Passage to Calvary
By Charles Scriven

A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for February 5–11, 2005

The Bible tells us that at the climax of his public ministry Jesus entered Jerusalem to the shouts of the throng: "Hosanna to the Son of David." People were eager for a leader, or king, who would cast out the Roman oppressor and help them to flourish, and Jesus seemed to be that leader.

A little-known collection of psalms from about this time, not preserved in Scripture, also speaks about the coming of a king, the son of David. In this collection, called the Psalms of Solomon, the coming king is someone who will "shatter wicked rulers" and "cleanse Jerusalem from the Gentiles who trample it." This king will "crush" the sinner "with an iron mace."

According to Matthew 21:5, however, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah, who imagined a king "coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey." If you read the prophecy (Zech. 9:1–12) you see the picture of a peacemaker. This king, unlike the one in the Psalms of Solomon, cuts off "the chariot…and the war horse…and the battle bow." He commands "peace to the nations."

In Zechariah’s prophecy, God tells Jerusalem that "because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free" and "restore" your fortunes "double." But in this prophecy armaments melt away, and rival nations can themselves become a "remnant" for God—not crushed or eliminated, but fully equal and fully welcome in the circle of the chosen.

In teaching the lesson this week, you could go back to Matthew 21 as an example of how a story’s wider context throws indispensable light on that story’s meaning. The story specific to this week’s lesson is the interrogation of Jesus. In the quarterly, attention turns to three Gospel descriptions of what went on.

Matthew 26:57–68 narrates the trial that takes place before Caiaphas, the high priest. Here the hint from Jesus that he may be the Messiah, and his image of the Son of Man "coming on the clouds of heaven," leave the high priest in high dudgeon, tearing his clothes and bellowing: "’He has blasphemed!’" The offense seems to the high priest’s colleagues a basis for the death penalty.

Luke 22:66–71 tells how a council of elders, priests, and scribes interrogates Jesus. To their question about whether he is the Messiah, Jesus says they won’t believe even if he does reply. When they ask whether he is the Son of God, his enigmatic "’You say that I am’" leaves them fuming: "’What further testimony do we need?’"

John 18:1–25 begins before the interrogation proper, with Judas leading soldiers to Jesus’ garden retreat. With an arrest in the offing, Peter draws a sword and cuts off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But he is rebuked by Jesus, who says: "’Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’" Then Jesus undergoes formal arrest, and is taken in for questioning. Peter, shriveled by fear, denies that he knows Jesus.

To formal questions about his teaching, Jesus simply notes that he has said everything in public: there have been no secrets. One of the police, seeing insolence, hits him on the face. Then the procession moves from the house of Annas to the high priest Caiaphas, and in that moment Peter again denies his relationship with Jesus.

Shortly afterward (and this takes us past the quarterly’s stopping place), Jesus is led away to the headquarters of the Roman government. He comes before Pilate, whom the Jewish leaders want to see involved because Pilate, unlike them, has authority to impose the death penalty. Pilate asks whether Jesus is "’the King of the Jews.’" Jesus, cryptic once more, replies (verse 36): "’My kingdom is not from this world, If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews."

In the end, as you know, Pilate authorizes death for Jesus. But that story is for another week. Now ask yourself how these passages on the interrogation can become, in class this Sabbath, the basis for brisk conversation.

One way of making progress is to put the story for this week under the light of Jesus’ mission—as that mission came into view with his arrival, by donkey, into Jerusalem. Go back to Matthew 21 and Zechariah 9. Keep in mind, too, the classic passage, in Ezekiel 34:25–31, on the Hebrew concept of peace. Here peace means food, freedom, and safety—prosperity and well being—for everyone. Notice that the symbolism of his entrance on a donkey marks Jesus as a champion of just this peace.

Now, ponder and consider asking these questions: