Apr 20, 2011
The Substitutes for God’s Love and Power
I wrote a monologue for Palm Sunday that told the Easter story from the perspective of Caiaphas the high priest. It was part of a larger project involving 3 total monologues to be performed by actors.
While writing them, our team of writers tried to encapsulate the central belief of each person. We settled on the following:
Judas: I didn’t betray Jesus, Jesus betrayed me.
Caiaphas: I saved God’s people from destruction by killing Jesus.
Pilate: I hate my job and the scheming Jewish leaders—if they want Jesus dead, I want him to live.
Each character study drove home a chilling point to me. I could understand each character’s perspective. Once you see their values and their hopes, you can understand why they conspired to kill Jesus. This drives home that the Bible is both true factually and incredibly relevant to us.
Even the worst villains in the Bible have their own logical consistency when taken in context.
I doubt that none of them set out to be the villains. In fact, the high priests and Pharisees saw themselves as the protectors of God’s people, the temple, the land, the traditions, and the law. They prove that God’s supposed people can become so concerned with things about God and close to God that they miss out on God’s actual work among them.
At a certain point, characters like Caiaphas became so wrapped up in political schemes, national hopes, and religious ceremonies that that they forgot the simple law to love the Lord their God. When Jesus arrived, many remarked that he taught with power and authority compared to the teaching of the priests and Pharisees that lacked both.
One summer we were vacationing at my wife’s family’s cabin which is surrounded by other cabins and houses on a lake. We usually gathered on Sunday evenings for a time of prayer and Bible study. While one distant relative taught us, I remember this feeling of the Holy Spirit opening my mind. It was like the words on the page came alive to me.
There was a God-given authority to the way he taught us.
On other occasions I’ve received prayer from Christians who knew what to say and how to pray for me. Their words carried weight and power. In fact, God powerfully used a friend’s recent prayer for us as we prepare for our move to Ohio next fall.
In contrast to the villains of the Easter story, God’s people are in touch with the Father and his ways. They are united with Jesus, the Son, and can therefore act, pray, and teach with his authority and power.
I’m reminded of Paul saying that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Cor. 4:20).
At a certain point, Caiaphas and his fellow leaders settled for talk and forgot what God’s love and power felt and looked like.
When we depart from the love, power, and authority of God, we settle for cheap substitutes.
We need something large to satisfy our longing for influence, so we cling to political power and seek influence in our culture.
We need something authoritative to cling to, so we overemphasize the importance of traditions and/or theology.
We need something powerful to help us, so we ask truth and teaching to do it all for us.
With our emphasis in the wrong place, we forget what it feels like to be God’s beloved children.
We forget what it feels like to be led by God’s Spirit.
We forget what it feels like to be empowered by God to act and pray in faith.
The villains of the Easter story remind us of the terrible consequences of losing sight of God’s love, power, and authority. There are plenty of other options out there for us to choose.
We won’t make the wrong choice tomorrow. It will happen gradually. We’ll set ourselves up to make the wrong choice when we begin to allow our love to grow cold and we stop seeking more of God’s influence in our lives.
I can relate to the villains of the Easter story. Over time they got mixed up in a tangled web of distractions, unable to find the true love and power of God. The more I understand them, the more I can appreciate the compassion of Jesus, who forgave them while he hung on the cross.
He saw a group of people who had lost their way from God, and even as he hung on the cross, he called out in love for them to come back.
The ability to put ourselves into the Biblical narrative–even into the role of the “villain”–opens up room for God to speak to us. I especially like your observation that the High Priest could become filled more important things than the two greatest commandments, because that could easily be me!
This says SO much about human nature, sociology and polarization:
“Even the worst villains in the Bible have their own logical consistency when taken in context. I doubt that none of them set out to be the villains.”
Often, when I am all fired up about someone who is doing/saying something that seems so evil and wrong, I am suddenly struck by the fact that most of them are not trying to be hurtful and difficult. Most of them are trying to do what they think is important and right, in the best way they can. It sure makes you pause when you realize that.
Also, I love what you’re saying here, and how you worded it:
“With our emphasis in the wrong place, we forget what it feels like to be God’s beloved children.”
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve had the chance to play Judas on stage and screen and two things have struck me over the years: 1) The sense in which I believe he found himself caught up in a runaway train that he couldn’t control and couldn’t leave (much of which is a mystery in scripture), and 2) how few believers really think about this part of the story of the resurrection. When it comes to humanity, ‘pure’ evil (whatever that is) is elusive. In my walk with God, I’ve been more like Judas than I like to admit.