Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

For the last ten or twelve years I have had a scene play out in my mind every time I hear this beloved spiritual. When we sing, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"  I visualize a  small clapboard church, in the early 1800's somewhere in the southern United States of America as families with children gather for worship.

The pianist begins to set the mood for worship by playing a medley of hymns from that era with strains of the melody of the spiritual woven in, bringing the question to our attention.  "Were you there...?"  As we scan the worshiping congregation our focus falls on one family in particular, zeroing in on the face of the man, husband and father, pleasant and intentional in his attention to his family and his involvement in the activity of worship.

The background melody fades into silence as the scene changes, ending with a refrain from "Were You There...?"  As the final piano refrain sounds, we exit the church building and make our way to a cluster of slave cabins.  An old female slave sits on the front steps, mournfully humming the melody of the spiritual to herself as she slowly sways.  Behind her a scene begins to play out for us to see.

A young male slave has been captured in his attempt to escape.  He is brought back to the slave quarters and the slave owner, the man who was previously worshiping with his family, prepares the run-away slave for a whipping.  The slave, exhausted from his attempted escape, has his hands bound with a rope that is secured to the branch of the tree, stretching him so that his toes barely touch the ground, exposing his naked back to the whip.

The old woman, aware of what is happening behind her, out of her sight, begins to sing, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"  Whip lashes punctuate her singing.  As she sings, in her mind, she addresses the question to the slave owner. The slave owner is oblivious to her.  The whipping continues as the old woman continues to sing.  "Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?"

The young slave slums into unconsciousness and she sings, "Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?"    Finally, as a the slave owner walks away, satisfied that all his slaves will learn from this demonstration, we hear, "Were you there when He rose up from the grave?"    As the lyrics repeat the question other slaves move toward the unconscious man to release him from the tree and to tend his wounds.

"Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble... were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

In my mind an unspoken question lingers in the air...
even to this day!
If you were there--if you understand the meaning of my Lord's death--how can you continue to do what you are doing?  That's the question I hear this beloved spiritual asking, then and now.

Today the question confronts the bullying and derogatory language that permeates our national conversation. We seem to demonstrate a mutual disrespect for one another whether we are considering race or political issues.  If we call ourselves Christian and understand the power of the resurrection, the good news of Jesus Christ, how can we continue to demean one another?

I am grateful that I live on this side of slavery--but scenes from the Civil Rights era of our nation continue to haunt me: the dogs and fire hoses being used to beat back the men, women and children who were simply asking for their rights as citizens in the United States; the billy-clubs and name calling on Bloody Sunday.  . Deep in my heart I know there must have been church-going men among those who ordered and aimed the hoses and handled the dogs, doing it without questioning their own actions.  I'm sure there were deacons and elders active in their Christian congregations who fought back the marchers on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, feeling justified in their actions.  Some of the women who administered the so-called literacy tests that denied black applicants the right to vote probably taught Sunday school classes at their churches without even considering what they were doing.

And that haunting question continues to weave its way through my thoughts. "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

Why did they get so angry?

LK 4:14-30 

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

  Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

 The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

  When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

    to bring good news to the poor.

  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

    to let the oppressed go free,

    to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.' " And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

For more than two weeks, I pondered this section of scripture, even preached two sermons from it.  The first focused on the words Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll that he embraced in his ministry as he declared and demonstrated God's favor for those on the edges of society, that is, the poor, oppressed and imprisoned.  We also noticed the synagogue’s positive response.   In the second sermon, we focused on how the atmosphere in the synagogue changed abruptly.  What began as a positive experience for the hometown man turned into an angry demonstration of rejection and murderous rage!  Why?  Why did they get so angry?  What did Jesus do that disturbed the equilibrium so drastically?

If Jesus had read the passage and sat down, the people would have been proud of him and he could have gone home feeling good about himself, but someone in the group could not leave well-enough alone! 

