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Home , Barabbas, Sicarii, Zealots

NOVEMBER/ DECEM BER, 1974 Vol. XX IV , No. 8 LIBRARY Broadway (at 120th Str eet), New York , N.Y. 10027 Subscription: U. S. $4 a year; Telephone: (Area 212) 662 - 7100 overseas, $4. 50. EDITORIAL A ND CI RCULATION OFFIC E 1-15 co pi es, 50¢ each; 16-50 copie s. Room 678. 475 Riverside Drive . New York. N. Y. 10027 35¢ each ; m ore than 50 copies. 25¢ each Telephone: (Area 212) 870- 2177

JESUS, AND PILATE: THREE VIEWS OF PEACE AND mSTICE

Howard Schomer

"Pilate addressed them again, in his desire to release .....but their shouts prevailed He released the man they asked for (Barabbas), the man who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and gave Jesus up to their will .... There was an inscription above his head . . . : 'This is the king of the '." Luke 23: 20, 23, 25, 38.

This is not the usual time in the chur ch year t o preach about the trial, condem­ nation and of Nazareth. The rhythm of the ecclesiastical seasons has its point, helping Christians across the centuries not to neglect any a s pe c t of their faith. But I have just come through an extraordinary experience that has led me to look with heightened awareness at these decisive Gos pe l events. I want to share with you certain special features which I now see in this familiar but ever awesome story.

The personal experience I refer to is eight days of soul-searching in the company of brothers and sisters from all the major religions of humanity in the World Conf e r ence on Religion and Peace , at Louvain, Belgium. When it was f i r s t announced that a great meeting of representatives of the world's religions was going to be held in Europe this summer, focussed on the sensitive issues of peace and justice, the initial reaction of many European Chr i s t ian leaders was, quite frankly, FEAR. Solemn Ge rma n Protestant theologians, for example, were uneasy about the dangers of "syn cretism" - i.e. of making some kind of undesirable goulash of religious elements so incompatible that it would be preferable to keep them safely apart.

In this issue we print a sermon by Dr. Howard Schomer, World Issues Secretary ­ United Church Board for World Ministries, preached on September IS, 1974 at t he Riverside Church, New Yor k , New Yor k . 2

Other traditionalists were afraid that the only way people as diverse as Buddhists, Shintoists, Christians, Confucianists, Muslims, Jews,Hindus and the rest could achieve a meeting of minds, and not merely polite fellowship, would be by reducing their historic teachings to a lowest common denominator as meaningless as "Peace is wonderful!" and "Justice is just fine!" People of many religions, on various continents, wondered if serious interreligious d i a logue about such critical themes as peace and justice could be undertaken without compromising the integrity of each of the religions involved.

None of these fears proved justified. The hundreds of religious leaders gathered in the mediaeval Belgian university town of Louva i n examined unflinchingly many of the bitterest conflicts and injustices that today set one people, race or class against another. The interaction was intense, b u t s o were the moments of quiet listening to each other's acts of prayer, of meditation and of worship. At the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches, in nearby Amsterdam in 1948, historically separated Christian denominations vowed "to " t a y together." At Louvain in 1974, individual leaders of most of the religions o f the earth "resolved henceforth to serve humanity together, each in the way most in keeping with the convictions of his spiritual family and local circumstances."

After many hours of debate, the World Conference on Religion and Peace agreed on a message that - shunning vague generalities and pointing toward the specific recom­ menda tions contained in Commission reports - constitutes a solid commitment by religious leaders and a fervent call to their varied constituencies around the world.

I wish that all of you could have been present in the crowded Gothic church of St. Peter's in Louvain recentiy as this appeal to the religious communities in every land was read in a televised service of celebration. The Louvain Declaration, unani­ mously adopted by standing vote in an earlier business session, was released to the world in a colorful ceremony. Selected portions were read by members of all the major religions of mankind, each in his tongue, and each wearing his traditional garb. In the concluding session of the Conference Board of Directors, various participants spontaneously indicated their intention to publish this message of common conviction in their own tongues as soon as they reached home - specifically in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Cingalese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Portugese, French , Dut ch , German, Polish, and still others.

In this rich Conference context, I found my Christian searc h for the meaning of peace and justice leading ever and again to the revealing sh owdown scene which climaxed the life and ministry of the Master. What do > this collision between the divergent social visions of Jesus, of Barabbas and of Pilate mean for my own Christian work for peace and justice in this twentieth c e n tur y of the Christian mission in the wo r Ld ?

