lent course 2013

Diocese of Derby

Lent Course 2013

Faith on Trial

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Introduction

Lent is a time of examination – of ourselves, our faith, and our discipleship. As we follow our Lord’s journey

toward the Cross, and prepare ourselves to receive the gift of new life, so we need to take stock and seek

God’s guidance.

The theme of this year’s Lent Course is that of ‘trial’. We will use the events of Good Friday as a lens

through which to examine the journey of Lent which takes us to that momentous point, and from which

we can be prepared to receive the miracle of Resurrection on Easter Day.

Each week there is a particular focus on the theme of trial:

week one: religion on trial

week two: politics on trial

week three: the crowd on trial

week four: the King on trial

week five: ourselves on trial

week six: Christianity on trial

Users guide

This Lent course is designed to be really easy to use, so please enjoy using it!

Each session can be completed in an hour and a half without the time feeling too rushed however, you can stretch

the material to last for two hours without it beginning to feel too thin.

It might be a good idea to read through the material before either working on it by yourself or facilitating a group as

they are using it. This is about as much preparation as you need to do! A lot of thought has gone into the flow of this

material so that it has an aim and direction all of its own. Your key task is to provide space either for yourself or for

others to engage with it and creatively find its relevance for you and your context. With that in mind please do leave

a good 15-20 minutes at the end of each session to really get to grips with the "action" section. It is very tempting to

skip through that and imagine that you and others will do that reflecting and practical planning after the session. Be

realistic - you probably won't!

Practicalities

For each session you will need at least one set of these notes and a Bible.

You may want to also have the following, but they aren’t absolutely necessary:

• The recording of Bishop Alastair reading his reflections

• Some pens and paper

• Some quiet music to play while you do the exercises or the group does the individual exercises to help those

folk who find silence hard work.

If you are using this material with a group each individual might want their own set of notes. This isn't necessary but

some people might find it helpful. Please do bear in mind that sometimes it is profoundly unhelpful to give people

something to bury their heads in when you are trying to get a group discussion going! You need to think about what

sort of group culture will be helpful in your context.

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Some tips for group facilitators

• You do not have to be an expert on theology, biblical studies or life! Your task is to support people, including

yourself to think creatively. The material and the group do the teaching.

• Think continually about boundaries. You know a lot about the group of people who turn up, even if you

don’t know much about the individuals in the group. You know they want to learn. You know they want to

do that learning with others. You know that they are all potentially both creative and wise and potentially

harmed and have the ability to harm others. Your role is to help the group maintain the safest space possible

for everyone. You might want to start each session or the course by reminding everyone of their

responsibility to keep the space as learning space not as space for pastoral care and of your role as learning

facilitator not counsellor. And don’t forget you can contract with the group as you go. For example, check

that the group are ok discussing a particular question that an individual has thrown into the room.

• If things get tricky for whatever reason you can try the following:

o Say what you see... "I'm seeing there are people who are uncomfortable with this conversation,

what do you want to do about that?" "I’m seeing we seem to be going round in circles in this

discussion, what do we need to do differently to make the discussion more effective?" "I’m seeing

that you really enjoy telling long stories from your own experience Mrs Smith, what do we as a

group need to do to see their relevance more quickly?"

o Mix them up... rather than all sitting round in a big group discussing, get folk to give their opinion to

the person next to them for thirty seconds, a minute, two minutes, then make sure they swop over.

This also works as a really good strategy to get everyone in the mood for participating in group

discussions particularly if you’ve got shy group members or one very extrovert, enthusiastic and

opinionated group member!

o Have a cuppa... Often a little break, even a thirty second pause for a stretch, is just enough to help

the group move on in a more positive way.

o Stay in the washing up bowl, don't get dragged down the drain... your role is to support learning and

the personal transformation that can occur through that, you can’t do that if you get dragged into

the centrifugal force that is personal or group resistance to change.

• And finally... Enjoy yourself!

If you would like any further help in group facilitation skills please contact Esther the Lay Ministry Officer; 01332

388674 or [email protected]

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Session 1: Religion on trial This week’s session is based on John 18:12-27. You need to read this passage out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.

Read or listen to these thoughts

from Bishop Alastair

In the reading we observe that

Jesus was arrested by the soldiers, who would

have been Roman, and the Jewish police. Now

that is a very strange alliance, since these two

groups would normally have been enemies.

However they come together to make this

arrest, and to bring Jesus to be tried at the bar

of religion.

The Sanhedrin and the High Priestly family

were collaborators. They were the people

who tried to work with the Roman occupiers

and exercise power on their behalf.

More conservative Jews would have seen

them as collaborators. They agreed with the

Romans that religion should be used to keep

law and order, or as a modern sociologist

would say “religion is the glue of society”.

They believed that the Sanhedrin and the

High Priestly family should work with the

Romans so that religion had a role to keep law

and order, in a very divided and volatile

world. Many of us might agree that is what

religion is for – to keep law and order, to

maintain moral standards and acceptable

behaviour.

Caiaphas the High Priest was the one who

advised the Jews that it was advantageous for

one person to die than the whole people

perish – so religion has to be practical,

sensible. He was not to know the irony of

John’s statement that actually because one

person dies no-one would perish. He said that

it was better for religion to preserve life and

be sensible and useful. Fanatical groups and

their leaders should be contained. Religion

was important for stability and security; it

should never become a movement for wild

hopes and unrealistic dreams.

Annas, who was the father in law of the High

Priest, had been High Priest himself, and four

of the sons of Annas had been High Priests.

Here we have an example of a family of sons

and son-in-laws, who had established a

‘monopoly’ on this job. Some of us might

recognise that one of the temptations of

religion is that often it tends to become

controlled by small groups. Sometimes we see

this in parishes, especially in villages. Similarly

in larger churches it is often a small group

who labour mightily and do wonderful things,

but become a closed circle who control what

is considered to be normal and proper

religious practices and beliefs. This

‘monopoly’ of control develops from the best

of motives, but the result can be dangerous.

Jesus did call small groups, but to be leaven

servants, sacrificing themselves for others. In

the case of this incident in John’s Gospel this

small group did not just control the religion

that collaborated with the Romans to keep

order, the group also oversaw the traders in

the temple. We can recall that Jesus went and

knocked over the tables of the traders in the

temple. Those businesses were owned and

controlled by the High Priestly family. Thus,

Jesus had already upset them by the

disturbance He caused in the temple in

challenging the way they were using this holy

space.

This is the setting: the High Priestly family, a

small group, controlling religion, working with

the authorities, everybody has got to be in

their place and Jesus has disrupted this tightly

organised system by the challenge in the

temple. For this reason He is on trial, before

the court of established religion.

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Group discussion

Imagine you are standing at a distance and

watching this story unfold. You might like as a

group to quickly sketch out the story on a piece of

paper. As well as Jesus, which characters are you

particularly keeping an eye on? Why?



Next we have Peter, who is a disciple of Jesus.

He is not known in these circles of religious

leaders. Another disciple who is known by

Annas brings him in to the courtyard to

witness this trial. Peter enters our text by a

gate. This gate would probably have been the

entrance to the part of the Temple that only

Jewish males could enter; the part that was

governed by the strictest rules. Here we see

that Peter is moving away from Jesus and

entering by the gate of religion, the gate into

the system that is controlling the people. He

moves from being a follower of Jesus in that

band of disciples who we excluded from this

traditional approach to religion, to joining

that very group – those who deny Jesus as the

Messiah. Thus, most dramatically, when some

of the officers of this official religion say “do

you know this person”, Peter replies “no”.

(You may recall another part of John’s gospel

where Jesus says you must enter by the gate.

But the gate you must enter by is Jesus

Himself. John 10:1-10)

There is always a choice between getting a

sense of personal identity from religious

practices and groups and following Christ who

offers the constant growth and development

of our identity. Religion is on trial when we

have to make this choice as disciples.

Here we confront one of the great

temptations and trials of religion: the choice

to seek to affirm the ‘safe’ values of being

respectable and controlling human passions,

in order to keep law and order. This kind of

religion depends upon conformity to

established patterns and views. Peter has

entered a public world where everybody

seems to be saying “this person cannot be the

Messiah”. In this time of trial by public values

and opinions, Peter, having been this faithful

person who would die with Jesus, finds

himself saying: “I don’t know this man; he is

nothing to do with me”.

