By Norris Burkes Easter, April 20, 2025
No matter what you’ve read, I can promise you this – the Jesus insurrection was put down quickly and decisively. The anarchists, AKA disciples, who were occupying the garden never really had a chance.
The disciples barely seemed to know the smackdown was coming when the occupying powers, caving to the demand of religious leaders, issued an arrest warrant for their insurgency leader.
“Bring this Jesus to me,” said Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect (governor) of Judaea. “Let’s see what kind of leader he claims to be. Does he think himself their king, their God? If so, I’ll make sure he becomes just another revolutionary nailed to a tree.”
Gaining Pilate’s approval, the deputized posse stormed the Gethsemane Garden, a place where Jesus was known to hang with the homeless. The officers expected a fight, or they at least hoped to instigate one. They came armed with clubs and swords.
To be certain of their target, they bribed a Jesus insider, a real Judas, to plant an identifying kiss on Jesus’ cheek.
The subject himself offered no resistance. After all, no matter what the prostitutes and degenerate cripples said, Jesus was just a man.
The only struggle came when a sword-packing follower sliced off a deputy’s ear. Eyewitnesses claimed Jesus miraculously reattached it, but the religious leaders dismissed that as fake news.
Others claimed that Jesus’ quiet surrender paved his way to martyrdom. By the time their claim gained traction, Jesus would become much more than a martyr.
Early the next morning, the pathetic arrestee was hauled before Pilot where the governor asked him if he thought himself to be a king.
No response. Only unassuming surrender.
This is going to be easy,” Pilate must have thought. “I’ll make him king — King of Calvary’s Hill.”
So much for this petty uprising.
“Not so fast,” pleaded the first lady. “I had a bad dream about him. You shouldn’t have anything to do with him.”
“Dreams! Probably just something you ate,” Pilate told his wife.
Then, with a pontific wave, Pilate motioned Jesus into the hands of tormentors who mockingly crowned him with a wreath of puncturing thorns. Nice touch.
In the meantime, Pilate washed his hands. Just another day living in the dream seat of power. Insurrection squashed.
By Friday afternoon, it was a done deal. Even Jesus knew it by then: “It is finished!”
The government prosecution of the fledgling rebellion was far-reaching and absolute. The orders were signed and sealed, then executed with the utmost prejudice.
But Pilate had looked at this all wrong.
He, as well as the religious folks who’d concocted the charges, had operated under the misguided assumption that the coup would come by force.
You can’t blame them. It was also the shared assumption of Jesus’ disciples, including Judas, their disgruntled group treasurer.
The day would eventually be called Good Friday by his followers, but it Friday was only good because Sunday belonged to God.
And when Sunday came, it arrived with an immeasurable power not before seen by anyone on this earth. And it was manifested first to a woman.
On that long-ago first Easter morning, when a few women dared enter Jesus’ empty tomb, they were confronted by angels, asking, “Why do you seek the living among the dead. The one you are looking for is risen” (Luke 24:6).
The words were final witness to the fact that God’s Kingdom has never been about any earthly kingdom.
His Kingdom has always pointed toward the Resurrection, both his and ours.
Happy Good Friday and God Sunday!
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