The Rightfulness and the Insufficiency of Li b e r a tion Movements

I find Barabbas, the zealous insurrectionist, as important a Biblical symbol as Abraham, the pioneer of faith, and Moses, ~he giver of law. He stands for the indomi­ table will of the Jewish people to achieve their national liberation from all foreign rule, and the establishment of their own political order in accordance with God's revealed plan to Israel. Barabbas was in the Roman prison in because of his part in a recent uprising in the city, in whic h he had been charged with murder. In the language of threatened city officials in our da y, Barabbas was a bold urban terrorist, perhaps an urban guerilla leader. 3

Until quite recently, scholarship laid all too little stress on the significance of the crowd's outcry for the release of Barabbas rather than Jesus. But hear Professor Cullman's words written in 1970: "The rebellion against the Roman occupation forces presented .... in the time of Jesus the great problem of Palestine, and it was simultaneously a religious and politic~problem .. .. TIle Zealotist agitation, which was increasingly well organized, pressed ... like a nightmare on the Roman officials in Palestine ... \{hen the Apostle Paul appeared before the Roman tribune, he was asked whether he was not the .. , leader who had plotted the revolt of the 4,000 '' (Ass a s s i.ns ) .... Eve r y Jew in New Testament times was forced to take a stand regarding this (resistance) problem. It was an especially burning issue since it concerned not only politics, but also faith and the

Hessianic hope. H Cullman believes it likely that three of the Twelve Disciples (not only , but also Peter "Barjona" and Judas "Iscariot," "Barjona" probably meaning "Terrorist" and "Iscariot" "Assassin") were recruited from the ranks of the freedom fighters.

We must keep in mind the broad outlines of this Jewish struggle for national liber­ ation from Roman rule. At the outset of the reign of that Quisling king, , some forty years before the birth of Jesus, the first serious challenge oc­ curred. Herod readily crushed the resisters and executed their leader. The party went underground, adopting as their slogan, "The sword, and not sparingly; no king but Jehovah!" A second important uprising occurred ~t the time of a Roman , when Jesus was about twelve years old, and it was lead by a certain Judas of . The bloody repression of this offensive was long remembered.

Ne v e r t h e l e s s , the resistance spirit grew through another sixty years, ending in full-scale rebellion in 66 A.D. The tragic culmination is well known: in four years of strife and siege, the Temple was burned, the or Jewish political Co un ­ cil ended, the whole city of Jerusalem turned into a heap of ruins. When Zealot­ led was finally vanquished by the Romans, a contemporary historian wrote that 1,356,460 Jews had fallen, and 97,000 were taken as prisoners. In another sixty years, the Emperor of Rome built a stately pagan city on top of the Jerusalem ruins, with a temple of Zeus where the Temple of Jehovah had stood for a thousand years. Still another insurrection then aborted. Henceforth, Jews were barred from the city save one day a year, when they were permitted to approach the Wailing Wall, mourning for glories past and dreaming of a better time to come.

Thus ended the noble Zealot liberation movement, with Jerusalem under Gentile rule for nearly two thousand years, until the new and zealous issued in the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948, all of Jerusalem coming under its rule only seven years ago.

As we ponder the poignant failure of the ancient zealot national vision, the head of today's Israel government is pleading with United States leaders for still greater arms shipments in order to defend the present precarious armistice in a Middle East which still knows no peace and little justice.

What shall we say then about the Barabbas stance, or today's violent liberation movements on several continents? Over against the systematic, built-in institutional violence of every kind of foreign domination or domestic t yranny, who can question the rightfulness of the goal of national, racial or class liberation? Who can condemn the murderous attacks of the Barabbas-like freedom fighters when they are confronted with Herod-like massacres of the innocents, whether these massacres are committed with napalm and tanks or through the ruthless economic exploitation of forced labor, rigged market prices, and the trickery of ideological subjugation? 4

Only .... History, ancient and modern, records few victories and many defeats for the way of revolutionary violence. Often, as with Barabbas and the , the tyranny is too much for the challengers, and the blood of the freedom-fighters is mingled with their sacrifices. It may even be that a technologically Qodern ruling class like that in Eastern Europe or the Republic of South Africa today, so different from the anachronistic Portugese colonial regime now being dismembered, cannot be overthrown by a popular uprising among the oppressed masses. Even when violent r evo-· lution succeeds in destroying the existing ruling class, if there is no adequate vision of the peaceful and just society under law that must then be constructed, new tyranny is sure to replace the old.

