This week, the blog is from Matthew 27:11-26. This blog differs considerably from the sermon containing much information that it was not possible to include in a sermon. It is a bit headier than normal, but it deals with what I believe to be a critical problem in our society–the loss of faith in justice. I have tried to keep the most abstract portions of the argument to footnotes.

Years ago, I represented a company in connection with the sale of some assets. The transaction was not a success. Eventually, there was a lawsuit. My deposition was taken, a large number of documents were produced, and eventually I was called to testify. While I was on the witness stand, I was shown a piece of paper. It was in my handwriting and it contained a series of calculations showing that we owed the plaintiffs a substantial amount of money. I had no memory of this document, but it was in my handwriting. I’m afraid I looked like a fool on the witness stand.

During lunch break, while the lawyers prepared for the afternoon, I wandered around the conference room looking at boxes and boxes of legal documents. I saw one file in which there was a document that was not in order. I reached down to straighten the file, picked up the document, and to my surprise it was the very document I had been questioned about that morning. There was, however, a slight difference. The document I’d been shown had one column showing what we owed the plaintiffs. The actual document had two columns reflecting the fact that they owed us substantially more money than we owed them. I don’t know when I have ever been more furious. The simple fact is that the lawyers that copied, cut, and pasted the original document into a new form treated me unjustly.

There are all kinds of injustices in life. Older siblings are blamed for younger siblings misdeeds. Younger siblings mistreated by elder brothers and sisters. Parents sometimes misjudge the actions of a child and punish them unjustly. Children have false memories and misjudge the actions of their parents. Men can be unjust to women, and women to men. The rich can take advantage of the poo, and the poor can take advantage of the rich. The powerful can take advantage of the weak. The world is filled with injustice of many kinds.

Jesus in the Dock.

Jesus was no stranger to injustice. During the last day of his life, Jesus was treated unjustly. When arrested, Jesus was first brought before a former High Priest, Annas (John 18:12-13). Then, he was taken to the house of Caiaphas, the current High Priest, who together with at least a part of the Sanhedrin tried him in the middle of the night (Matthew 26:57). This was contrary to Jewish practice. [1]

It is evident from Matthew that Caiaphas had no real interest in understanding Jesus or his mission. His interrogation was focused  on finding a way to have Jesus killed. Because the Jews could not execute Jesus without the approval of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, early in the morning the Sanhedrin met again to formally vote and transfer Jesus to Pilate (Matthew 27:1). It was at this point the Judas realized what he had done, attempted to give back the blood money, and committed suicide (27:2-10).

Our text for this blog picks up at Matthew 27:11:

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”  For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified (Matthew 27: 11-26).

Justice and Injustice.

The first thing I would like to do is clarify the idea of justice. Justice, in its simplest form, involves treating people fairly. Justice is getting what you deserve. On a deeper level, however, justice has two aspects:

1. First, there is what we might call procedural justice. The notion of procedural justice is that people are all treated the same and in a fair manner when they are being tried for some offense. Our court system was designed to provide procedures that ensure that those who are subject to trial get a fair one.
2. There is a second implication of justice, which is that people actually receive what they deserve. This notion of justice is sometimes called “equity” or substantive justice. The notion is that there is more to justice than fair procedure. People need to receive the punishment or absence of punishment to which they are entitled.

I’m afraid that the notion of justice is in deep trouble in our society. Many years ago, Justice Holmes wrote, “The first requirement of a sound body of law is, that it should correspond with the actual feelings and demands of the community, whether right or wrong.”  [2] Since his day, our law has become increasingly a war for majority control based upon the assumption that whatever the majority wants defines justice for the moment. Justice has become whatever the Congress passes, the President approves, and a majority of the Supreme Court upholds. Nothing could be more wrongheaded. This notion of justice, useful as it may seem, can too easily become manipulation by elites or mob rule. In our time, this has produced a legal system in which justice is defined as whoever wins a legal dispute or policy debate, however they win.

In a democracy, this idea of justice leads to the of manipulation of public opinion to find support for polices elites and others desire to enact. We see this from both sides of the political spectrum, from legislators and judges of conservative and liberal leanings. There is little concern to find a just and fair resolution of public debates. The emphasis is on finding the support to win. This leads, and has led, to the kind of negative, attack politics that characterizes the current election. This inevitably leads to an unjust society.

