{"id":15287,"date":"2021-04-01T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=15287"},"modified":"2021-04-03T14:15:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T14:15:50","slug":"the-hangover-easter-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/sole-significance\/the-hangover-easter-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hangover – Easter Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oh man… what did I do yesterday<\/strong>?\u00a0 <\/span>It seems like a terrible nightmare.\u00a0 <\/span>I am awake now – covered in sweat, trembling and a headache like I had drunk a gallon of wine last night.\u00a0 <\/span>I was caught up in something terrible. Something demonic – a mob.\u00a0 <\/span>How did this all go so sideways and so quickly?<\/span><\/p>\n

A mere few days ago, the streets were abuzz with news of this Messiah – they said he would be the one who would lead us in victory to free ourselves from these damn Romans.\u00a0 <\/span>To bring about the promised rule and reign of YWH.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, I didn\u2019t believe the hype, you know, yet another wannabe messiah – who was the last one? Yeah – that guy Barabbas. That guy ended up in Pilates prison in pretty short order.\u00a0 <\/span>Well, for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Jesus guy comes riding in on a donkey.\u00a0 <\/span>We laughed and cheered as his triumphant<\/em> entry on the back of a donkey was making a mockery of Rome\u2019s annual military parade. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was caught up in it all.\u00a0 <\/span>The joy, the laughter and the hope that maybe this Jesus fella might be the one.\u00a0 <\/span>He didn\u2019t look like much, really, but his reputation for healings, signs, and wonders had everyone abuzz with Jesus Fever.\u00a0 <\/span>I had it too, and we all had a great celebration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later that night, word\u00a0<\/span>spread that this Jesus was arrested in a garden just outside the city.\u00a0 <\/span>Poof, just like that, another would-be saviour to add to the long list of wannabe\u2019s before him.<\/span><\/p>\n

SHIT!<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>I knew better.\u00a0 <\/span>I shouldn\u2019t have believed the hype….\u00a0 <\/span>and yet, there was something that seemed different about him.\u00a0 <\/span>Something that gave me cause to risk hoping again.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Surprise, Su -fricken-prise!<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>Hope crushed again by these filthy Romans – ah, but I should have known as much.\u00a0 <\/span>I feel so foolish. \u00a0 <\/span>I feel angry. \u00a0 <\/span>Angry at everyone and everything – Rome, this Jesus guy… and mad as hell at YWH.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know what?\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not just angry. I\u2019m\u00a0furious<\/strong>. My soul is ablaze in rage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m sick and tired of living under the greasy thumb of Rome and all these snake oil salesmen peddling fantasies of liberation, hope, and faith – such bullshit!!<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I heard that this Jesus guy was to be taken to the authorities.\u00a0 <\/span>I thought, \u201cgood.\u00a0 <\/span>Make an example of him.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s cruel for these kinds of guys to peddle their false (sigh) hope. I knew I had to be there. I had to see this guy get his.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trial was wild – the courtyard was packed.\u00a0 <\/span>The crowd was electric – waves of energy coursing through the mob.\u00a0 <\/span>It seemed to become something much more than the total of us all.\u00a0 <\/span>It took on a blood-thirsty life of its own<\/strong>. I (deep sigh) was very much a part of it.\u00a0 <\/span>Caught up in the collective rage spewing its sulphurous provocations and taunts.<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point, the officials took this Jesus guy away, and in a while, they brought him back – beaten to a pulp.\u00a0 <\/span>The crowd cheered as this blood-drenched man was paraded before us.\u00a0 <\/span>But… it wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Romans didn\u2019t get it.\u00a0 <\/span>They couldn\u2019t understand the fomenting rage. This rage couldn\u2019t be assuaged without violence – without murder.\u00a0 <\/span>They tried a bait and switch – a swap.\u00a0 <\/span>To release Jesus or another revolutionary, Barabbas. \u00a0 <\/span>In our mounting rage, we weren\u2019t to be distracted.\u00a0 <\/span>The atmosphere had been chummed with self-righteousness, dashed hopes over and over again, helplessness, religious piety and political rhetoric – nothing quite like these to ignite the collective rage. It burned so hot, so fast… it wouldn\u2019t be quenched by anything less than this Jesus\u2019 last drop of blood.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pilate, the ol\u2019 boy, looked baffled. He looked genuinely frightened.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019d seen angry mobs before and knew all too well that not dealing with it could lead to full-on mass rebellion. The powers that be in Rome would definitely not be happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pilate addressed the mob and asked what to do with Jesus. In what seemed like an ecstatic climax of collective rage, in a chorus of disfigured humanity, we screamed:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCRUCIFY HIM!! CRUCIFY HIM!!\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pilate recoiled by the force of the demonic response.\u00a0 <\/span>As I reflect on his action, it strikes me that a seasoned Roman leader would not be phased by such vicious sentiment. This was different.\u00a0 <\/span>This, too, should have been a clue, but by this time, I was already lost in my own rage and caught up in the toxicity and intoxication of the mob.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus was taken away by the guards – to be prepared for the party<\/em>. \u00a0 <\/span>The mob lingered, raging together, stoking each other with fresh fire from the likes of the depths of Gehenna.\u00a0 <\/span>We laughed and cheered as we recounted seeing Jesus after being beaten and scourged.\u00a0 <\/span>His body was deeply marred and blood-soaked.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember a hush. Then the crowd began to murmur with word that the prisoners, along with this Jesus, were being led out of the city – to the hill they called the skull.\u00a0 <\/span>The parade of misery had begun<\/strong> – and I wanted a front-row seat. \u00a0 <\/span>Still angry as hell – enflamed by the mob and my own pain. \u00a0 <\/span>Somebody had to pay.\u00a0 <\/span>Somebody had to pay big time for how I\u2019m feeling, how I suffer.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I remember when I saw him – it was a cauldron of horror, pleasure, rage and a slightly bitter taste of satisfaction – that finally justice<\/em> was going to be served.<\/span><\/p>\n

