IN THE LINE OF DUTY
Matthew 27: 1-2, 11-14, 24-31, 50-54
Murray St. Baptist Church
November 8, 2009
One of the most ancient creeds of the Church, the Apostles' Creed, affirms belief in Jesus Christ who "suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified and buried…" Although it could be argued that Jesus' crucifixion was a conspiracy between the religious leaders of Jerusalem and the political power of Rome, nonetheless it was the imperial power of Rome that permitted, ordered, and carried out the execution of Jesus on the Cross, the Roman form of capital punishment of the time. Pilate, despite his attempt to wash his hands of the whole thing, was the Roman-appointed governor who ultimately gave his blessing to the supreme penalty being carried out.
Although the Gospels try to paint Pilate as somewhat sympathetic to Jesus, it was more likely that the whole thing was a huge inconvenience and nuisance to Pilate. Historians tell us that Pilate hated his posting in Judah, feeling it was beneath him to be stationed in this godforsaken, meaningless outback of the Roman Empire. It was for him like being in exile, like his career was over and done with. Now he had already offended the local population when he violently squashed a protest with his soldiers (Luke 13:1) and several Galileans were killed. So now, having to deal with Jesus, he was forced into a corner, not wanting more trouble with the local Jewish leaders who were saying to him that Jesus was an enemy of the state: "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be king opposes Caesar!" (John 19:12). And if Pilate understood anything it was that his career depended upon his loyalty to Caesar and Caesar alone. It was his duty to keep the peace, to spread the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, and to do his duty to Caesar, whatever it took. So, yes, in the line of duty, "Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be executed" (John 19:16).
The Roman involvement, of course, did not end there. Jesus was handed over to the Roman military for his punishment and execution. Now these soldiers could be tough, uncompromising, cruel and nasty, and they were to be feared. A Roman soldier had one master and one master only - and that was again Caesar, to whom he had sworn an oath of complete and unwavering allegiance. A Roman soldier was not even allowed to marry while he was in service and most enlistments lasted for around 25 years. They were trained to be highly disciplined, hardcore, fierce, tireless, fighting machines. I read, in fact, that each soldier was trained to swim a river with their armour still on so that they could continue the fight on the other side of the river. And yet in Timothy 2:3, the writer uses the Roman soldier as an analogy for Christian service: "No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please the commanding officer."
Now at this time, Jesus' time, there may have been about 3000 Roman troops in Judah and surrounding areas, mostly auxiliary soldiers, meaning that they were mercenaries and conscripted men. Only the top soldiers, the centurians, were likely true Roman citizens here. And they had been assigned, believe it or not, to keep the peace, although that sometimes meant using their brute power and force to do so, but they also were there to assist in construction of roads, water reservoirs, and government buildings. They would oversee the collection of Roman taxes - remember Jesus saying, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God what is God's" (Mark 12:17). These soldiers policed the commercial trade routes. Roman soldiers, for the most part, were clever, brave, extremely good fighters, obeyed their orders completely, and became eventually, if they were good enough, good Roman citizens. The military was often the pathway to political careers, doorways to the affluent and influential Roman senate. But nevertheless, because Rome was the true political ruler over the Jewish people, many of the local people hated the presence of the Roman soldiers. They were a symbolic reminder of their own lack of political independence and national freedom. One hope that was attached to the coming of the Messiah was that he would lead an army strong enough to expel the Roman power from their land and re-establish the Davidic line of kings.
And it was to Roman soldiers that Jesus was handed over. And we know the rest of the story - the brutal display of the violation of his human rights at their hands, the scourging, the mocking, the spitting, the thrusting of a crown of thorns painfully upon his head. And although we are outraged, it was probably not all that unusual in those times to treat a convicted criminal who was going to be executed anyway in such a way. The human creature is ingenious in their ways to torture and kill. In fact modern times are no different - as we know the indignities and cruel treatment for POWs during two world wars and cruelties which unfortunately and shamefully continue today through water boarding and electrical shock and isolation to name but a few. And indeed it is too bad when a few soldiers give the whole military the reputation for unbridled cruelty. I think most soldiers care deeply about the integrity of their duty and care for the people and the land in which they are stationed. We know for instance of one centurion whom Jesus met that had a wonderful reputation and was much appreciated by the local people. The local Jewish leaders, in fact, encouraged Jesus to heal the man's servant, because he had helped them build a synagogue, probably using soldiers as the workers. And yet nevertheless, supposedly in the line of duty, doing their duty, the particular soldiers who guarded Jesus carried out their orders of the state; led him to his cross; hammered the nails; thrust the spear in his side; and watched him die with two other criminals while they gambled for Jesus' robe. All in a day's work. All in the line of duty.
