GOOD FRIDAY 2017 BRIDGNORTH Fourth Address: Christ crucified (Solus Christus)
Under Pontius Pilate
The small object in this plastic envelope is an ancient metal disc which I bought recently in a shop in Shrewsbury. It is very worn, but the markings on it are enough to identify it as a coin bearing the name of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. St Luke’s Gospel chapter 3 verse 1 gives a precise date for the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness”.
The coin turns out to be even more interesting, because it does not bear the image of the Emperor like most Roman coins. Instead, it has a curved line like a kind of shepherd’s crook. This design was circulated in Judea, and it is the sort of coin of very low value which the provincial Roman governors were allowed to manufacture in large numbers for local use. So this is in fact a coin of Pontius Pilate, probably minted in Jerusalem. On the back is the date, which is quite illegible. But coin experts know from better specimens that there are only two dates on this type of coin: either the 16th or the 17th year of Tiberius, which in our reckoning is 30 or 31 AD. So this insignificant sliver of bronze circulated in and around Jerusalem just a year or two before Jesus was crucified. It is possible (though highly unlikely) that it passed through the hands of Jesus or his disciples during that momentous final Passover week.
Such objects are a living link with the event we are commemorating. They remind us that this is not fiction, but a real trial and execution which took place, as the Creed reminds us, “under Pontius Pilate”. We believe that the whole of God’s dealing with humanity, indeed with all creation, was specially concentrated in this historical event. In this person and what happened to him God was revealing “his presence and his very self, and essence all divine” (as we sang earlier) in a way that we do not find anywhere else. The Reformation slogan “Christ Alone” (Solus Christus) reminds us of that uniqueness.
Messianic representation
How can one person made a difference to the whole world? The answer lies in the name “Christ” – the Anointed, the Messiah. The whole dynamic and forward thrust of the history of Israel was generated by God’s promise, which would be fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, a person who would, in a special way, be God’s agent.
Behind this hope of Israel lies the idea of representation. Whatever the Messiah would do in fulfilling his vocation, he would represent God and also the people. The Kings of ancient Israel, Saul, David and Solomon and their dynasty, were anointed as representatives of the whole nation. The Psalms are called “the Psalms of David” not only because he was a musician who probably composed some of them, but because they were the prayers of the King on behalf of the whole people. And the people of Israel were themselves called to represent the whole of humanity. They were not to segregate themselves off in a feeling of superiority, and pursue just their own interests, but bring the light of God to the Gentiles. The promise to their founding father Abraham was that “through you and your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed”. And in the creation story the scope of representation is even wider: human beings are made in God’s image to represent God and God’s just and loving rule in the garden of creation.
What is unmistakably clear from the Gospels is that Jesus re-awakened the Jewish messianic hope. “Who is this?” Was it possible that he was the promised Messiah? His disciples seem to have thought so. At the fatal Passover in the 18th or 19th year of Tiberius – his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey reminded the crowds of the ancient prophecies, and they greeted him in the words of Psalm 118: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” – the Coming One, the one whose coming was expected, the Messiah who would represent Israel and gather up their whole history. In doing so, he would fulfil the promise to Abraham and represent the whole of humanity as the New Adam: “A second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came”. Pontius Pilate, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas represent the old world, the old Adam which he came to challenge and redeem. Pilate spent most of the year at his residence in Caesarea, but at Passover he and his troops moved to Jerusalem in case there was trouble. Passover was the Festival of Freedom when the Jews celebrated their escape from slavery in Egypt. If there was to be a time when the Messiah came as the Representative Deliverer, to set Israel free again, this would surely be it. When Jesus entered Jerusalem in that Passover atmosphere, the showdown was inevitable.
Suffering servant
What happened? The Passover Supper, which was the centre of the celebration and the flashpoint at which a new move might be expected, took a surprising turn. Jesus gave the traditional Passover bread and cup of wine to his disciples with a new meaning.: “Yes, I am going to bring about a new deliverance for you and for many – that is, for Jews and Gentiles. But it will come about through suffering: “my body, given for you; my life-blood, shed for you”. From now on this Passover bread and wine will feed you with this sacrificial gift of myself, and incorporate you into a new and much deeper deliverance from the powers that hold you captive: the idolatry, the slavery to self and the fears that hold you back from your true humanity and the freedom of God.”
Then Jesus went out and spent the night in an agony of prayer, and voluntarily surrendered himself, gave himself up to be arrested as a terrorist suspect, and to die alone (Christ alone!) under Pontius Pilate – meaning, not only in the time of Pontius Pilate, but from the tyranny and brutality, the hollow majesty with its never-ending cycles of revenge which Pilate represented – the false glamour of Rome and Egypt and Babylon and all the Empires of the world, which the devil had promised Jesus he could have, if only he was not so stupid.
And then came the Resurrection, and the realisation that this apparent stupidity was the wisdom of God. If Jesus is indeed the Messiah, our Representative, then his lonely suffering is his most miraculous and inclusive victory. He has brought God’s love and mercy into the worst that the world can do. Suddenly, Old Testament passages speak with new meaning: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and by his wounds we are healed”. In the sacraments his story becomes our story. What he endured once at that historic Passover was for all – “once for all” – for the whole world at all times and forever.
Christ alone?
In John’s Gospel Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” What does “Christ alone” mean for people who don’t believe, or people of other faiths? Can only Christians be saved?
First, we must recognise the simple fact that different faiths and philosophies do have different beliefs. They are not all the same, and each has its own unique features.
Secondly, Jesus tells us, “Do not judge others, for you yourselves will be judged by the same standards”. We cannot assume that we understand these differences until we have really tried to listen to one another in a spirit of mutual tolerance, respect and friendship.
Third, we all have a lot to learn, including Christians.
Fourth, As far as I know, the message of a suffering Saviour is found only in the historical story of Jesus. This kind of redeeming love is the distinctive feature of what Luther called the Apostolic Gospel.
Fifth, remember Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan – the man who instinctively understood the victim’s need better than the priest and the levite. The Samaritan, who was a heretic outsider, really did love his neighbour, whereas the orthodox believers who were schooled in God’s revelation failed.
Finally, you will remember that, in my third talk, I described how Martin Luther relegated the Letter to the Hebrews and the Letter of James to the end of the New Testament, because he did not agree with their understanding of faith. When he was understandably criticised for picking and choosing between apostolic writings, he made a characteristically forthright reply: “What presents Christ is apostolic” – meaning: Christ who justifies us by grace ad faith. “And what does not teach Christ is not apostolic, even if St Peter or St Paul teach it. Equally, what preaches Christ would be apostolic, even if Judas, Annas, Pontius Pilate or Herod preached it.” So, on a traditional understanding of Christ’s uniqueness, if the ancient Hebrew prophets could preach Christ without realising it, and if even Pontius Pilate could unwittingly be “apostolic”, why not atheists or people of other faiths, if they demonstrate by their lives that they have a truer grasp of the inner reality and the values of Christ than some Christians who think they have all the answers? The cross of Christ is not a weapon for Christians to use against others, or to justify discriminating against them. It was a weapon used by all of us together against Christ alone. He has exhausted its poison, and bids us share in the new humanity which he has won for us all.
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