Village Shepherd

In the "Manchester Passion", a modern passion play enacted and sung on the streets of Manchester at Easter, Pontius Pilate was portrayed as a businessman. He was a smooth customer, dressed in a smart suit and flanked by a posse of secret police. He exuded wealth, power and position. He was typical of the sort of businessman who cares nothing for people and has reached the top by ruthlessly suppressing all opposition and by treading on those beneath him, with no thought for human dignity. But he was also the sort of person who is accepted and even revered by the public because he was someone who had made a success of life and had grown wealthy through his own efforts.

It was quite a shock to see him portrayed so plausibly as one of us, no longer quite in the character of someone we love to hate. Suddenly he seemed a more ambiguous figure who couldn't really be placed neatly into the enemy camp, for this figure brought wealth into the community and was a major employer.

Yet underneath all that, emphasised by the posse of secret police all around him, was the sneaking suspicion that this Pilate was the type of modern character who shows a blatant disregard for human welfare. This was the kind of businessman who has abused the developing world under the guise of bringing business to the indigenous inhabitants and thus improving their lot, but who has actually ruthlessly and cynically exploited them for his own profit, leaving them with nothing. Christian Aid is full of stories of local inhabitants of the developing world who have had their land taken from them by big business and who have been left with nothing.

This disregard for human needs and human rights seems to have started with the beginnings of time and has continued throughout history. The Old Testament is full of dire warnings of the sort of punishment God will rain upon those who blatantly ignore the needs of the poor and marginalised. The misfortunes of the Ancient Israelites, especially their misfortunes in war, were accepted as God's punishment for their evil deeds.

The age of the prophets covered some 400 years of Israelite history, from roughly 800 BCE to roughly 400 BCE. There were twelve minor prophets and four major prophets, so called simply because of the length of their books. Many of their books generally follow similar patterns and Zephaniah's book is typical. Zephaniah was a minor prophet who worked around 640-630 BCE, during the first decade of one of the good kings of the Old Testament, Josiah. Zephaniah warns against corruption and religious degradation, for although priests and people went through the motions of worship, their heart wasn't fixed upon God but upon power and exploitation and their own gain.

The first two chapters of the book describe the coming "Day of the Lord" as a time of doom and judgement and overwhelming disaster, but a change occurs in the final part of the final chapter, read for us today. Suddenly the doom and gloom is replaced by joy and delight and exultation, for "The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies," says Zephaniah. He goes on to reassure his readers that "The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

Zephaniah is talking about the holy remnant who remain loyal to the Lord and who will enjoy God's blessings poured upon them. For them, the Day of the Lord will be a feast day, for God will deal with all their oppressors at that time. And God will save the lame and gather the outcast, and will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time God will bring the faithful ones home, he will make them renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, and restore their fortunes.

But none of this happened immediately and it's only in retrospect that we have been able to identify the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the Day of the Lord, prophesied hundreds of years earlier by Zephaniah and many of the other minor prophets.

The crucifixion epitomised all that was worst and most depraved in humanity. In the "Manchester Passion" it was shocking to see Pilate portrayed as "one of us" and the sort of successful person whom we often admire, because that brought home to us the fact that the depravity of humanity lies within us all and can't be simply dismissed as something perpetrated by "them" and therefore nothing to do with us. We are all responsible for the greed and corruption of human power, because we allow it to continue. While we may moan and grumble about the huge salaries some people earn and throw up our hands in horror when some important person is convicted of corruption, we don't actually do anything to stop it. And in our heart of hearts, many of us would love to command the sort of wealth openly displayed by modern Pontius Pilates. We're all tarred with the corruption of our day, the sort of corruption which crucified Jesus.

But the resurrection had the last word. God has overcome depravity by raising Jesus to a new and amazing life and promising the same for all of us. Even Thomas the doubter was able to meet the risen Jesus for himself and through that experience knew for himself the truth of Zephaniah's final words. Through Jesus, God has indeed gathered in the outcast and changed their shame into praise. God has gathered us in and brought us home, he has made us renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, and has restored our fortunes before your eyes.

Despite our ongoing sin and corruption, this is indeed the day of the Lord. As Zephaniah said, let us rejoice and be glad in it.