          

Yes, Jesus spoke gracious words but his claim that this scripture from Isaiah had been fulfilled in their hearing?  I don’t think so!  So, with that seed of doubt someone blurted out, “Isn’t this Joseph's son?"  This man standing before us, reading from our scroll cannot be the long-awaited Messiah, Anointed of God, because this is Joseph’s son. 

            

Seems Jesus could not leave well enough alone either!  He hears the skepticism in the question and anticipates other accusations that might be forming in the minds of the people. 

 ‘You are going to ask me to perform a miracle for you like I did at Capernaum.’  

At first glance that might seem like a valid request until we realize it is almost identical to one of the temptations that Jesus encountered in the wilderness.  Prove who you are.

          

“If you are the Son of God [perform a miracle] tell this stone to become bread.”[1]

            

Jesus resisted that temptation in the desert and he resists it now in the synagogue in Nazareth because he realizes the mindset of the people.  If he does not live up to their expectations they will conclude that God is not at work in him, that he is not really anointed to do God’s work and they will reject him. 

            

Jesus looks at those gathered for worship, family, friends, and neighbors, and says simply, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.”  In other words, he indicates they might be narrow minded and short sighted when it comes to recognizing what God is doing!

           

“But the truth is…”   Jesus goes on to say, God has often failed to live up to peoples’ expectations.  God has often chosen the most unlikely persons to demonstrate God’s work.  More than once God performed miracles outside the borders of Israel.  Scripture proves it, Jesus says. 

            

He goes on to say that the Jews were suffering and needed God’s help, but God sent Elijah to meet the needs of a foreign widow who lived outside Israel!  Another example, Jesus says, is Naaman the Syrian! …another foreigner, a leper, healed by Elisha, a respected Hebrew prophet. [2]  

            

Scripture indicates that God has worked in strange and unexpected ways and God is doing it now, Jesus seemed to be saying!  God chooses the most unusual ways and the most unusual people to accomplish his purposes… and this assertion by Jesus upset the people in the synagogue!  In fact, their rage overflowed and they prepared to kill him.

            

His neighbors and friends probably felt justified in what they were planning to do because Jesus had spoken lightly and carelessly about God and that is blasphemy!  The punishment for blasphemy was death—stoning to death, to be exact.  However, here in his hometown they were planning to hurl him off the cliff to his death because they did not want to re-think their way of looking at scripture.  What Jesus was saying did not feel comfortable to them.  Perhaps, with these examples, Jesus indicated that God was more gracious than they wanted God to be!

            

Such a violent reaction is difficult for us to understand but I think we can experience it to some extent.  Bear with me as I attempt to illustrate this.

            

Jesus reminded them of what God had done in the past with people on the margins of society, not “God’s people” but foreigners—a voiceless widow and an untouchable leper marginalized by his own country.  Such an implication infuriated the congregation.   As I pondered this dynamic, I thought of a phrase out of President Obama’s recent Inaugural address when he mentioned Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall—three examples similar in some ways to the examples Jesus used in the synagogue in Nazareth.  

The President elevated voiceless women and marginalized people in our society, people who advocated justice and mercy contrary to the dominant thought of their day, even contrary to the dominant Christian thought of the day.   Each of these examples forced many Christians to begin to re-think their understanding of certain scriptures!

            

Seneca Falls.  On July 19-20, 1848, women and men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the role of women in society.  Lucretia Mott, a Quaker woman, and Elizabeth Stanton a secular, non-Quaker, led the gathering.  The movements for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery often worked together.  Some people in both groups found their motivation for change from Christian scripture.   ALL PEOPLE, created in the image of God regardless of skin color, social status, or gender, deserved rights equal to those of the white male landowners.[3] 

            

Denying certain rights to women and advocating the right to own slaves were also positions based on an understanding of scripture.  Women were to remain silent and submit to the authority of their husbands.  Slaves were to submit to their masters.[4]  Advocating for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery produced conflict. 

