the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, Christianity would have avoided the ideas of sacrificial blood atonement, of transubstantiation or consubstantiation, of a Jesus who died for our sins, of an antisemitism that has created untold suffering, of a religion that has focused more on death then on living.

Instead Christianity as a religion would be focusing on those things that Jesus taught and are exemplified in the stories told about him: love, compassion, justice, empathy, inclusiveness. We would have been looking for ways over the past 2000 years to bring about equality and justice in a non-violent society. Can you even imagine how our world today would be different if that had happened?

So for this Easter season, I’m going to remember the things about the Easter story that are important to me this year, and try to live as if that imaginary scenario had actually played out and that we, as Christians, had experienced 2000 years of working for justice in a non-violent society. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 18, 2014 at 1:51 PM

    I would add that Jesus had hope as well. Hope that change could occur and that a just non violent society was achievable despite their current situations. Without hope there would have been no need for Jesus to make a statement on the way into Jerusalem or in the cleansing of the temple.

    ReplyDelete

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