Jesus and Injustice.

During the last day of his life, Jesus was faced with people who believed that justice was whatever was in their best interests at the moment. Both the High Priests and Pontius Pilate were driven by expediency. By the time Jesus was arrested, his preaching, teaching, miracles, and mighty deeds had caused many people to believe that he might be the Messiah. This was dangerous as far as many important people were concerned. In particular, the Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, teachers of the law, and elders of the people, those in power, were threatened by his teaching. They didn’t understand what Jesus was about, but they feared him and what he might mean for them.

The Jewish leaders were particularly concerned that, if Jesus were to lead an uprising, the Romans would send in an army and destroy their lives and their positions of influence. In John, Caiaphas, the high priest, says “…it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:57). By this, Caiaphas meant that, if Jesus were to lead an uprising, successful or not, it would mean the end of the way of life to which they were all accustomed. It would be the end of their power and affluence. It was better for Jesus to die.

When Jesus was arrested, he was eventually brought before Caiaphas. Initially, Caiaphas tried to find witnesses who would testify to some misdeed that would justify putting him to death (Matt. 26:57-63). They brought a false and ridiculous charge based upon Jesus’ prophecy that, if he were killed, he would rebuild the temple of his own body in three days (John 2:29). When this failed, Caiaphas took another tact. He asked Jesus under oath if he was the Messiah, the Son of God (Matt. 26:63). Jesus answered in the affirmative, but also in such a way as to indicate that his kingdom was a heavenly kingdom from which he would come in the future (v. 64). [3] This claim contained nothing that would cause Jesus to be put to death.

Jesus, on the face of it, does not threaten a rebellion. He describes a Messiah and a Kingdom of God much different than Jewish expectations. As I was reading this week, I noticed that Caiaphas did not even try to find out what Jesus meant. Instead, Caiaphas immediately said there was no need for any other witnesses. He simply concludes that Jesus is worthy of death (v. 65-66). In this trial, there was not even an attempt at justice.

Early in the morning, the Sanhedrin met again and confirmed that Jesus must die, sending him to Pilate for his verdict (Matt. 27:1). [4] Jesus was then brought before Pilate (v. 11). Pilate, as a Roman governor, had no interest in Jewish religious disputes, such as who was or was not the Messiah of Israel or what it meant to be the Messiah. The question for Pilate was whether or not Jesus believed that he was a king who would lead an uprising against Rome and establish his own kingdom (v. 11). Pilate almost immediately realized that Jesus is innocent of any crime deserving death. In a private audience Jesus revealed that his kingdom is not of this world; it is a kingdom of truth (John 18:30). Once again, having an otherworldly kingdom of truth was not a crime under Roman law.

At this point, Pilate knew Jesus was an innocent man. He wanted to release him. Nevertheless, after a brief interlude where Jesus was sent to King Herod for questioning (Luke 24:6), Herod found himself backed into a corner. He attempted to release Jesus by giving the Jews a choice between the release of Jesus and the release of a notorious criminal called Barabbas (Matt. 27:16-17). The crowd, being incited by the leaders of the people, repeatedly choose Barabbas. Pilate, warned by his wife to have nothing to do with this innocent man, desperately looked for a way out of the situation (vv. 15-19). Nevertheless, the crowd continueed to ask for Barabbas.

In the end, Pilate delivered Jesus over to be crucified, washing his hands of the entire situation (vv. 20-26). Pilate at least tried to give Jesus justice, but he did not have the moral fiber to deliver him from his accusers.  His interest in justice collapsed in the face of injustice.

So there you have it: the Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, teachers of the law, and other leaders of the people condemned Jesus out of fear, envy and a desire for their own advantage. Pilate condemned him for personal advantage. Both knew they had condemned an innocent man.

A Christian Response to Injustice.