Jesus, looking upon the distressed and distraught multitudes of his fellow-countrymen under the Roman occupation, had compassion upon them. His heart went out to the patriotic Zealots who, with noble idealism, would barehanded seek to set their people free. But far more than a prudent calculation underlay the words he addressed to the violent liberation movements of the day: "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matthew 26: 52.

The Utility and the Unacceptability of Imperial Order

But before we probe the mystery of this and related words and deeds of Jesus, let us take a fresh, though passing, look at the conception of peace and justice - Roman peace and justice - implicit in the role and the acts of on that climatic day. I suspect that Christians have usually underestimated the significance of this governor, dismissing him as a culpable weakling or a cynical bureaucrat. Perhaps they have also been inclined to underrate the moral meaning of the he served, out of indignation with his legitimation of the execution of their Lord. To judge Pilate fairly, we must examine the utility and the unacceptability of imperial order.

In point of fact, Palestine had known no stable independent Jewish State for most of five centuries when it was brought under Roman rule in 63 B.C. Much as the Jews resented Roman annexation, "the coming of Rome '" meant orderly and responsible government in the place of irresponsible (Syrian) tyranny and confusion." (Morton S. Enstin). There was no effort to impose the Latin tongue and Roman customs, towns continued to manage their own affairs, and local courts applied their customary laws. The Roman governor was ~here to see "that the laws prevailed, order kept, frontiers respected, travel safe, taxes and tithes promptly paid, and Roman citizens have ready access to Roman law." (Idem). The Emperor Augustus even sought to control Judea only indirectly through Herod whom he confirmed as "king of Judea." A new era of reconstruction and development followed ... The Temple on Mt. Zion glistening marble, gold and jewels; schools; amphitheatres, aqueducts, roads, new towns, a fine harbor; banditry put down, free grain in periods of famine, heavy taxation to do all this rendered possible by widespread prosperity. Such was the Augustan Age in Palestine.

The Roman Governor in Judea was a background figure, the actual government being "in the hands of the native aristocracy at whose head stood the high priest," Le., the Sanhedrin. The Emperor maintained Pontius Pilate, the fifth of these governors, in his administrative post for ten years. "He appears to have sought zealously and honestly to maintain order and to better his province," according to an historian of our day.

There you have it - a moderately liberal version of a law-and-order regime - typical of Roman practice everywhere. Probably every empire that has succeeded in maintaining 5 its rule over a broad area for a long time has followed similar guidelines. By its fairness and tolerance as well as its military strength, it succeeds in reducing the level of open conflict to a minimum. By its energy and honesty, it promotes economic, educational and cultural activity - everything but genuine national inde­ pendence and true self-rule. Roman justice insures that every inhabitant will get a square deal - but on condition that he stays in his appointed place and shows no doubt as to who is finally boss. Roman peace is the calm and effective application of Roman policy as far as Roman military power extends. Pilate was a just adminis­ trator of this Roman justice and a peaceful guardian of this Roman peace.

No doubt Pilate sincerely "desired to release Jesus," as Luke records. While he seemed to class Jesus of Nazareth alongside of Barabbas as a political of f e n d ~ L , dictating that his offense be inscribed over his cross - "This is the king of Lhe Jews" - clearly he would have preferred to use the custom of a amnesty to free Jesus rather than Barabbas. His experienced eye could tell who was the more militant nationalist and so the more dangerous to the imperial calm. Rome had no need to execute idealists. It was no capital offense to dream --. Indeed, Rome fully shared the vision of a just and lasting peace among all peoples.

Only --: Pilate had no idea how far beyond mere political stability and economic development, under the paternalistic power of Rome, the vision seen by Jesus would eventually draw mankind. The Romans were building for the ages -- did not their empire flourish for some four centuries? But Jesus' eyes beheld eternity.

The great modern empires - Portugese, Spanish, Dutch, French and Br i t i s h - seem to have learned much from the strength of the Roman imperial conception, but to ha ve failed to learn from its weakness. Each has sought to impose its own understanding of justice as far as its sword could reach, to create a large enclave of order on a disorderly earth by establishing standard operating procedures all across its domains.