And Rome was always the bane of Christianity after that. Rome came to represent to Christians what Egypt and Babylonia did to the Jewish people - that awesome, perfect symbol or metaphor for the oppressing power of evil and death. Roman emperors and Caesars soon outlawed this new sect, seeing it not as a religious group but as a political group, as troublemakers, as outsiders and bad citizens. Christian scorned Roman traditions and protocols; they refused military service; they were mostly slaves and servants and they refused to worship Caesar as a god. Christianity was banned and Christians were persecuted, arrested and executed. And the enmity between Rome, the almighty power of the strongest empire in the world, and Christianity was entrenched. What on earth had Pontius Pilate started?
In the midst of this show of power, we almost forget the one who is hanging there on the Roman Cross - Jesus. And why should we pay attention? The powers of the world have won the day, haven't they - Jesus is dying and will die. How ironic that a few days before this he was parading into the streets riding on a donkey, even while on the other side of the city, as always happened on Passover, the Roman army was also marching into the city with all their pomp and power preparing to pounce on the first sign of trouble during the Passover. As usually happens, the politically and militarily powerful ones are the ones who end up with the hammers and nails. Eugene Peterson writes, "It always appears that history is dominated by powerful forces that totally overshadow people of faith in God: powerful politicians, powerful armies, powerful financiers, powerful institutions. And what good are prayer and worship compared to these 'principalities and powers'? The temptation, then, is to live small, settle for domestic coziness, retreat to the sidelines, create a ghetto in which we can carry out our life of faith in God with as little interference as possible from the 'world" (Christ Plays in a Thousand Ways, p. 141). Jesus hanging on that Cross seems to symbolize that the powerful and the mighty are always going to get their way, that justice will be denied, that the spoils go to the strong and the mighty, that cruelty wins, that power wins, that death wins.
Except Rome cracks. For a moment in the darkness, Rome blinks. For one moment in the midst of this madness, Rome's knees buckled: "When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw... all that happened they were terrified and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the son of God'" (Matt. 27: 54). For one moment here Rome, the metaphor for all that is not of God's Kingdom of love and grace, compassion and mercy, a society that does not regard God with reverence and obedience, stops dead in its tracks and confesses that their way is nothing compared to the power of God. For one moment Rome has to capitulate to the power of God that hangs from that Cross. Rome surrenders to the love of God and worships what it sees there before them.
It is not the sword that wins but the cross; not military power that conquers but the love of God; not Caesar but the Son of God. You could hammer a thousand nails and thrust a thousand spears into what God is doing through this Crucified One but nothing is going to vanquish the love of God that in the line of duty is giving up his life even for men like the centurion and the soldiers. His death makes a mockery out of the power they thought they had and puts it back where it belongs - in the hands and love of God. Their power cannot then and cannot now nor will it ever destroy the love of God in Jesus Christ. Here is the one they mocked and scourged and yet in the very act of his dying proves to be their superior. Here at the foot of the cross Rome, the symbol of all that controls life and death, stumbles in the presence of Jesus Christ. "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15).
It is a strange power that is given us through the Cross. Jesus rejected the image of a military-like Messiah but took on the power of love and servanthood, of sacrifice. This was his line of duty as he saw it and lived it. It is a new kind of power through which he brings us peace, not conflict; a shalom, a blessing and wellbeing that passes all understanding. It is a peace that unites us rather than divides us. It is a peace that fights for love, justice, harmony, healing, hope, joy and most of all of all love. It gives us a peace with God. "For he himself is our peace…" (Ephesians 2:14). This is a peace that unnerves powers and principalities, that unsettles tyrants and demagogues, that tugs on Caesar's cape, a peace that makes wars to cease and beats spears into ploughshares; a peace that calls us to be a people of peace, to be peacemakers; to turn other cheeks; to forgive instead of fight; to help instead of hinder; to give instead of take; a peace that comforts instead controls; a peace that restores and reconciles instead of condemns and punish. The Cross is a strange, contradictory symbol for peace, but it is the instrument of God's peace, because it cannot control Jesus or defeat God's Son, or stop God from doing what he intends to do in sending out his message of love and free any who are under the oppression of sin and evil. If God can save Jesus from the all-powerful Roman might, imagine what God will do for you! Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the line of duty Jesus has sacrificed his life so that we may have God's peace.
"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd the Sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Hebrews 13:20-21).