This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Matthew 26:14 right up to 27:66. This may be the longest Gospel reading in the lectionary.
The English Standard Version supplies eighteen headings. In summary, this is what the reading tells us: Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples, instituted The Lord’s Supper, and predicted that he would be betrayed and denied. He prayed in Gethsemane, was betrayed by Judas. Was arrested, and tried before the Jewish council, while Peter denied him. Jesus was handed over to Pilate. Judas killed himself. Pilate used a crowd to absolve himself of his decision to kill Jesus. Jesus was mocked, condemned, crucified. He died. He was buried in a guarded tomb.
For Christians, the centre of the story of Jesus is his death by crucifixion, followed by his resurrection.
Jews accept that Jesus was crucified, but they don’t regard his crucifixion as the key to understanding him.
Muslims deny that Jesus was crucified.[1]
Those differences are the reason Easter – which is next Sunday – is the most divisive Holy Day in the Christian calendar.
The four Gospels[2] are extended explanations of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. They describe how cowardly, how chicken-like, the twelve apostles were in the days before the state crucified Jesus, and how bold and tiger-like they were after God raised Jesus up from the dead.
Two weeks ago, while meditating on the crucifixion of Jesus, it struck me that Osama bin Laden, the now-dead leader of al Qaeda, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the also-dead leader of ISIS[3] are two of the most embarrassing figures for those who say Islam is a religion of peace.
So, I asked myself, “for Christians, who are the most embarrassing figures?”
The answer came quickly: Donald Trump, President of the USA, and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Secretary of War.
Trump, who spoke of bombing Iran’s Kharg island “a few more times just for fun,”[4] claims to be a Christian and is supported by leaders and members of many churches.
Hegseth has spoken of America’s warring as hastening Armageddon, the biblical last battle between good and evil; he has shown his chest with a tattoo of a cross shaped like the one used by some crusaders.
Our reading for today includes Jesus instituting The Lord’s Supper, which my congregation enacts once a month.
A few days ago, I had a dream. Trump, with many journalists, came to a service of The Lord’s Supper in my church. After the “priest” consecrated the bread and wine, he issued the usual invitation. Trump stood up to go to the front to receive the body and blood of Jesus, broken for the world.
Startled, I woke up. So, I don’t know how I or anyone else responded.
Suddenly, I remembered two events from church history.
First, I remembered “the unanimous election,” on September 23, 1933, of Ludwig Muller, Hitler’s candidate, as bishop in Wittenberg, Germany. Muller’s supporters are known to history as “German Christians.” Their goal was to delete the Jewish ancestry of Jesus, and to make him into an Aryan fighter. Historian Victoria Barnett tells us this about the election:
“The national synod meeting to confirm Ludwig Müller as Reich bishop … became known as the “brown synod,” since so many delegates appeared in brown SA [stormtrooper] uniforms. Of the 229 delegates, only 75 were from the Young Reformation Movement. Throughout the meeting, they protested the decisions being made and were shouted down. When the synod passed the “Aryan paragraph,” which required that pastors and their wives be free of “Jewish blood,” the 75 walked out. Müller was elected Reich bishop.”
Second, I remembered the brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s Catholic credentials. Just like Trump claims God saved him from an assassin’s bullet,[5] Pinochet claimed, “Our Lady of Mount Carmel saved him from a murder attempt in 1986.” Pinochet attended Mass (the Lord’s Supper) every Sunday.[6]
It struck me that Jesus included Judas, the one whom he knew would betray him, as a participant in the Lord’s Supper. Does this mean anyone is welcome at the Lord’s table? What then are we to make of the church’s historical denial of the sacraments to various people, even kings? Famously, in 1077, Pope Gregory VII made Emperor Henry IV kneel in the snow for three days before re-admitting him into the church.
Less famously, Pastor Paul Schneider was martyred in Buchenwald because he, with the agreement of the lay leaders of his church, “fenced off” the communion table. The church refused the body and the blood of Jesus to members of the Nazi party.
The account of the betrayal of Jesus, his acceptance of the cross, his mock trials, and his crucifixion, scream at us about the power of sin, the contagion of evil, and God’s plan to overcome it. It also tells us many of us are on the wrong side. Who’s acting like cowardly chickens? Why?
Peace be with you.
[1] Quran 4 (An-Nisa):157, in a popular translation, reads “[the Jews were condemned] for boasting, “We https://quran.com/4killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” But they neither killed nor crucified him—it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this ˹crucifixion˺ are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever—only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him.”
This is why Easter is the most divisive Holy Day in the Christian calendar.
[2] The Gospel of Luke is in two parts – the book of Acts is part 2. We must also remember that there was a visible church of people dangerously worshipping Jesus who state leaders and religious leaders had declared to be public enemy number one.
[3] The 2014 Caliphate known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and also as Daesh.
[4] I could cite many more instances of Trump’s light talk about inflicting devastation. And his celebration of the deaths of those he considered his enemies, e.g. Rob Reiner – who was murdered by his own son, and Robert Mueller who, as a public official, investigated allegations against Trump. (The US Senate approved Mueller’s extension as FBI director by 100 votes for and zero against.)
[5] On July 13, 2024.
[6] Source: https://apnews.com/article/chile-catholic-vicariate-pinochet-coup-victims-b56afc21d9cac5633dbb20466a57c47e
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