But each, like Rome before it, has been all too slow to grasp that human individuals and communities cannot live by law and or der alone, even if such stability i s s o .e ­ times buttressed with a measure of general prosperity. Each has found it impo , ; ~ i b l e to live in peace with conquered peoples who maturely insist on shaping their o\·m history, making their own social compact, determining their own political futu re. In this post-colonial age of the politically equalitarian United Nation s General Assembly, the same question remains central: will the new economic empires of the rich nations insist on retaining the final power of decision over the economic life­ and-death of the rest of the world? Will they freely move to share with all nations, big and small, their present power to allocate the world's food and other basic supplies as they alone see fit and can afford?

The Ambiquity and the Ultimacy of Transcendent Reign

It is easy to gather together the evidence that Jesus of Nazareth loved, served, and championed the poor and the downtrodden, exhorting the rich and the powerful to join the human race through the practice of justice, mercy and sincere community with all their neighbors. It is equally easy to amass the Gospel records of his identification with the widespread expectation of imminent, radical change. He, like the freedom-fighters, declared that the kingdom of God was at hand, and he denounced kings and governors who call themselves benefactors but, in fact, exploit and oppress the masses. The restless and discontented rallied around him, c r owds sometimes sought to proclaim him king, some of his disciples carried arms, and he overtly challenged the whole Establishment by the dramatic symbolism of his Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent wrathful expulsion of the money­ 6 changers from the Temple.

But it is equally easy to bring together the numerous passages in the Gospel records that indicate the strength of his following among the middle classes. Sociological analysis suggests that about every and friend of Jesus whose name is men­ tioned in the , with some indication given as to his or her place in society, owns a house, a boat, a business, or is a skilled professional, artisan or govern­ ment functionary. If there were former members of the Zealot liberation movement among the Twelve, t her e was also a f c r n.e r tax collector - a representative of the foreign occupation forces. His denunciation of violence and his advocacy of non­ resistance, or passive resistance to evil, is every bit as strong as his condem­ nation of the existing political regime. While his castigation of the social and political status ~ was as sharp as that uttered by , so that the Sanhedrin told Pilate he was subverting the nation, opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be the Messianic king, he condemned as Satanic any pro­ posal that he actually seize political power. No wonder Pilate, whose jurisdiction only extended to political crimes and not to doctrinal disputes, hesitated to hear his case. There appeared to be too much ambiguity in Jesus' position.

Only The kind of peace and justice announced by Jesus of Nazareth was infi­ nitely more radical than any envisioned by Barabbas and his Zealot companions, and far more threatening to Roman stability than any hopeless urban uprising. For Jesus looked steadfastly beyond both the existing Roman and Jewish institutions and the current liberation movements that challenged them. He did not count upon either the Establishment or the Resistance, each rooted in particular historic circumstances and deriving its values from such dated situation, to bring true peace and justice to humanity. He looked to God to bring all history to an ecrly end, to God alone to establish the just and peaceable kingdom predicted by prophets and longed for by every human heart.

This absolute faith of Jesus in the imminent end of time and early coming of God's full reign led him to demand the most radical and uncalculating moral actions of himself and his followers in the meantime. He and his disciples were called to work within a world that was expiring for the new age to come; to adopt standards that are not simple ameliorations of present unjust human relations, but are conso­ nant with the coming kingdom that is not of this world at all!

To be sure, the old world did not end as quickly as Jesus anticipated, though the present era of nuclear and environmental peril enables our generation to share with him the frame of mind of people who feel they may indeed be living in the Last Age of a Perishing Planet. We are in a better position than any Christians since the first century to sense that even justice and peace are not enough, that society needs an infusion of grace and hope and love.

The transcendent radicalism of Jesus' ethical summons is the secret of his con­ tinuing contemporaneity. Although the Jerusalem populace called for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of , it is noteworthy that even that gener­ ation, as the illusion of instant peace and justice faded, amid the devastation of Jerusalem, turned to worship not Barabbas but Jesus. Precisely because his moral vision is not time-bound, it inspires the best striving of each successive age. 7

THE CHRISTIAN OPTION

There is Pilate, with furrowed brow, industriously endeavoring to preserve what peace and justice the empire now enjoys against the onslaught of wild men, wild weapons, wild shortages, wild breakdowns of the imperial system WAS HI NG TON .

There is Barabbas, with burning eyes, audaciously striking with bare fists aga inst every Bastille of human oppression - whether walls resist or tumble down . REVOLUTIONARY GUERR ILLAS ON EVERY CONTINENT.

There is the Christ, seared by agony, yet radiant with life, climbing new hills a ge after age, helping us to reflect divine justice, peace and love in the social patterns of our day .

Christ can save Pilate

Christ can save Barabbas

Christ can save you, and me

Amen.