THE PASSION MORE THAN A PLAY

Even the most casual things in the Bible can be glossed over. Every move that Jesus made was a fulfilment of the prophesies of the Old Testament. That makes sense since the ‘Word’ of the Old Testament is Jesus. He came, not only to fulfill the commandments of God but the words of the prophets as well.  Jesus said, “On these two commandments” — love of God and others — “hang all the Law and the prophets” (Mat 22:40). Today, one of those will be discussed.

Remembering that every word means something, each word should be taken seriously. Matthew wrote the following, speaking of the murderers before Jesus was sacrificed:

When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mat 27:29)

Now, consider some of those key words: “They” is neutral. They represented all of mankind. You may have been there mocking Jesus, but each sin that you perform is mocking Jesus. He died for your sins as well as those who persecuted Him; we are just not so transparent with our mockery.

Mockery is the essence of sin. His Words are truth and disregarding the truth is mockery. Sinful men and women are indeed like little children who without any reason mock others. Not only can Jesus not be mocked, but neither can anyone else. Christians must have goodwill both for God and others, even their enemies.

They all were responsible; those there who did nothing were as responsible for those who platted. Those who placed the crown of thorns did the weaving of the thorns into the hair of Jesus, but those who looked on, weaved the web that snared Jesus… platting is weaving whether it be weaving hair or weaving a web of deceit. Narratives are as much platting as entangling objects into the hair. They all weaved their webs in some fashion; the weaver of the webs was as bad a weaver as those who platted the crown.

Unknown to them was that all of them were acting out what was practiced so long ago. Jesus said about them all; “They know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). They were good performers, knowing their lines by heart. They were all actors in a Divine Play. The ones who acted in the parts were no more to blame than those who observed the ‘Passion Play’ performed that day. (It was certainly no play!)

God did it; it was His Divine Play. Jesus explained it to Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me, except it were given you from above” (John 19:11).

Pilate was the chief support actor in the Passion Play. He was just performing for God. When was Pilate engendered with the Power of God? When Jesus put up no defense, “The governor marveled greatly” (Mat 27:14). At what did Pilate marvel? That innocent blood was about to be done under his authority: “(Then) he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it” (Mat 27:24).

He was the one responsible for the ‘goat’ that escaped, according to scripture: “He that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp” (Lev 16:26).

The scapegoat was to be brought into the camp, according to Mosaic Law. Although Pilate was ostensibly a Roman, he was less than that. Many believe that Pilate, based on naming conventions, was not even a Roman patrician but a common plebian, from who knows where, whose family had settled in Rome from unknown places. As such, based on Roman cognomens, Pilate himself would have no power. Indeed, Pilate had been there at the right time for this common man to perform the greatest story ever told.

That Pontius Pilate would be king and judge for a day, effectively a ‘Caesar,’ with that authority, was written into the script long ago. Every one of his actions placed him at Calvary that day to do that dreadful thing.

Pilate was the one “that let go the goat for the scapegoat” from the Law. What did Pilate do? He performed the Passion to a tee; The Law revealed what Pilate had to do after releasing Jesus Barabbas — “Jesus, the Son of the Father — the scapegoat. According to the Law, that one would “wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water.” Pilate did that! He washed his hands of the entire ordeal.

Many speculate about whether Pilate became a Christian or not or was he just performing for the Jewish audience. He marveled! Jesus had said to another ruler, Nicodemus, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7).

Pilate was the one that was chosen by God back when the Law was written. He was chosen to release the scapegoat, and Pilate, millennia later, released the scapegoat, Barabbas, according to the script for the Passion Play. Pilate was not really playacting, but the part became real for him.

The ruler, Nicodemus, was not to marvel. He was not the ruler that would be in the Play; it was not his part to shed innocent blood. However, Matthew wrote that the “governor marveled,” speaking of Pilate. He was the chosen one to act out the Passion play. God had engendered him from above. How was that ‘rebirth’ accomplished? Pilate saw that Jesus was God in the flesh, and he understood the play before it was played out. Pilate understood through his mental faculties without knowing scripture that an innocent man was about to die for sins that they had committed! That was proven by the Passion of Jesus. Pilate concluded that Jesus was who He said He was; “I find in Him no fault at all” (John 18:38), and at His death, the Holy Ghost left Jesus, and Pilate was vindicated — Jesus was God… who He said He was.

