a king’s guide to political assassination
Lent 2C | Luke 13:31-35
Some Pharisees approach Jesus to warn him. Herod, Rome’s puppet king, is planning to kill Jesus and they want to give him a head’s up.
Why do you think they do this? Do they think Herod’s going too far? Are they thinking Jesus doesn’t deserve to be assassinated by the state? Do they have a problem with the murders in general or here specifically?
It’s weird, right?
And what we tend not to do in church is take any time considering this moment with these Pharisees as reflecting anything about them or their character. Because we are so easy to paint them in the dismissive brush with which we paint all Pharisees in the gospels or by the redemptive brush of those seeking to do the right thing and I think neither fits because these men are cowards — perhaps seeking to absolve themselves of sin by warning Jesus rather than stopping Herod’s reign of terror. Rather than standing in front of the tanks to stop their rolling into Tiananmen Square. …
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