In a world where religion is allowed only the

narrow role of encouraging people to

conform to law and order, and any other role

is seen to be a bit risky, it is very tempting for

the established culture to absorb everybody

who wants to be religious, just as we see

Peter being converted to such conformity

when the differences between the two

approaches have to be confronted. We live in

a culture where there is a strong desire for

law and order, and religion becomes a force

for the kind of peace and justice that does not

disturb anything or cause any problems. This

inclines us to empathise with Peter as he goes

and warms himself with these others who are

putting Jesus on trial. A contemporary

philosopher, Richard Sennett has written

about the warmth of intimacy. He argues that

in the modern world, because of the

weakness of religion, what people in the West

really believe in, and what really sustains us in

trying to survive in a cold, dark context like

that courtyard Peter had entered, is the

instinct to huddle together for intimacy.

Because we have disengaged from public

rituals and doctrines, all we have got is the

relationships we can make and build around

us to keep us warm. On their own, these

relationships are fragile, and they are often

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the source of evil and bitching. Paradoxically,

the only way to keep relationships warm and

working is to find ways of enabling

forgiveness, new life and proper growth.

Otherwise the huddles for the warmth of

intimacy prove to be shifting, short lived and

leave us too often exposed in the cold

courtyard when all religion and personal

values are put on trial.

In our text we have a picture of Peter joining

the warming comfort and intimacy of the

established approach to religion. At this

moment of trial he finds himself denying Jesus

and the alternative approach that He has tried

to offer.

Individual reflection

Take a few moments of quiet to imagine you are

Peter standing warming yourself by the fire. What are

you thinking and feeling – towards yourself, towards

the people you are standing with, and towards Jesus

and your fellow disciples?

Try to be brutally honest with yourself and consider if

you ever think or feel like this when you are in Church or with other Christians.

If so; when and why? If not; why? Don’t worry you are not going to be asked to

share this with the group!



Jesus is brought to trial at the

Sanhedrin. This was a court that had to have

at least 23 judges. They sat in a semi-circle

and there were two clerks – one to record an

acquittal and one to record a judgement of

guilty and condemnation. If the judgement

was acquittal it was recorded immediately

and the person was free. If the judgement

was condemnation it was not recorded for 24

hours to give people time to consider the

verdict and thus to make sure that they really

wanted to record a judgement of guilty. The

evidence of our text shows that this trial was

corrupt since the court decided that they

wanted to condemn Jesus immediately. If he

was condemned, they should have gone away

and come back in 24 hours having thought

and prayed about the verdict, as good

religious people should, so as to be sure that

they know what they were doing.

This trial is also corrupt according to the

account in John, because the High Priest says

to Jesus “what have you and your disciples

been doing, what have you been preaching?”

In the procedure of the Sanhedrin it was not

permitted to ask the accused to condemn

themselves and that is why Jesus replies “why

are you asking me, you are not supposed to

be asking me, I’m not supposed to condemn

myself.”

Here we can see a form of religion that is so

keen to maintain law and order that in fact

breaks its own rules. It does not wait 24 hours

for a considered verdict of guilty and

condemnation, and it does not observe the

right of the defendant not to incriminate

themselves so that the case has to be made

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by asking other witnesses. This is why Jesus

says quite openly (not in closed religious

circles like that of the group putting Him on

trial), I have spoken to everybody and

anybody – I have been to the temple and to

the synagogue – I have spoken in the streets,

in cities and villages, ask those who have

heard me.” Jesus reminds His judges that they

should seek evidence, not just in their own

little group, but in the wider world where His

word and His love have been offered.

Here is an important paradox. The religion

that claims to offer control and security for

everyone, in fact operates in closed, exclusive

circles, whereas the religion that is accused of

being a small seditious sect operates openly

with maximum accountability and

transparency. There may be a strong

challenge in this particular trial for us to

recognise that religious people need to be in

dialogue with the rest of God’s children

because what we are given is for them as well

as for us. Too often we can become like this

group around Caiaphas and Annas who Peter

has joined. We are so locked in to our own

little world and how we control it, we are so

nervous of anybody disturbing it, that we end

up employing our own systems and processes

to get what we want and doing it corruptly if

need be rather than using them to maintain

our respect and care for people. Furthermore,

we end up denying the Messiah, we deny

having anything to share with God’s children

in an open transparent way, being in dialogue

and listening – practicing all the things Jesus

did so radically.

Group reflection

Imagine you are a human rights lawyer

brought in by the Sanhedrin to review this

trial. You are midway through writing your

review and have finished pointing out where

they got their processes and procedures

wrong. You now need to write some bullet

points about the potential effects their

mishandling of this trial might have on them as a group and on their relationships with the

communities around them.

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ACTION! There is a tendency in religious groups and for religious people to find a

place in society by either becoming the glue that holds it all together:

upholding what is acceptable and normal and providing ways in which

people can show they are conforming or by becoming the explosive device:

lobbed in every now and again as an attack causing untold damage.

1. What have you learnt from exploring this passage about how we as a National Church, as a Diocese

and as a local group of Christians guard against these two extremes?

You might want to consider, amongst other things, what you’ve learnt about styles of leadership,

support for individuals making hard choices in their discipleship journey and techniques for

listening for the truth.

2. What might you as a group of local Christians do differently in light of your discussion?

3. What might you as an individual do differently in light of this group discussion and your personal

reflections?

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Session 2: Politics on Trial This week’s session is based on John 18:28- 19:16 and Luke 23:6-12. You need to read these passages out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.



The Roman political strategy was

very much like the one we experience in the

modern western world. The Romans, because

they had conquered so much territory,

developed a way of tolerating all kinds of

faiths and beliefs – the modern word would

be pluralism. They tolerated all kinds of things

as long as there was an overall structure of

law and order and a basic acknowledgement

of the Emperor. The effect was that as long as

people acknowledged the system as having

authority over them, then they could believe

and practise all kinds of things. We can recall

that St Paul is quite positive about being a

Roman citizen. He can see the value of a

system that held everybody together. It is the

forerunner of our modern notion of a legal

framework within which everybody has their

human rights. Of course, we have boiled it

down not just to groups and sects and

religions, but to individuals who can really

behave and believe as they choose, so long as

together we can maintain a civilised way of

relating to each other. People want peace and

not violence and war.

Pilate was Governor within this kind of

universalizing, holding framework. It was

radically inclusive and depended upon the

rule of law – though there were numerous

gradations, society was very hierarchical and

citizenship was limited, as we know from St

Paul’s Epistles.

In this week’s text, the Jews who have held

their religious trial of Jesus come to Pilate as

representing the political power. They do not

want to break their ritual discipline on this

Holy day by closely associating with Pagans.

The Jews had very high standards about their

religious identity, Pilate was a Pagan. He

understood their religious concerns and he

generously came out and stood on the

pavement and talked with them – on more

neutral ground. It is interesting that these

Jewish leaders do not want to join up with a

rival group. We noted that at their religious

trial they did not want any other groups

joining with themselves. Their religion

demanded the maintenance of strict

boundaries. Peter had been sucked in to that

way of doing religion. Yet, under pressure

from a wider understanding of religious faith,

those Jewish leaders are willing to seek

support and alliance from the pagan political

power. We can observe a small group that is

fearful of change, thinks it has the answers,

wants to control religious law and order, and

now comes to Pilate as the one who controls

political and civic law and order, in order to

have Jesus put to death to crush the threat of

this broader view of faith. They too say He is a

criminal but that their law does not allow

them to put people to death. Any wise

political system keeps the death penalty out

of religious hands as we can observe today,

We are horrified, when in some Middle

Eastern countries the death penalty is used to

uphold religious values in instances which we

would handle through the political channels

of law and order.

The text reminds us that Jesus had indicated

the kind of death He was to die. We need to

think about this fact, it is rather important. If

the Jews had killed Jesus He would have been

stoned. Religion buries people in a heap: it

has tended to obliterate heretics and

enemies. Jesus knew that if He was to die He

had to be lifted up high, so that everybody

could see Him. Jesus’ death is not to be

religion overcoming him and burying him, as

we do with so many things and people we

dislike.

His death was to be a public event for all to

see –Jews, Greeks, Romans, everybody. He

was lifted up for the citizens of the world, in

terms of politics, to look at and to make a

decision about.

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Every citizen is now on trial because He is

lifted up. If they had buried him in a corner as

part of a religious dispute He would not have

made the appeal that He is able to make to us

today.

Group discussion

Imagine you are a group of advisers walking with

Pilate on his way back into his headquarters having

just met with the Jews. What is he asking you?

