When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. ”Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
”If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, ”testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”
“Why did you strike me?” is a question for our times. The news I read these days is full of reports about people who have lost the ability to dialog and are resorting to physical violence. Spitting on people, hitting them, yelling at them is rationalized by discounting the personhood of the Other. When we define someone else’s speech as hate, it is easy to equate fighting that person with fighting hate itself. The only problem is that the hate is often limited to the person hurting the other. So hate becomes the excuse to hate.
Similarly, the Pharisees and chief priests have defined what Jesus says as “hate speech.” They didn’t call it that, of course, but the effect was the same as it is today. Since what Jesus taught undermined their power and authority, what Jesus said must be bad. If what he said is bad then hurting Jesus himself is just an extension of punishing the bad things they claimed he said. In their minds, hating Jesus was good.
The irony of this juxtaposition of man’s hate against God’s love is almost beyond parody. How do you read this story and not wonder how the chief priests could be so blind?! Yet the sad fact is that they were, and so are we. This blindness is endemic with humans. Jesus taught about this as recorded in Matthew 7: 1-5:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
We lash out at that which threatens us. We hate those who put us in a bad light. We are angry with those who speak what we don’t want to hear. All this is normal for a normal human being. But for a child of God normal is turned upside down. When threatened we reach out. When hated we love. When confronted by anger we respond with humility. Yet even in reaching out, in love, and humility, there is room to speak the truth.
“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”
Food for Thought: How do you understand Jesus’ response to this situation? Do his words and actions fit with your understanding of God’s love?
Jesus’ response to personal offense and pain was silence or forgiveness. yet He certainly spoke up and acted on behalf of others who were oppressed spiritually or otherwise. This is a great model to follow, it is just very hard to put into practice.