Reflection on the Text
The characters in Luke’s passion are flesh and blood decision-makers. They are agents in condemning Jesus, not characters in a previously written script. Jesus is also an agent: at every step of the way, he is making decisions, feeling the pain of abandonment, and experiencing the emotional, spiritual, and physical agony of torture.
To make sense to twenty-first century people, this text must be seen as a contemporary event. The hymn, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” refers to our current situation. We are both faithful and fickle. We are committed, yet turn our back on our ideals and God’s dream for humankind. We feel courage, yet are overcome by fear. Still, there is hope in our ambivalence and weakness; God does not abandon us even when we abandon God. God persistently and providentially provides pathways toward wholeness, and like a physician uses every means to bring us to wholeness, regardless of our past. We were there at the Cross and we are here on Easter, living the resurrection and transformation God envisions for us. Through it all, we can proclaim with Psalm 118, “this is the day that God has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it.”