Struggling to carry his beam, Jesus looked like they had laid another beating on him. The pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9<\/span>sis<\/span>tance<\/span><\/em>\u00a0was a crown of thorns they had woven and jammed upon his brow. So pathetic, so weak. \u00a0 <\/span>How could I have ever thought this guy was worthy of my hope? My worship?<\/span><\/p>\n

I screamed insults and jeers \u2018til I was blue in the face.\u00a0 <\/span>I wasn\u2019t alone as I saw others with faces contorted and grotesque, spewing their venom too.\u00a0 <\/span>We reached the Skull, and they threw Jesus down on the beams, lashed his hands and feet to the timber and began to drive the spikes into his hands and feet.\u00a0 <\/span>His screams of agony seemed to bring the mob to a crescendo.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then the Romans, just before they hoisted his cross, nailed a sign to the cross that read \u201cKing of the Jews.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I couldn\u2019t believe it was even possible – the mob lost its mind to a whole new level of rage.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cNo King but Caesar! No King but Caesar!!!<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I can\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 <\/span>Oh man, I was screaming it too.\u00a0 <\/span>Screaming my allegiance to the empire.\u00a0 <\/span>The same empire that has been brutally oppressing us for what seems like forever.\u00a0 <\/span>What was I thinking?!<\/span><\/p>\n

We watched in delight while we joked and jeered as Jesus hung there in agony.\u00a0 <\/span>Struggling for each breath as his life slipped toil-fully away.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s all so surreal.\u00a0<\/span>I am awake now – covered in sweat, trembling and a headache like I had drunk a gallon of wine last night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through this pounding headache, I can\u2019t get Jesus’ dying words out of my head.\u00a0 <\/span>This – the only vivid memory from the day before – as he hung in agony, with people hurling insults and vulgarities – he kept crying over and over again:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather, forgive them.\u00a0 <\/span>They aren\u2019t in their right mind. They don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 <\/span>Please forgive them.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>And with his last breath, I heard him say, \u201cIt is finished<\/strong>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These words are etched into my brain – even the morning after they assail my mind over and over – thundering in my heart. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

OH MY GOD. WHAT HAVE I DONE??<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What was I thinking? \u00a0– all I wanted was revenge, someone to pay for my crappy lot in life.\u00a0 <\/span>For everything that should have gone my way and didn\u2019t.\u00a0 <\/span>In some strange way, I actually believed we were doing God a favour by killing this Jesus<\/strong>. Someone had to pay, and yesterday – it was this Jesus. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But I just can\u2019t get his words out of my mind.\u00a0 <\/span>In the midst of agony, jeers, insults, accusations – the vitriol of my own and the collective rage and violence – he prayed for us. \u00a0 <\/span>He prayed for me, \u201cFather forgive him.\u00a0 <\/span>He isn\u2019t in his right mind. He doesn\u2019t get it.\u00a0 <\/span>Please forgive him.\u201d<\/strong> Over and over again.<\/span><\/p>\n

OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE??\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My worst. \u00a0My rage. \u00a0My violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

My shame.<\/span><\/p>\n

And he responded with … (heaving sob)…<\/span><\/p>\n

LOVE.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oh man… what did I do yesterday?\u00a0 It seems like a terrible nightmare.\u00a0 I am awake now – covered in sweat, trembling and a headache like I had drunk a gallon of wine last night.\u00a0 I was caught up in something terrible. Something demonic – a mob.\u00a0 How did this all go so sideways and…","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[710,582,724,644,608,723],"class_list":["post-15287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sole-significance","tag-anger","tag-easter","tag-good-friday","tag-non-violence","tag-salvation","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}