What issues do you raise? What advice do you

give?



Pilate is going to be the one who authorises

this death on a cross, Jesus being lifted up.

He begins the trial with a political question:

he says “are you a king?” i.e. are you making a

rival power claim? There were plenty of

precedents involving religious leaders and

groups who claimed to be the pure people,

and wanted to expel the Romans and liberate

their country for God’s true purposes. A few

years before Pilate had crucified 1800 people

along the roadside, in order to give a clear

message that rebellion was not a sensible

thing to try. He was a very tough operator.

Therefore he begins the trial of politics with a

very obvious question - “Are you king? Are

you trying to take over and clear us out of

your country?” Jesus replies by stating that

His kingdom is not of this world.

We need to consider this conversation

carefully - Jesus is offering a very different

perspective. If you think of Romans 8, nothing

can separate us from the love of God, not

height or depth or breadth or anything. He is

talking about the creator of the universe, of

everything that is, of political systems and

anti-political systems, of religions and anti-

religions. His kingdom represents the creator

of everything! There is a similar picture in St

John’s great revelation about the heavenly

city coming down, embracing all the people in

salvation. Jesus’ kingdom is the salvation of all

that God has made, called to be raised up into

glory and fulfilled and confirmed in its proper

purpose.

The method Jesus has employed is not that of

force, making people do things as Pilate had

to do. His method is an appeal to the heart, it

is an internal issue, a calling out to be a citizen

of heaven, the kingdom of Heaven we are told

by Jesus to pray for each day.

Politics will come and go. Jesus said that we

will always have the poor with us. We will

always be dealing with the problems of being

human and yet in all this mysterious struggle

there is something in every creature that will

draw us through those temporary things into

glory and into eternity. The method is an

appeal to the soul, to the heart, that deep

instinct to live beyond the limitations of this

life with its fighting, its fear, its temporary

hopes and joys – those are the signs of things

we go through in order to enter into eternity.

These are the elements of real human belief

that we want to examine more thoroughly as

part of this Lenten journey.

Pilate gets a glimmer of this agenda and its

significance when Jesus says “everyone who

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belongs to the truth listens to my voice”.

There is a deep spiritual connection between

this human instinct for eternity and the words

of Jesus. In response, Pilate asks that famous

question “What is truth?” Here is a politician

who knows how to ask the question – what is

truth? – but he cannot see it when it is in

front of him - because he thinks that truth is

an intellectual proposition, or a set of ways of

working, or a scientific theory you can prove.

Whereas truth is what is in the human heart –

that which Jesus calls out - the invitation to

acknowledge the instinct for eternity.

Pilate knows that this is an important

question for politics –‘what is truth?’ – but he

wants a superficial immediate quick fix. The

demands upon politics to maintain law and

order often prevents there seeming to be

time to recognise this deeper agenda. This

serves to make politics relative, and always

temporary, and always behind the curve. We

tend to live our lives in this more immediate

way too. Paradoxically Jesus is saying that

truth is learned in silence, in inner

contemplation: it is not a system of theories

or organisation.

Individual reflection

Spend a few moments in quiet reflecting on the

statement that Jesus “came into the world to testify to

the truth” – you might want to write this statement in

the middle of a piece of paper. Also reflect on the

interpretation that Jesus came to offer the invitation to

acknowledge the instinct for eternity.

Be courageously open with yourself ( you will not have to share this with the

group) – what in your life makes you think about and feel this instinct for

eternity; the gut feeling and thinking that there is something bigger, deeper,

wider and more permanent than what is in the present moment? You might

want to write those things down on your piece of paper, around Jesus

statement.



Poor Pilate is in a fix. Here is this

man, is he a king? He has used the word king

but in a different way. He claims that He is

raising an issue about truth; Pilate is not sure

what truth is. What do politicians do when

they are in a fix? They offer people a choice,

you have a referendum, or a review if you

don’t know what to do!

Thus, as a consummate politician, skilled in

the primary art of surviving in the present and

not really engaging with the more intractable

issues of ultimate meaning and purpose,

Pilate shifts the agenda and says: “I always

release someone at this time – do you want

Jesus or Barabbas?” He puts the responsibility

on somebody else, on the people, not on

himself. Should I crucify your king? And here

the Jewish people, represented by this tiny,

self-serving group commit a terrible

blasphemy - because they know David is their

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king, that the line of David is the kingly line.

And, of course, Jesus is of the line of David.

Yet they say “the Emperor is our king”, (John

19:12). What an irony for this holy group that

has refused to come off the pavement into

the headquarters because they will be ritually

defiled, and are bold enough to claim that the

Emperor is our king - that is the person who

we worship in a sense of law and order. By

contrast, this impostor (though of the line of

David) should be put to death.

In this text from St John we have a dramatic

picture of politics on trial. We are given a

description of a politician not taking

responsibility but passing it on to others, and

our old friend public opinion makes the

decision, the crowd makes the decision. It is a

decision that is defensive, pragmatic,

designed to stop anything new happening. It

aims to keep the vision restricted to the

useful and the practical, to what we can see

today and hope for tomorrow. There is no big

vision, no heart soaring, no real desire for a

greater perfection. Then Pilate says the great

words “here is your king”. He presents Jesus

and then he says “you take him, you put him

to death”. Is this Big Government placing the

responsibility upon what we have come to call

localism? Pilate says “you do it, if that is what

you want, you go in your little group and

decide what you want to do, if you want to kill

him, you kill him.” Let the local, the

contextual, decide upon appropriate values

and priorities. The political test is to maintain

a peaceful framework of law and order, in this

case through the violence of an innocent

death.

Politics is on trial and Pilate is trying to keep

the peace. He is frightened of the big picture.

He can only deal with what he can control

through force in the immediate present. This

big confusing picture of human hearts and the

glory that envelops everybody, and a future

with which God desires to grace people, is just

beyond his political imagination, and so he

says over to you, you deal with it in your own

way.

Politics is on trial around the issue of

responsibility. Pilate is a politician not willing

to take responsibility for truth, nor for

decision making. He is the willing tool of

public opinion, the will of the people who

shout loudest. Public opinion is most powerful

and effective when it is united in a negative

judgement, a common enemy.

Group reflection

What is “responsibility”? What does it mean

to take responsibility for something?

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This localised, popular approach

is acted out in the second stage of the trial of

politics – Jesus being put on trial by another

king - Herod. This is the account in our text

from Luke.

Herod represents politics as localised, and as

based upon experience and evidence. He is a

person like many in the west today,

intelligent, self-satisfied, well-off, mildly

interested in religion, able to order much of

his life as he chooses. His main interest is in

the latest sensation – in this case the

phenomenon of Jesus. Political responsibility

is exercised by asking for evidence to

substantiate the claims he thinks that Jesus is

making in His use of the language of kingship.

In the memorable words coined by Tim Rice in

the pop opera Jesus Christ Superstar, Herod

in effect says to Jesus, ‘prove to me that

you’re no fool, walk across my swimming

pool’, an echo of the miracle of walking on the

water, but as a personalised sign for this

particular audience. Politics in this mode will

only support things that ‘add value’ to what

we already have – in a demonstrable way.

Herod also questions Jesus at some length. He

is interested in the agenda of a new kingdom.

But Jesus remains silent. There can be no real

communication between human politics

based upon evidence of added value, and the

mysterious power of a citizenship based upon

sacrifice of self, and putting faith, hope and

love before intellectual understanding.

Two worlds and two languages are unable to

connect, because of the driving self-

confidence of Herod’s political leadership in

dominating the agenda.

The contribution of the chief Priests and

scribes is equally nervous and partisan -

condemnation. This is a ‘trial’ with no

examination of the issues, simply a

continuation of the defensive choice to

maintain the status quo which has been

formed between political and religious

leaders. Both the political and the religious

‘trial’ is instant - no space for reflection or

receiving anything new- the tenor of

engagement is mocking and humiliating the

One who is different. This is the classic form

of humour in politics.

Yet neither Pilate nor Herod find Jesus guilty.

Politics has been on trial and found wanting.

However, politics is willing to tolerate this

funny ‘king’ - even if He needs to be contained

by being mocked and marginalised.