            

In those days, people resisted change, but now, 165 years after Seneca Falls, we see truth was on the side of the women and slaves, just like Jesus said it was!  He came to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…

            

Slaves, considered property of the owners, were captive sources of labor.  Women, denied rights promised in the Constitution, were oppressed.  Those who owned slaves and oppressed women were blind to being oppressors.  They believed the Scriptures justified their dominant position in the world.   Yet as the Spirit moved, as human hearts changed, and as access to human rights unfolded people began to see that there are texts in the Bible that affirm the dignity of ALL PEOPLE.  

            

Selma.  Selma happened on a Sunday, March 7, 1965, in Alabama.  Slaves had been free for about 100 years with the right to vote and own property, but Jim Crow laws hindered or denied the descendants of slaves many of the rights that had been given to them.  In 1965, about 600 civil rights workers attempted to march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery to protest the abuses of the Jim Crow laws.  State and local police attacked the marchers at the edge of Selma, beating them with billy clubs and pelting them with tear gas.  On that day, the marchers turned back at the bridge on the edge of Selma and this incident became known as Bloody Sunday, a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement.  Later in the month, more than 2,000 protesters finally reached the governor’s office in Montgomery, escorted by federal troops and the National Guard. 

            

Many see this purely as a political incident, but I see it as an unfolding of Jesus’ ministry in this world.  Bloody Sunday exposed injustice and oppression.  As civil rights for ALL PEOPLE became the law of the land, oppression and injustice gradually became less.  Wherever that happens, the mission of Jesus expands and influences for good, like yeast in a lump of dough.  Good news is brought to the poor; those exploited by unjust laws, set free.  The proclamation of the Lord’s favor for everyone continued to reach more and more people. 

            

In Selma, Alabama and throughout the southern states, change came from the margins, contrary to the dominant thought of the day just as Jesus said it would.  That reality infuriated many people during that time and it still infuriates some people to this day.  A bias against the poor with a desire to repress certain segments of our society seems to exist despite what Jesus said and demonstrated with his life.   Is it possible that many of us continue to resist the leavening influence of the gospel that asks us to re-think our understanding of what scripture is saying?   

            

Stonewall.  I had to google this one!  Stonewall happened on June 28, 1969, just four years after Selma.  Stonewall was a spontaneous demonstration by the gay community, against the police in Stonewall Café in Greenwich Village, NY.  The gay community calls this a ‘spontaneous demonstration’ but the rest of society called it the Stonewall Riot!  A riot in a gay bar!  

            

So why, we might ask, did the President mention Stonewall in the context of women’s rights and civil rights?  After the demonstration at Stonewall in 1969, the gay community became bolder and began to demand equal rights denied them by the dominant society.

            

At this point, some will say, rather emphatically, that scripture clearly says homosexuality is an abomination before God.[5]  However, we must also remember that those who opposed a woman’s right to vote and those who opposed ending slavery and refused rights to the descendants of slaves justified their resistance with scripture! 

            

Remembering that, we have to ask ourselves, whether Jesus’ extending freedom to the oppressed and his proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor really included  ALL PEOPLE—even the gay, lesbian, and trans-gender?  All of a sudden, we realize that we might need to re-think our understanding of scripture!

            

If this line of thinking makes us a little uncomfortable and even angry, then perhaps we have experienced what the synagogue in Nazareth felt when Jesus confronted them! 

 
Added on May 1, 2014
The following article gives us another way to read the Scriptures.
THE SIN OF SODOM   a blog from Kissing Fish.      

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[1] Luke 4:3 

[2] 1 Kings 17:1-16; 2 Kings 5:1-19  

[3] Galatians 3:28-29

[4] 1 Corinthians 14:34; Ephesians 5:22; 6:5-8.

[5] Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 

The brief scanty histories presented here came from Wikipedia articles.  However, all, except the last one, have long been areas of interest in my study and research.  I will attempt to correct my ignorance of the last one.   [Note to self: Study other ‘abominations’ in scripture.]