The story of Jesus’ unjust trial has been played out many times in history. In the last century, various regimes have conducted so-called “Show Trials” to convict innocent people they felt were dangers to the ruling elites. Hitler did it. Mussolini did it. Stalin did it. Mao Tse Tung did it.  All the evil dictators of history have done it. In Nazi Germany, Martin Neimoller, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and others were persecuted by the Nazi regime for their Christian faith and opposition to Nazi policies. One of my favorite Bonhoeffer quotes is, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.” [5] Martin Neimoller, a German pastor, put it this way:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me. [6]

I am afraid that the kind of injustice that has occurred elsewhere can occur here in our land. Many people have noted that Germany was the most advanced nation in Europe when it fell victim to Hitler. In our own time, certain aspects of a nihilistic postmodernism and an excessive pragmatism have left many people without any faith in the existence of justice. Commentators have noted that the press, the media, and the politicians of our nation seem to have learned more from Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda machine than from Jesus. Increasingly, the media, Congress, the Courts and other institutions of society are used manipulatively to gain and maintain power. [7]

The great philosopher of science and defender of freedom, Michael Polanyi, says this about our society:

“A new destructive skepticism is linked here to a new passionate social conscience; and utter disbelief in the spirit of man is coupled with extravagant moral demands. We see at work here the form of action which is already dealt so many shattering blows to the modern world: the chisel of skepticism driven by the hammer of social passion. [8]

Polanyi goes on to say, “Savagery is always there lurking among us, but it can break loose on a grand scale only when rebellious moral passions first break up the controls of civilization.” [9]

The greatest threat to our society, and to the freedom we enjoy, including religious freedom, is the way in which our culture disbelieves in the reality of justice and truth. Paradoxically, the human soul cannot live without a desire for justice and truth. Cut off from faith in the reality of truth and justice, human beings become vulnerable to a demonic desire for justice that destroys justice in the search for a perfect society. In Soviet Russia and Communist China, the world saw the brutality that is possible when people seek a moral ideal without the constraints of the deep and abiding morality and faith. It is only when the life of every individual is as valuable as my notion of the perfect society that freedom and respect for people can flourish in the midst of the search for a better world.

A Ministry of Love and Forgiveness.

There is nothing more needed in our culture than for Christians to embrace the need for truth and justice, and our belief in its reality. [10] We need to believe we are called to seek justice, wherever that search leads us. In the Old Testament, lone of the great complaints of the prophets was against the injustice of Jewish society before the Babylonian captivity. The prophet Isaiah put it this way:

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you,  so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.  No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;   they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall,  feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;  among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none;   for deliverance, but it is far away (Isaiah 59:1-11).

The society Isaiah pictures is frighteningly like our society. Having lost our commitment to the reality of justice and truth and to the transcendent moral and ethical principles upon which our nation is based, we have lost the capacity to seek justice in any but a formal way. More than that, we have become subject to view our own prejudices and desires as a substitute for the search for justice for all.

Our deliverance will not come unless we recommit ourselves to the principles and moral commitments that allowed us to become free in the first place. As the embodiment of truth, as the one who came to establish a kingdom of truth, Jesus is for Christians the best way to explore the way to that truth and justice we believe to be written into the very fabric of the universe God created. As the wisdom of God incarnate, the very Word of God, he is able to deliver us from our addiction to power and our fears of what we might give up were justice to come among us.

Of course all deliverance requires a deliverer, one who can deliver us from our self-seeking and propensity for injustice. We need a savior, a deliverer. What happened to Jesus was not fair, not just, not equitable, not deserved. Jesus had the power of God and might have lashed out against those who unfairly judged him. Instead, he said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He showed loving forgiveness, even in the face of injustice. He did not destroy injustice by an act of violence; he overcame it by Truth showing its reality in Divine Love.

We are called to show this same love in our own culture as we seek to heal its deep spiritual and moral wounds—and there is no wound deeper than the loss of faith in the reality of justice as something outside of our own desires or ideologies.

It is true, as Bonhoeffer noted, that those who act unjustly need to be exposed and called to account. It is also true that there has to be an end to the anger injustice creates. If we cannot release our anger in the service of truth and love, we are doomed to live in a state of brokenness ourselves—a brokenness from which Christ died on a cross to deliver us. Amen.

Copyright 2016, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] This is one of those times where it is impossible to give credit to every source. I have looked at several books, including: James Stalker, The Trial and Death of Jesus (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1983) and Dale Foreman, Crucify Him: A Lawyer Looks at the Trial of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), among other works and commentaries.

[2] This is a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes in his book, The Common Law. Unfortunately, I could not find another equally troubling quote defining justice is whatever the majority wants bad enough to force its will on society. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/jurisprudence (downloaded March 3, 2016). Holmes was a proponent of what is sometimes called “Legal Realism” and “Legal Positivism.” These scholars and judges were and are entranced with the idea that, in a free society, justice is defined as the majority of those in power define it. There is good in legal realism and positivism. However, in its simplistic form it can mean the end of justice, as it becomes simply a word we apply to the winner in a legal contest.

[3] There is no reason to believe that claiming to be the Messiah was of itself grounds for anyone to fear Jesus or have him put to death. Caiaphas’ questions disclose that he was subject to the common belief that the messiah would be a military leader who would lead an uprising. Claiming to be a Son of God would lead a Roman governor to put a claimant to death. Trying to lead a rebellion would. This is was what Caiaphas was after. Caiaphas never asks what kind of Messiah Jesus claims to be. He assumes he knows. See footnote 1 above for the sources of my study for this part of the blog.

[4] Scholars do not agree as to how to construe the trial. It seems possible that earlier, only a small number of the Sanhedrin had met; now the entire Sanhedrin was meeting to condemn Jesus. Of course, it is possible that they did not want to be accused by Pilate of holding an illegal night trial so they met again to pass final sentence on Jesus.

[5]www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-silence-in-the-face-of-evil-is-evil-itself-dietrich-bonhoeffer-87-28-79.jpg (Downloaded March 3, 2016).

[6] The quotation stems from Niemöller’s lectures during the early postwar period. See, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392 (downloaded March 3, 2016).

[7] This week, I received a frightening and intriguing article about a study done concerning the way search engines can be and are used in our society to manipulate public opinion, particularly during election years. One party will be characterized as “concerned” while another will be characterized as “angry.” On a number of levels, this kind of manipulation occurs because people have ceased to believe in truth. They believe only in power. In the past, a candidate who was a great natural athlete was characterized as clumsy. In another race a candidate with an MBA from Harvard was characterized as intellectually weak, while a candidate who left school was characterized as intellectually gifted. The cases of media manipulation are so large that no article could possibly contain them all.

[8] Michael Polanyi, Logic of Liberty (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1951), 5.

[9] Id, at 5.

[10] One helpful insight of modern quantum physics is that there are many different levels and kinds of reality. At the deepest quantum level the universe seems to dissolve into an immaterial potentiality that we can examine, and the character of our examination influences the reality we observe.  In my view, justice is “real,” and the search for justice proves its reality as justice continues to reveal itself as we seek the transcendent ideal of justice in our lives and politics. The reality of a thing is not a quality of materiality or its ability to be perceived by a detached observer, but of its potential power to act upon us for good or for evil. In the case of justice, the search for justice disciplines our human prejudices as we seek a transcendent good which reveals itself to us as we submit to its reality in the search for it. (This note is a refection based upon Michael Polanyi, Science, Faith and Society (Chicago,IL: University of Chicago Press, 1964), wherein Polanyi constructs a realistic defense of the search for truth and universal values, and Ian Barbor, Religion in an Age of Science (San Francisco, CA: Harper SanFrancisco, 1990), 97-101. and Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy (University of Chicago Press, 1958).) Polanyi, who was a doctor and chemist, also speaks of “levels of meaning,” each level dependent upon but also free and emergent as respect to lower levels of reality. Justice is proved real in the search for it by those who believe in its existence and its capacity to reveal itself to human beings who properly seek it with faith that it will continue to bear fruit and reveal itself in the future. This is the same spirit in which scientists seek truth in the invisible and immaterial subatomic world. The great physicist David Bohm speaks of the unfolding of layers of implicate order, including implicate orders of meaning present even at the the subatomic level. These levels of meaning disclose themselves as they are unfolded into reality. See, David Bohm, Wholeness and Implicate Order (London, ENG: Routledge Publishing, 1980).