Group discussion The Herod mentioned here is Herod Antipas who ruled as a Tetrarch – a word which suggests a group of four leaders, each given a particular territory (tetra is four in Greek). These are mentioned in Luke 3.1. Antipas had seen a series of Roman governors, of which Pilate was one; take over from his brother Archelaus as ruler of the biggest part of his father’s kingdom when it was divided up. His stepbrother Philip was also a Tetrarch. The other Tetrarch Lysanias was not Herodian.

What do you think this situation added to or detracted from Herod Antipas’s ability to rule?

14

ACTION!

1. What does Christian faith have to contribute to political life? How do we as a

National Church, a Diocese and as a local group of Christians offer this

contribution?

Looking back over the session you may want to think again around the

following; things being made public, the big vision of eternity, the

responsibility of leaders and the process of political debate.


3. What might you as an individual do differently in light of this group discussion and your personal reflections?

15

Session 3: The Crowd on Trial This week’s session is based on Luke 23:13-25. You need to read this passage out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.



Each of us lives among other

people. Sometimes we can get to know these

‘others’ and become a community. Mostly we

do not know those around us, and so we form

part of a ‘crowd’. The force which connects

individuals, communities and crowds is ‘public

opinion’. We have seen how religious leaders

stayed in a small select group to make their

decisions, before appealing to the crowds for

support. They offered direction, not

consultation.

By contrast, the politicians operated in more

public areas - on a pavement, in the presence

of religious leaders and others - yet this

‘transparency’ could only be handled by a

clever correlation between the decision

making of rulers and the will of the people.

Jesus spent much of His ministry amongst

crowds, healing, feeding, and teaching – a

shepherd amongst sheep who seemed to be

lost. People not really embraced by religious

or political systems in a meaningful way.

This encounter reported in our text from Luke

reminds us of the powers and responsibilities

of ‘the crowd‘. The Romans used the media of

‘bread and circuses’ together with coins

bearing the Emperor’s image, to manage the

crowds. The chief priest and the scribes used

the conforming disciplines of synagogue,

Temple and Law. Most people seemed to

have experienced these strategies of control

in superficial ways – with limited commitment

to the bigger cause being promoted.

The same might be said of the effects of the

media in our own times– controlled and

influenced by political, economic and cultural

elites, but creating little more than a fairly

fickle, superficial conformity – hence the

disruptive potential of Twitter and tweeting.

Group discussion

Imagine you are the person tasked by Pilate to

gather the chief priests, leaders and the people to

hear Pilate’s decision about Jesus. Write a press

statement, news headline or tweet inspiring them

to attend.

16



In this text the crowd is

challenged to choose between two

judgements. One is the verdict of guilty and

deserving of death - passed by the religious

leadership. The guilt was of blasphemy

against God and disloyalty to Caesar.

The alternative is the verdict of Pilate and

Herod, of not guilty and deserving only of

chastisement for minor public order offences

– the tolerant inclusivity of political

leadership. The charge was disloyalty to

Caesar, which had not been proved, and

disloyalty to God, on which the politicians

refused to pronounce. Roman justice took

great pride in its competence, and if we read

the accounts of Holy Week carefully we will

see that Jesus was pronounced ‘not guilty’

four times.

There is no indication that the crowd

deliberated about this choice to be made. By

their very nature, crowds operate on instinct

and atmosphere – there are no easy

mechanisms for discussion or considered

decision making. Characteristically, therefore

the response and choice of the crowd is

immediate. An echo of the confident

assertions of some sections of our media in

pronouncing upon important issues.

The crowd has enormous self-confidence. It

feels equipped to arbitrate between right and

wrong, who should be punished and who

should be forgiven. It needs no details of

character or circumstance – simply some

headlines of guidance from religious and

political leaders. When people come together

to make a crowd, there is a discernible surge

of energy and momentum, particularly in

pursuing a negative judgement involving a

clearly identified victim.

Personal reflection

Imagine you were motived to go and hear what Pilate had

to say. What sort of crowd person are you? Would you get

there early to get to the front? Would you arrive slightly

late so that you could stand cautiously at the back? Would

you be comfortable in the middle with a group of friends? How would you

behave; would you joke about, be quiet, or heckle? Once some people had

started shouting what would trigger you to join in? (You can be honest; you are

not going to be asked to share this!)

17



The crowd that is so confident

that is knows right from wrong, and who to

raise up, and who to pull down, chooses

Barabbas. It is interesting that the choice is

between Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus

Barabbas. Both names mean ‘saviour’ and the

crowd have a choice between two kinds of

saviour. Jesus of Nazareth is appealing to the

heart, this complex inner life, our ability to

struggle through the darkness and find light

together. A testing journey as we often seem

to slide back. A wonderful but struggling

vision of light coming out of darkness.

By contrast, Jesus ‘the saviour’ Barabbas is the

equivalent of our modern action man. He has

got clear goals and clear values. He is

passionate for religion to obtain its victory

and he knows what he wants to do. The irony

is that Barabbas is freed and yet he is

probably guilty of the things for which Jesus

was found not guilty by the politicians. He was

probably a Jewish zealot who would have

overthrown the Romans if he could get his

own way, who wanted his narrow little

religious group to triumph. However, all

crowds find it easier to gather around the

negative and the simplistic, rather than the

sophisticated and struggling ambiguity with

which Jesus confronts us.

Think of our Lord’s parables. They are

ambiguous, we have to work at them – pray,

think, struggle, learn, slip back – that is real

life. But if someone jumps up and says “follow

me”, “do that”, “we’ll achieve this”, then the

faith of the crowd is kindled and together,

they say “great, we can manage that” and off

they go. Is this choice of the crowd warning to

us about the frailty of democracy? We might

like to recall the tragedy in the last century,

when in all the pressures of the 1920’s and

30s there was the mass movement of what

became known as totalitarianism, National

Socialism and Nazism. These popular

movements pleased the crowds by offering a

very simple solution through a very dynamic

and gifted leader, Adolf Hitler. He said “do

this”, “follow me”, “we’ll get there”. It was

very simple. Some are to be raised up, the

Aryan race, and some need to be crushed, the

Jews for instance.

Personal reflection

Spend a few moments in quiet reflecting on your personal

beliefs and assumptions about who Christ is for you in light

of these two types of saviour figures. Which of the

characteristics described above appear in your beliefs and

assumptions? What surprises you? What might you need

to give more time to reflect on? You may like to write this down for yourself so

you don’t forget!

18



Crowds are powerful things, public opinion is

a powerful force and it is also very dangerous

sometimes. Pilate hints at this, when he asks

“what evil has he done?” He recognises that

the crowd are putting evil on this person.

Pilate would rather simply flog him and agree

that he has been put in his place. But crowds

develop a momentum and passion which

easily becomes hatred. That is what happened

in the Holocaust. Passion becomes hatred, it is

brutal, it is death-dealing and it is wicked.

What is very interesting in an age in which we

try and export democracy around the world,

is the fact that Jesus is executed as the result

of a democratic decision. It is the people who

make the decision. They choose negative

judgement, a simplistic strategy of

scapegoating and the energy of collective,

self-righteous passion.

This is true of first century Jerusalem, it was

true of the Roman state, it was true of 20th

century Germany, it is true of the world

today. Of course it is not just out there. A

sorry feature of parish life is the temptation

to develop a kind of conspiracy theory and

energy against somebody or something –

identifying a scapegoat and grossly

oversimplifying the issues. Often all that it

required is for people to listen to each other,

to get a bigger perspective and to work at

tackling all the difficult things with which the

heart needs to engage. But, instead people

become ‘crowds’ around single issues, and

simply demand that someone waves a magic

wand to solve all their problems. It is often

tempting to ask for a Barabbas kind of

leadership, to want a Barabbas type of direct

action.

It can be very hard sometimes to slow all of

that down and say are we being too

simplistic? Too judgmental? Too self-

righteous? Can we look at this in a wider way?

Pray? Listen? And stand in the silence that

Jesus stands in through these trials?

Barabbas offered this simple, popular

narrative and Jesus offered a large, complex,

struggle and vision of light coming out of

darkness. The crowd will always go for the

former, and our witness is to say there is

some value in the latter. If we stand for

anything at all or we try to learn from this

terrible day of judgement, it should be

something to do with the fact that what

Christians value demands the closer

connections of community, and that kind of

sensitivity even when dealing with strangers.

Simply to be in a crowd is not good enough, it

is dangerous, it is simplistic, it is judgmental,

the energy is negative, it often becomes

hysterical and full of hatred and self-

righteousness. Every crowd needs the

challenge to become what we would call a

community. That is what we do every Sunday.