So, did Pilate become a Christian? According to the Law, the one that released the scapegoat, after cleaning himself, would “come into the camp.” It does appear that Pilate marveled; he was the one! Pilate came into the camp; he became one of the Christians that followed Christ. History reveals that Pilate was no longer of the Roman camp after that performance. He was not just an actor selected so long ago but became part of reality. He was not just blindly reading the lines of prophecy but became persuaded that Jesus is who He said He was.

Pilate was Platonian, asking Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Jesus performed another play written by Plato three-hundred years earlier — “The Allegory of the Cave.” Jesus used Platonian philosophy to reveal the truth; God made the world a ‘cave’ with its darkness, shined the Light on Jesus, and revealed that the ‘Shadow” was a fragment of the Man, and just as real as the Man Himself.

God proved using Plato’s allegory that the Holy Ghost was just as much God as the Man Himself. He washed his hands of the action and became one of them that were in the back row of the audience. He became the audience, washing his hands of the action!

Pilate was just a supporting actor to get the message across. He became an ‘angel’ for the day. Jesus, however, was the Lead Man. He was crowned that day. His part was not the greatest act ever made, but it became real with Him in it. He did not perform, but God became the ‘lead actor’ to prove His Power of persuasion.

A Passion Play would never convince anyone to become a Christian, so His Play was performed live to reveal to the world the truth behind the action. Actors would not suffice, so God sacrificed Himself to reveal the truth. God made Himself the Truth so that the audience could see the truth. (Acting out Christianity still does not work; the sacrifice must be real!)

When the crown of thorns was placed on the cranium of Jesus that was planned as well. The place was named ‘Golgotha,’ literally “the place of the cranium.” Adam was there, not in the audience, but the performance was for him as well as the real blood of Jesus that was sprinkled on the skull of Adam whose bones were beneath the cross in the ground.

The audience, standing on the ground (Adam in the Hebrew), observed from above, but the best seats were below where the eternal audience became part of the showing. Once the Passion was performed; they stood erect and went into the city to spread the Good News that the play was so Good that the Lead actually died! Speaking of the dead saints, Matthew looked at those in the good seats on Good Friday and saw the response of the audience; they had come alive and had a good part in the play that was rehearsed all their years: “And (they) came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Mat 27:53). Unknown to those above; the old timers (saints) were brought together for the Grand Finality… They roared with applause when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Even the dead stood up for the Greatest Story Ever Told.

Abraham and Isaac would have stood tall that day and be some of the first to praise the Lord. They had rehearsed it long ago, but they now saw it played out in truth as rehearsed long before, to wit:

And He (God) said (to Abraham), “Lay not your hand upon the lad (Isaac), neither do you any thing unto him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Then Abraham called the name of that place ‘Jehovahjireh:’ as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” (Gen 22:12-14) 

God rehearsed the Passion of Christ, using Isaac in place of God’s Son, and Abraham as God Himself. The rehearsal is believed by many to have been performed on the same stage. Perhaps Mount Moriah was Calvary as some believe!

In the rehearsal, Isaac, playing Jesus, escaped. The ram took his place. It was just a performance, but in the real Passion, Jesus did not escape; however He did wear the crown of thorns that the scapegoat wore.

Do you really think that them placing a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus was arbitrary? That had been rehearsed long ago; the “thicket’ that the ram sheep had on its head represented the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus.

Mount Moriah had a new name because of its purpose — “Jehovahjireh” — and sure enough, at the crucifixion, “the mount of the Lord was seen” just as Abraham said it would.

Genesis 22 was as much a showbill so that the world would understand that Mount Moriah was just a rehearsal, using body doubles, that would suffice until the real players came together 1500 years later for a ‘play” so true to reality that it did not just seem real but was reality.

Sometimes when I see a show, in jest I comment; “They had to kill a lot of actors to make that so real!” That is what God really did. He killed Himself to make the Passion more than a play, but the real thing!

picture credit; Redbubble; "Agnes Dei"