SLAPPING JESUS

Jesus is arrested, handcuffed and dragged before Annas, the retired high priest who interrogated him about his disciples and his teaching. He replied, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, publicly. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” One of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. “If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” (John 18:19-23)

Jesus is the way, the truth and life in all its fullness. He speaks the truth even when it is unpopular and challenges the narrative of the entrenched elite. He asks the high priest to do his homework and to justify his actions. What is the charge? What have I said that you think actionable, or illegal, or blasphemous? What is my crime? For raising these questions another of the officials slaps his face.

Who is this man who physically attacks someone who is shackled in a public place? What anger and animosity must reside in someone who would do such a thing? Is he a thug, a toady, a henchman of the high priest, or someone who wants to appear a bully, to threaten and intimidate the accused? Is he used to getting his way, to pleasing his boss by strong-arming those who create problems for those in authority?

He is representative of all those who do the bidding of the people in power even when it violates common humanity and the sacredness of human life and truth. Did he suffer any remorse when Jesus demonstrated that he was the Son of God by rising from the dead? What do people who slap Jesus, and his disciples, by persecution, by denying the truth of his Word, by rejecting his Gospel, by living immoral lives, by choosing power over love, violence over persuasion, do when they are faced with the inevitability of death and judgment in eternity? When earthly protection is withdrawn for the bully, for the cynic, for the egotist, for the braggart, for the indifferent, for the disobedient, for those who want to be in control, what do they do? Jude, the brother of Jesus, who once opposed Jesus, but later became his disciple, was aware of the nature of unbelief and wrote about its consequences in a letter in the New Testament which is an indictment of such people and an encouragement to repentance. Read it.

Jesus is still on trial today. We must take sides: either for him or against him. We must serve him or slap him. There is no middle ground. We must choose whose side we are on. We must decide whether Jesus is speaking the truth or not. We must join those who are his disciples or his enemies. Is he wrong or is he the truth?