We invite a funny crowd, all of us funny

people, with all out hang ups and strange

ways and we come and we share the same

bread and wine and we make a community

for that moment as a sign to the world. Our

different approaches and values are not

ameliorated or finally ordered – simply held

for a moment in a space of mutual humility

and concern for a greater, common good.

It is interesting to reflect that the dynamics of

making a ‘crowd’ creates an atmosphere

which chooses a religious option, rather than

the more measured, short term focussing on

stability approach of the political.

The crowd forms around condemnation of a

perceived threat to the status quo. It develops

a passion that surges in favour of direct action

to develop a vision for a better future that has

a clear outline and a strategy for delivery.

There is no space to live with the slower

tempo and reflective spaces of community life

– where the depth of relationships constrains

quick and excluding judgement, and allows an

elasticity of approach that can embrace

generosity and forgiveness.

19

Group reflection

Flogging was known as “the near death” or “the half

death” and the Romans reserved it as a punishment

for non-Roman citizens and often used it as a prelude

to crucifixion. The Torah and Rabbinic law state that it

may be used as punishment but may not exceed forty

times so that the person being punished retains some

dignity (Deuteronomy 25:1-3). In our passage Pilate

proposes to have Jesus flogged and then release him. Discuss what Pilate might have

thought this would indicate to the people gathered.

ACTION!

1. “Every crowd needs the challenge to become what we would call a

community”. Where are the crowds in our society and culture today? As

well as sharing bread and wine together what else can people of Christian

faith do to challenge crowd mentality and behaviour wherever it is found?

2. What might you as a group of local Christians do differently in light of your

discussion?


20

Session 4: The King on Trial This week’s session is based on Luke 23:26-49 and Mark 15:33-39. You need to read these passages out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.



This is a very public trial. The king

is going to be nailed to the wood and raised

up; he is not buried under the stones in a

religious kind of settlement. It is a political

and public statement and invitation. He is

raised up for anyone to look at and see, and

to make a judgement. The kingship of Jesus is

on trial.

Jesus carries the cross as a sign of being found

guilty. He was found guilty by the religious

and political establishments and by the

crowd. It is a long route. The Romans

designed a very long route for these poor

people, to make an example. A soldier would

walk in front of the person carrying the cross

with a sign proclaiming their offence, so that

everybody got the message. What is

interesting is that the Romans never allowed

crucifixions in Italy, since it was deemed to be

too barbaric. Crucifixion only happened in the

provinces to give this strong message about

conformity.

Jesus walks with a soldier in front of him on a

long route to make sure as many people as

possible get the message. The crowds follow

him and this is their moment. There will be a

mix of motives, but there is cohesion. This is

what they wanted and now they achieve the

result they chose. We know from history that

crowds do gather for burnings or hangings.

There is a macabre solidarity in the sufferings

of others: something still evident in the

popularity of some TV reality shows. The

crowd gains identity and security by not

facing up to its own issues but rather through

projecting them on to what is called in religion

‘a scapegoat’. We can feel at ease because all

that is wrong is focused in a victim. Jesus says

“do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves”.

This is a powerful warning.

They come to the place of the skull –

Golgotha. All that is left of these processes of

judgement are dry bones. Two others are

crucified. The ‘king’ is in fact just one case

among a number. This small site becomes the

theatre of salvation. Jesus says “Father forgive

them”, and if you look at the words it is not a

statement, it is a mantra. He said to them

again and again as he is crucified ‘Father

forgive them for they do not know what they

are doing’. All these people present do not

know a deeper or richer way of understanding

life and living it. Religion, politics, the crowd –

have all been found wanting, and yet, even at

this last moment, Jesus invites them to look at

him on the cross. The King is on trial.

There are just a few non-conformists in this

crowd that is so solidified in getting what it

wants. The text picks out Simon of Cyrene

who sides with Jesus and helps carry the

cross. There are a small group of family and

friends. There is the group of women who

accompany Jesus in his ministry. There is the

tradition of Veronica who steps forward to

wipe Jesus’ brow.

21

Group discussion

Imagine you are walking together as a group in the

crowd following Jesus carrying his cross to

Golgotha. What are people around you saying and

doing? What are you saying and doing? How does

the crowd react to Simon of Cyrene and Jesus’

family and friends?



In a strange way, this scene

could be viewed as a picture of the church.

Sometimes society wants simple self

righteous solutions and we are a little group

of non conformists who actually want to

minister to the Lord, stand with him and

witness to this richer but more challenging

way of living life and seeing it. Jesus uses a

cryptic phrase “the wood is green” i.e. there is

still a bit of life in this wood, it is green, it is

not completely dry. There is still a trial on this

cross, the wood is still green. What will

happen when it is dry and we have let all the

life go out of it? Human judgement has

crowded together to support this verdict of

guilty. Yet if we look carefully the wood is

green, there is some possibility of life but it is

drying up fast. The crowd continues to mock

him, so the wood appears to be finally dry and

dead. Then the famous inscription is mounted

on the cross “The King of the Jews”. It is in

three languages for the three great religions

and cultures of the time. It is in Hebrew – the

language of religion and spirituality, it is in

Latin – the language of law and order and

culture, and it is in the Greek – the language

of intellectual understanding and of

intellectual endeavour.

The soldiers crucified the Lord, they act out

the power that the crowd has, the political

systems have and the religious systems have -

to crucify and squeeze the last bit of life out

of the wood that was still just green.

On this cross Jesus the king is crucified. He is

held up to put all these people and all these

systems on trial in the very moment of these

forces combining to try His claim to be a king.

The amazing thing is that as Jesus dies the

crowd changes, suddenly its self confidence

and its solidarity disappear and they shrink

away. So often having got what the crowd

wants, it is embarrassed and ashamed. This is

what the crowd wanted and this is what the

crowd has achieved – an innocent, good man

murdered on a cross. The life squeezed out of

the wood even though it is green. An

alternative understanding of kingship and

kingdom rejected in favour of retaining the

power of the people.

We might recall the parable in which the rich

man who plans to build bigger barns is told:

“tonight your soul is required, there is a

bigger agenda, that is what you are made for.

If you are so focused on getting your own

way, in your own time, for your own benefit

you are going to miss the invitation and the

life that is in the wood even when it is green”

We are so often tempted, as religious or

political people, or as part of the crowd, to

look at life and its mystery in a simple, self

righteous and defensive way, which has the

effect of squeezing the life out of the wood,

even though it is still green. What a tragedy

for those who participate in that short

22

sighted, self righteous simplicity. And what a

challenge to Christians reading this text to

discern that in the life and death of this king

there is still something that can speak to the

heart, that desires to forgive us because we

know not what we do. That is what the Lord is

saying as everybody observes His trial by

looking at this cross. He is not judgemental.

He is simply saying ‘Father forgive them they

know not what they do’.

Personal reflection

Where is the wood still green in your life? What do you

need to do to make sure the wood doesn’t dry out or the

life gets squeezed out? You are not going to be asked to

share this so you might want to note something down to

reflect on later.



Then there is darkness across

the whole land.

Noon and the third hour are times of prayer.

Each day has times for prayer, moments of

seeking light in the darkness of the world with

its struggles and complexities. Jesus is on trial

as ‘king’ between these two moments of

prayer.

His whole ministry was to invite people to

learn to see out of this darkness. Jesus

proclaims “I am the light of the world. If you

look at me, then from what seems darkness

will come illumination for your souls, your

aspirations, your sense of direction and your

faith in God.”

In Mark’s account, at this moment Jesus

utters some words from the Psalm 22 “my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. On

the surface this sentence sounds terrible –

“have you abandoned me?”

Of course like all Jews, Jesus would have

learnt that the Psalms as a child. And anyone

hearing him say the words “my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me”, would recognise

the beginning of Psalm 22. This Psalm is in

small sections. There is a section saying that

things are really difficult “fat bulls of Bashan

are attacking, my bones are being broken”,

but between each section which rehearses

the evidence of darkness and things going

wrong, between each of those little blocks of

real experiences, are other sections

remembering God’s mercy, God’s grace and

God’s promise. That is how the light and the

darkness work. The Psalm is an expression of

what Jesus is: of a new kind of rule. Darkness

yielding light, a different kind of kingdom, a

different kind of king. In our own lives,

sometimes what seems like concrete evidence

indicates that God is abandoning us; Illness,

disaster, the breaking of relationships. But if

we recall that our God longs to forgive us, to

heal us, to restore us, to nourish us, then a

different perspective and confidence

emerges. We learn to submit to a different

rule. That is why in a modern church in the

23

moments of darkness, although we do not

have the discipline of the third hour of prayer,

we do have scripture, sacraments, worship,

creed and ministry – moments to recall who

God is, how God wants to operate, what He

offers. That is the light that comes back in to

the darkness that sometimes seems to be so

evident in our immediate surroundings.

