Watching from afar as the drama unfurls in London of
Teresa May, the Prime Minister, signing and sending a letter signalling the
decision of the UK government to leave the European Union after 46 years, I
felt, as many do, a great sadness. Here is a leader who campaigned for the UK
to stay in the EU as she felt, despite its limitations, the EU was basically a
great achievement and the UK should be in it. But then she was offered the
highest office in the land with one condition: she must lead the country out of
the EU. Can we say she preferred her job to her judgement? It sounds a harsh
thing to say.
I have no interest in implying that the good lady
has anything in common with Pontius Pilate but it cannot go without notice that
the Roman Governor of Judea did something similar. He was faced with an awkward
dilemma. Jesus was brought before him as a dangerous agitator but Pilate could
find no evidence and his instinctive judgement was that the accused was
innocent. He wanted to set him free. But Pilate was not in a strong position.
The general public had been manipulated to demand Jesus be executed and to
stand in their way would be risky. For the sake of peace – and his own job – he
decided to condemn him.
We get the leaders we deserve and we would be hypocrites
if we claimed we always followed our best judgement. Faced with complex
pressures – from outside ourselves and from within – we buckle and compromise.
It is a step on the way to freedom to admit this. But then do we need the
greatness of Nelson Mandela or his recently dead colleague of Robben Island,
Ahmed Kathrade, to retain our integrity?
Signs are indicators of places not yet reached. When
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead it was a sign. Lazarus would die a second
time. For him it was a temporary reprieve. But raising someone from the dead is
a powerful sign of the new way that Jesus proclaimed. If people everywhere, and
especially those in authority, could begin to follow the enlightened judgements
of their conscience, we would have a far better world. When Jesus rose from the
dead he left the linen cloths behind him. But Lazarus emerged from the tomb
still bound. All the complex ties and emotions we all experience still held him
captive. If the Lord is “to Easter” in us we will need to be unbound.
2 April 2017 Lent
Sunday 5 A
Ezekiel 37:12-14 Romans
8:8-11 John
11:1-45