It is interesting to note that the bystanders

witness Jesus beginning this Psalm, but they

mishear and they say he is calling for Elijah.

We can recognise that it can be very difficult

for us to hear the word of our Lord in our

consciences, in our souls, in our spirit,

because the frames we inhabit are so strong

that whatever we hear is processed. These

people thought they knew about Elijah.

Whatever they heard they simply assumed

that Jesus must be talking about Elijah. This is

why religion finds it so hard to recognise the

nature of kingship in Jesus. He pours out light

in to our darkness, but too quickly we think

we know how this works, and we put it in a

box. We control what we are offered, and we

are soon back to those little groups of

religious people who were self-righteous, over

confident, defensive, narrow and frightened.

These people jump to the wrong conclusion

because they are too narrow – “He is calling

for Elijah.”

That is the danger when we are between the

hours of prayer, those moments of seeking

illumination, and we too quickly operate on

our immediate assumptions, which leads us to

make the wrong call.

Group discussion

Pool what you know about Elijah. Would it make sense to

the bystanders for Jesus to be calling for Elijah? If so,

why?



However, we human beings are not all bad

and impetuous. Those around the trial on the

cross offer what we call pastoral care. They

offer sour wine, mixed with a drug to take

away the pain and help people die slightly

more easily. Goodness is present in people’s

hearts, but trapped within quick answers and

an easy judgementalism.

There is an irony that that this darkness

begins of noon-tide, which should have been

the brightest time of the day. The people

witnessing the trial of the king are not hearing

what is being said, they have their pre-

conditioned answers and although they are

trying to help where there is suffering, they

are in darkness. And yet in this forgiving king

the Father reaches out.

Parents recognise that no matter how

children behave there is a bond that can

never be broken. There is something deep

that connects and absorbs, and forgives. Jesus

calls God our Father. His kingship proclaims

the connection of citizenship; a bond beneath

the darkness, a light which absorbs heals and

grows together. This king does not offer laws

as the key to security and stability He offers

baptism to cleanse us and Eucharist to join us

in a kingdom of light.

24

As the earthly part of this trial of our king

comes to an end, the curtain in the temple is

torn in two. The barrier that religion created

between those who are in and out, the barrier

that the crowd create between those who are

in and out, is just dissolved. There is to be a

new kingdom of openness and connection. It

will be manifested on the Day of Pentecost.

And finally, the trial of the king ends with the

head of another hierarchy of commitment

and connection pronouncing the verdict. The

centurion proclaims in St Luke’s account “this

man was innocent”, while in St Mark he

judges ‘Truly this man was God’s Son’ The

judge is not a religious leader, not a politician,

not the crowd. The judge is a jobbing soldier –

a pagan, the organising leader of ‘otherness‘.

He can see the light in the darkness. The key

witness to this kind of kingship is the most

unlikely person.

Group reflection

Imagine you are having supper with your family

having gone home from watching Jesus’ crucifixion.

Suddenly someone rushes in and tells you that the

temple curtain has torn in two and the holiest space

has been revealed. What do you say to those you

trust the most?

ACTION!

1. What have you learnt from exploring this passage about honouring Jesus as

the Crucified King today? You might want to consider, among other things,

the place of standing out from the crowd in public, looking for life and light,

our tendency to operate with ready-made answers and hear what we want

to hear and the breaking down of divisions between who’s “in” and who’s

“out”.



25

Session 5: Ourselves on Trial This week’s session is based on Luke 24:1-12.You need to read this passage out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.



We have looked at various kinds

of trials taking place as Jesus was crucified - to

help our own reflections and self-examination

during this journey of Lent. This week we will

consider the outcome of these trials: the story

we will read on Easter Day. In a way this is the

story of our trial. We are challenged to make

a judgement and offer evidence of our

relationship to the examination of politics,

religion, the life of the crowd, the offer of a

king. What is our judgement? What is the

verdict in relation to our own journey and

witness?

The text taken from St Luke starts with the

first day of the week. The Jewish Sabbath was

a Saturday and it was a rest day for reflection,

for prayer. Following this discipline of rest and

reflection, our Holy Saturday in terms of the

Easter story, there comes the day of

resurrection. On this day after the Sabbath,

this day of prayer and preparation, the

women come to the tomb. The stone had

been rolled away. Tombs at that time were

made in caves or by making caves in the rock.

The construction would include a round

stone, like a mill stone, and the making of a

channel so that this stone could be rolled into

place as a cover, to seal the tomb. The report

about rolling away the stone indicates a fairly

sophisticated structure, and we know in fact,

that it was a grave of a rich person, Joseph of

Arimathea.

When the women come to the tomb, they roll

away the stone and there is a narrow

entrance to a small dark space. For these

women the key at this moment is the tomb.

This is the destination of all life, the reality of

death. There is no other way, and so they

come to embalm the body, to confirm the

reality of mortality. Life leads to this narrow

entrance, this small, dark space. Life leads to

the tomb of death: dust to dust.

However, what these ministers to the reality

of death discover is that this is not a tomb,

the place of ultimate ending. Rather this

small dark place is a place of beginning, of

new life, of dazzling light. They bow down in

amazement. Their response is an attitude of

worship, of bowing down to a greater reality,

one that is glimpsed as light in the place of

darkness, as life in the place of death.

This is the test for any church. Often our

churches are stone structures, a small

entrance into a dark space – certainly in the

eyes of those who rarely or never attend. Is a

church a place of light and life amidst lives

dominated by the reality of darkness and

death?

As the women bow down into this mystery,

they are able to hear the voice of the angel

saying this is not the end, merely the

beginning – there is no dead body. He is not

here, He has risen. The king is enthroned in

glory by passing through the darkness. Only

the Lenten journey with our Lord can help us

grasp this mystery and learn to approach

what seems like endings in a spirit which

opens up new beginnings – a different kind of

citizenship - a new approach to religion and

politics, to community and connectivity.

26

Group discussion

Imagine you have just arrived at your friend’s

house to pick her up and go to Jesus’ tomb

together. She has just nipped into another room to

get some extra spices and her young daughter asks

you about where you are going, what you are

doing and how you feel. What do you say?



Each of the four gospels gives us

the same sequence. This wisdom of the gift of

new life comes through this sequence: first

preparation, the day of preparation, - second

the priority of Sabbath, reflection and prayer,

- third coming to face the real vulnerability

and limitedness of life, - fourth the humility to

bow down in to the darkness and, - finally,

behold it is not the end, there is a revelation

of new light and new life. This life giving

sequence does not happen automatically. It

needs preparation, the Sabbath discipline of

prayer, facing up to the reality of the end of

life, bowing down in an act of worship before

that mystery and then being enabled to

receive something unexpected and

miraculous. He is not here, He is risen. The

key to this story is the message which the

voice gives to them - “remember”. We must

remember, as Jesus did on the cross, saying

Psalm 22. If we remember what Jesus says to

us as king, and what He showed to us in His

life, that whenever the evidence points to the

reality of darkness and death, to someone

crippled in their back for 18 years, or with a

flow of blood, or being blind, or dumb, or

whatever the evidence seems to be, even the

power of death over Lazarus, whatever the

evidence, if we bow down and wait, and

watch for mercy, new life can miraculously be

given.

This journey with our Lord right into

Gethsemane, Golgotha and now the Garden,

equips us to discern something about the way

our God works. He takes us sinners and our

pompousness and our righteousness and if we

will but prepare, reflect and pray, recognise

the evidence of death or failure, and bow

down in worship, there can be forgiveness,

grace and new life. If we prefer to choose to

focus upon politics religion or being in the

apparent safety of a crowd, and refuse to risk

stepping out from these all too human

schemes for survival, we will not reach the

moment that invites us to bow down before

the mystery of the evidence, of our finitude

and limitation, and discover something more.

If we try and control human beings simply

around the apparent evidence, and not risk

the trial of critical self-examination which

exposes their limitations, then we will miss

the gift of new life, the birth of a richer reality.

This moment of transformation occurs on the

third day. They have had to wait all this time –

this is not an automatic process, or even as

predictable as a seed planted in the ground

and then emerging. This is a gift for those

who come in the right spiritual state and wait

and watch like these women did in the

stillness of a Sabbath rest, and then the

darkness of the tomb. To those who are

properly prepared, the new life can be given,

a moment of resurrection – not just for

themselves, but for the women thus graced to

become apostles of this good news to others.

We should stress that these women were the

most unlikely witnesses.

They go from this place of spiritual encounter,

having caught the vision and trusting that it is

true. They know in their souls a new light and

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peace and hope. They recognise a continuity

with who Jesus was and how He operated,

not least this primary process of new light

coming from darkness, new life. As they go to

share this amazing revelation with others,

they find that no-one believes them, even

their friends doubt their story, because

women were not perceived as reliable

witnesses and it probably seemed absurd

anyway. Peter and the others do not believe

them. Peter goes, as we know, to have a look

for himself. He bows down but he does not

hear the voice or receive the revelation until

later. He too has been waiting and watching,

and yet when he confronts the evidence of

death and bows down in to the darkness

there is no immediate insight or confirmation

of the first apostles’ story. This is important

for us to notice, because it reminds us that

there is not some magic formula for

Christians. We prepare, we pray, we come to

face the evidence and in a while there is

revelation – that is what happened to the

women. Peter did the same thing, revelation

comes to him later. We must not think that if

we come to church God will speak to us

directly and give us an immediate answer to

send us on our way rejoicing. Each of us must

come and bow down, and wait, and watch,

and trust the Lord will give light and guidance,

and the confidence that we need. But the gift

is a mystery of the king’s pleasure – as are the

verdicts of all judgements.

This encounter provides an outline of the trial

offered to each human soul. We prepare by

following the Lenten journey. Observing the

trials of religion, politics, the crowd, the king

who calls us. This last trial shows one lifted up

– into darkness and death, Christ the Messiah,

nailed to the cross, judged guilty – by religion,

by politics, by the crowd, by people clinging to

more worldly ways of citizenship. Now, we

are on trial this day, we have seen the other

trials, we have seen this man.

Personal reflection

Spend some time by yourself thinking about your own life

and this sequence of preparation, rest and reflection,

owning our own vulnerability and limitations, humility to

bow down in worship and willingness to wait and receive

new light, new life.



The church is often the place we

come to, we bow down and we look, but even

for those who are Christians, we do not enter

in, we just bow and nod really. In our own

preparation for this ultimate trial, we must

beware false starts and short cuts. Alongside

the testing journey through religion, politics,

public opinion and safe citizenship, we should

recall what the women did so that their

waiting and watching could be blessed with

the gift of new life welling up inside them so

that it could be shared with others. First, they

took spices, that is, they prepared seriously

for coming to the place where the evidence of

the mortality of life is confronted, they

prepared carefully, seriously and thoughtfully.

They prepared to honour Jesus. Then they

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came early. This shows that it is their first

priority; they did not just fit in this visit as we

tend to do.

Next we can note their attitude. Because they

are women they are not used to having a view

or being able to speak out to others. In fact,

as women, they would be open to receiving

an interpretation from somebody else. Most

of us come to church, as do other groups, to

have our opinions confirmed. We invest in

places and practices that seem to underwrite

our need for stability and security.

But women of that time were not allowed to

have an opinion. Rather they would have

been used to being given a revelation, a way

of looking or understanding. They were not

used to being in control, of having tight

systems in which to hide and feel secure.

Thus, despite living in such a traditional and

regimented society, they would have been

the most likely people to be open to new

insights, new ways, new wisdom because

women, sadly, were not educated and thus

had to receive things in bits and pieces as they

went along.

This means that they came with an openness

that many men were protected from. We see

this in the fact that Peter’s first reaction was

not to believe. Whereas they were able to be

challenged and changed by what God gave

them, because they did not have this narrow

defensiveness.

Suddenly a gift is given, their hearts are set on

fire and they know that this is not the end,

that He has risen. The whole pattern of His life

now makes sense for their lives, for the way

God works in the world, for a hope of glory,

and forgiveness, and new life. Now there is

hope that every creature can be changed and

receive in the light which overcomes darkness

and death. But the key is something the

women tended to do too – preparation,

arranging the Sabbath, rising early, facing the

reality of death, and yet humbly bowing down

into the darkness and so receiving this new

light.

The women were used to being dependent,

receiving new words without being involved

in the rationale or planning. Although

members of the small minded groups which

populate the areas of religion and politics, and

although active members of crowds and

jeering critics of alternative kingships -

nonetheless the women who came to the

tomb had inhabited the darker places, from

which new light would be immediately and

sometimes surprisingly acknowledged and

received with grateful joy.

Our Lenten journey is a challenge to bring

something of the humble, trusting, being-

done-to spirituality of these followers of

Jesus, in relationship to the necessary and

important need to order human life through

religion, politics, crowds and citizenship. Both

elements are vital.

Our Lord Himself manifests both elements of

spiritual witness, the directing power of

leadership and the humble submissions of

sonship. In this text of the day of Resurrection

we see a rebirth of His inspiring, directing

kingship, but only through the humble,

dependent path that He had followed.

We should not be too influenced by a simple

‘gender ‘approach to this important dynamic.

There are issues of great significance in the

apostolic ministry of the women in these

texts, as well as in the reactions of Peter and

his male companions. But the outcomes differ

in terms of timing and cultural formation- and

the implications are there to challenge all of

us.

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Group discussion

The women’s words seemed to the men as “idle tales”, folly

or nonsense. The word in Greek is léros (lay-ros) and it

appears exclusively here in the Biblical text. Why would Luke

use such a distinctive word at this point?

ACTION!

1. The word “discipleship” is an easy word to use but a hard word to define!

From what you have learnt today how would you define discipleship? How

do we as a National Church, as a Diocese and as a local group of Christians

encourage this discipleship?

2. What might you as a group of local Christians do differently in light of your

discussion?


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Session 6: Christianity on Trial This week’s session is based on John 13.You need to read this passage out loud as a group at the beginning of your time together.



In this last and final week of our

Lenten journey, we observe ‘Holy Week’ – the

key movement from the apparent success of

Palm Sunday, when the crowds sing the

praises of the king riding on a donkey - to the

what appears to be the collapse and

disintegration of everything that Jesus had

proclaimed and offered. For a brief moment

the world seemed to be united in a rare

display of harmony and celebration, humanity

at its best. Then, within a few days, everything

that we might aspire to is dissolved into

bickering, betrayal, arrest, torture and death.

This is the week of Passover – recollecting the

journey of Israel from the rich but ‘pagan’

civilisation of Egypt, into a Promised Land

which had to be accessed through a

wilderness and a long tortuous journey

dealing with the minefields of religion, and of

political and popular pressures.

Passover is the script of every soap-opera,

much literature and human aspiration; the

desire deep in human heart, to shift from the

superficial delights of so called civilisation,

which is always but a mask for the reality of

darkness and death – to a promised land of

ultimate fulfilment and flourishing.

Amidst the tumultuous and decisive events of

this week, those whom Jesus has gathered as

His disciples, His particular followers and

witnesses, were given a condensed summary

of His message and His methods – in the form

of the kind of Passover activity familiar to so

many in those times. This was a small supper

– Passover, its aspiration and its action,

focused in a small place, with a small group –

a laboratory and model of the challenge and

opportunity for a humanity born with this

script in our hearts.

Passover provides the plot, the script. The

account at the Supper introduces characters

and a series of commandments. To Passover

from death to life, from this world to another

world, we have to give ourselves away. New

life is not automatic or natural as we might

see in a seed planted and dying and growing

again. New life is a gift we have to choose to

receive and the key scene to illustrate this

process is acted out at this last supper.

Passover happens in little groups doing

ordinary things like gathering around a table

and having a meal. And in our text from this

chapter of St John, Jesus shows us how this

choice can be shared.

Group discussion

Imagine you are meeting to celebrate Passover in

the Jerusalem of Jesus’ day. What are you looking

forward to and why? What are your concerns and

why? Is this similar to or different from your

expectations and concerns about celebrating

Easter or Christmas in contemporary culture?

31



We need to recognise that Jesus

has two ways of teaching. One of them is by

invitation. He tells stories and parables and it

is up to us to reflect, place ourselves in the

story, and to grow in our understanding. We

all think about the parables differently, and as

we think different thoughts, imagine different

things, we grow ourselves by pursuing this

invitation to reflect, engage and develop new

insights.

However, Jesus also has another style of

teaching, which is not by invitation, rather it

operates through instruction - He just tells us.

An example would be the Sermon on the

Mount, where we are told that not just

murder is a sin, so is anger. There is no

messing, this is an instruction. That is more of

a challenge to the self because with invitation

we grow the self as it suits ourselves.

In our text, in this account of the last supper,

instruction is given and enacted. In this key

scene at the end of His ministry Jesus

summarises His whole message to human

kind with three instructions. They are given to

His disciples as a framework for the essence

of our witness to the king and His kingdom. As

we consider these three commands, our

Christian discipleship is on trial.

The first instruction comes from the accounts

of this Last Supper in the other Gospels. It is

summarised by St Paul in the tenth chapter of

his first letter to the Corinthians. Jesus says do

this share this bread and wine. This scene is

enacted as a model of how our broken,

incomplete lives need to be gathered

together in the grace of the kingdom, to

create a Body in which each can live and

flourish. We are instructed to come to share

bread and wine, an offering of ourselves as

Jesus offered Himself on the cross to the

Father, to be joined up into the glory of the

Promised Land. We are called to give

ourselves away and to sacrifice ourselves so

as to be made into one, the body of Christ, His

church, His glory.

Thus worship is the first instruction - “do this,

take bread and wine, remember me giving

myself to the Father, you do the same, give

yourself away, be taken, blessed, broken in

your selfishness and distributed like the bread

and the wine to those who need God’s life

given to them too. Do this, take this bread

and wine, be joined in Jesus, be joined in each

other, do this, this is an instruction.”

The Church reminds us on Maundy Thursday

that if we are going to make the right choice

about receiving the resurrection it has to be

through the discipline of “doing this”. When

we give ourselves into the fellowship of those

sharing the bread and wine, we are drawn out

of ourselves, joined to others by the miracle

of grace and made one in the body of Christ.

This is the means by which we receive new

life and eternity. But it is not quite as simple

as that first instruction might imply.

There is a second instruction that comes in

our text for this week: “do this and wash one

another’s feet,” Jesus says that as He has

performed this act, so we should similarly

serve one another. We should recall that

washing feet in that context was a very

practical, useful, effective act. There were no

made up roads, it was dusty and everybody

wore sandals. Feet soon got dirty. In such a

context it would have been enormously

refreshing for somebody else to wash your

feet to cool them and to cleanse them. That

kind of service is practical, useful, it makes a

difference and makes people feel better.

In some churches on Maundy Thursday there

is a foot washing ceremony and what that

signifies is that everybody should participate

in the foot washing, whether it is the Pope or

the humblest server – whoever it is –

everybody with all our different roles and

functions. In the church and in society

everybody is called to be a washer of feet,

and to have our feet washed too. “Do this as I

have done for you.” Think of the Apostles that

night. What a mixed group. There were the

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top three, Peter, James and John who were

present at all the major moments. I wonder

what the others felt about that fact and their

own exclusion. There were all other kinds of

disciples too I expect. People lived in very

public contexts. As a sign to all of them, our

Lord instructed, “Do this”: a model of how His

followers need to behave: distinctive: simple:

effective.

To recap: two instructions so far – worship,

share bread and wine and get drawn into

giving yourself, be made the body of Christ,

bearers of God’s will in the world. ‘Then do

this’ – wash peoples feet, do something

simple, practical, that makes a difference to

enable other people to feel better and live a

richer life.

However there is a third instruction in our

text. The third instruction comes at the end of

the gospel when Jesus says – “do this – love

one another- that is a new commandment.”

It is very easy for us Christians to miss the

commandment to love one another, because

being Christian is about love. What is new we

might think? Yet Jesus insists that this is a new

commandment, Let us think carefully. Human

society and how we relate to each other has

always been built on things such as honour or

status or power or wealth, and that is still the

basic framework within which we relate. If we

lack those things we are judged to be poor

and not making the best of ourselves. Human

society has always worked in this way –

through systems of survival formed out of

competitive selfishness. We grow up desiring

to be top of the tree, just as James and John

wanted to be placed on the right and left of

Jesus. Power, status, wealth, property, these

are the kinds of things that make us feel

fulfilled, and they are often expressions of a

selfish instinct which feels secure only if

others seem to be below us in the pecking

order. By contrast Jesus kneels and makes

Himself lower than those He seeks to serve.

The Ten Commandments give guidance about

how we should deal with honour and shame

and ownership. Then Jesus arrives and says

that while the agenda will continue in terms

of enduring concern with power, wealth and

status, nonetheless, the revolution that is His

gospel is focused in a command that is

devastatingly simple: love one another. Every

relationship should start and finish in love.

Group discussion

Explore the statement that Jesus teaches in two ways;

invitation and instruction. Can love be commanded?



Many wedding couples choose

that famous passage from 1 Corinthians

chapter 13, about love, even those who are

not practicing Christians. They recognise the

importance of love as something that hears all

things, believes all things, hopes all things,

and endures all things. It is patient, kind,

endures all things, not jealous. ‘We’ know

that is how we are made to be. Giving

yourself to others is what love involves: it

touches the heart and when people come to

those moments of love in a wedding service,

that is what they want said, what they want

33

to hear, that is what they know they are made

for – and Jesus says that this is a new

commandment.

The danger is that we use the word love in

such a loose way. We think we know about it,

we think as Christians we are bearers of the

love of God. But we need to be honest about

that little flicker of envy when we open the

paper and see that someone has won the

lottery! There is something in us that desires

that kind of honour and status and wealth and

property, that makes us believe we can be

self-sufficient and in control of our lives. The

other side of this coin is the fact that as a

result of our search for these things, others

will be denied, to enable us to know we have

risen above them, into this very familiar and

sadly enticing way of being human, Jesus

introduces a new commandment – love one

another.

How would the world be transformed, how

would the relationships in our parishes be

transformed if people loved one another? If

we were patient, kind, forgiving, gracious,

gentle – all those qualities that Paul lists in 1

Corinthians 13.

In this Holy Week we have the definitive

moment enacted in that supper room. Our

Lord summarises His message and His

methods. He models the kind of citizenship

that His kingship requires – the kind of

citizenship of loving service that will

transform our approach to religion, politics,

human relationships beyond our core groups

(the crowd factor), our understanding of

ourselves and of our Christian discipleship.

Let us pay especial attention this week to the

Passover Script, and the challenge to give

ourselves to God and to others in love, so that

we can be caught up in the grace and new life

of the kingdom of Heaven – made manifest

amongst us here on earth.

To be human is to be able to choose. To

exercise what the theologians have called our

free will. To choose involves making a

judgement. We need to consider the evidence

of our experience, our established practices,

and the traditional, accumulated wisdom

amongst human kind. Alongside this

‘evidence’, we need to listen to the murmur

of our hearts, that deeper register of hope for

a greater horizon, a richer fulfilment, an

eternal home.

In this Holy week we are on trial in our

attempt to make this choice. Our Lord

provides three instructions to shape and

direct our path as our journey approaches the

summit of Golgotha and the Empty Tomb on

Easter Morning.

We are challenged to choose three simple,

basic activities, each expressed through small

gathered groupings enacting our desire for

Passover from the present times to the

Promised Land:

- To worship, focussed on the sharing of bread

and wine in remembrance of our Lord’s life,

death and resurrection. This is a moment for

forgiveness, fellowship and the birth of new

life in us and among us. A sacrament or sign

to the rest of God’s children.

- To give ordinary, everyday service and care

that will make a real difference in somebody

else’s life, like washing tired feet in a hot,

dusty climate.

- To love others without limit: to love in

generosity and self-sacrifice, resisting

temptation to seek self-security in wealth,

power and status.

Three commands - devastating in their

simplicity, terrifying in the challenge to take

them seriously and give them priority.

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Personal reflection

Take some time to reflect quietly on this challenge for

yourself. Do you have some choices to make? How are

you going to go about it?

ACTION!

1. Christianity is defined here as small gathered groups

worshipping, doing acts of service and loving others without

limits. Is this what you see of the church nationally, as a

Diocese and at local level?

2. What might you as a group of local Christians do differently in

light of your discussion?

3. What might you as an individual do differently in light of this group discussion and your

personal reflections?

4. What reflections might you offer to Bishop Alastair about the life of the Diocese?

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