By FRANK REMKIEWICZ
What happened to Jesus? Think about it, the person many people throughout the world recognize as the Son of God ended up on the wrong side of the Sanhedrin and, perhaps more importantly, the Roman occupation. What caused the Roman overlords to whip a man with a cat of nine tails that ripped the flesh from the body? What motivated the Roman soldiers to place a woven Gundelia plant with long, sharp thorns on Christ’s head? Why did Jesus have to walk 600 meters from the Praetorium to Golgotha carrying a cross that weighed from 90 pounds (the cross piece only) to 300 pounds (complete cross)? Let’s explore the spiritual upheaval versus the political unrest.
The Pax Romana was the concept of peace that was broadly based throughout the Mediterranean but was enforced with a Roman fist. The Latin phrase: “Civis Romana Sum” was the complementary phrase that translated to “I am a Roman citizen” and meant “do not mess with me or all hell will come down around you and all of yours”. During ancient Roman times, if you hurt a Roman citizen and the Roman government heard about it, Rome would send an army and wipe you, your family, and your town with all your neighbors off the face of the earth.
However, Jesus never crossed Rome; He chose the middle ground of the question. Once, the Jewish Pharisees tried to trick Jesus into an admission of treason against Rome. Jesus would have none of it. The Pharisees asked Jesus if it was okay to pay taxes to Rome. What the Pharisees really asked was whether Rome was supreme or whether YHWH (God) was supreme. Scripturally, a faction of Jesus’s followers believed that, as the Messiah, Jesus would overthrow the Roman rulers. This small group of followers believed that the Messiah was to be a temporal ruler. One who had come to destroy the Romans. But that was never the “Way” of Jesus. Jesus’s response was “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.” Jesus was not about this world. Jesus was about reestablishing the spiritual relationship between God and us.
Jesus was always about returning all of humanity to a right relationship with God. Jesus was about transforming each of our lives into a wholly loving relationship with His Father, our God. To Jewish leaders, this was a revolution. The Pharisees believed that Jesus’s way bypassed them. The Pharisees’ power was directly and overtly threatened. The larger the crowds grew, the bigger the threat to their power. Jesus preached the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11): “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because of righteousness, and you, when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me”. These are not the words of someone who wants to grab the seat of political power. These are the words of the Redeemer, promised to us by God, as early as in Genesis.
What the Pharisees only heard Jesus say were words like these: “So obey everything they (the Pharisees) teach you, but don’t do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else. (Matthew 23:3 et al), and “You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You’re nothing but show-offs. You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You won’t go in yourselves, and you keep others from going in.” and “You’re nothing but show-offs. You’re like tombs that have been whitewashed. On the outside, they are beautiful, but inside, they are full of bones and filth.” That’s what you are like. “Outside, you look good, but inside, you are evil and only pretend to be good. You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?”
So how did Jesus go from a Jewish manger in Bethlehem to a Roman cross outside Jerusalem? The Jewish leaders could not put Jesus to death. A death sentence could only be imposed by the political authority, Rome. So, the Chief Priests and the Sanhedrin created a plot to have Rome, the political authority, put Jesus to death. That way, the ruling religious leaders could retain their power. The Jewish Leadership got its way. Rome put Jesus to death, and the Sanhedrin retained their authority.
Jesus had so much more in store for everyone. Starting with the Resurrection of Christ and continuing forever, all we need to do to keep the ball rolling is accept the gift of grace that God gives us all, and Christianity lives on in each of our lives as we strive to improve our spiritual relationship with God continually. There is no better time to reflect on all the turmoil that led Jesus to Golgotha and His death than in the days leading up to Christ’s resurrection on Easter morning.
It seems that we have three choices. We can grab political power by the throat and try to force our will on the entire earth, “Pax Americana”. We can use our Christianity to move the political authority to do our bidding throughout the world. Or we can redouble our efforts to strengthen our relationship with God by fully embracing the two great commandments Christ gave us, along with living lives that reflect the Beatitudes of our Lord. The choice is ours alone.
Do not forget, this is your check-in from my initial 2026 column. How are you doing? Been to worship lately? Joined a community organization? Helped a neighbor by driving that person to a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment? If this has slipped your mind, that’s okay. We pick ourselves up, dust off, and start again this coming month.
Frank Remkiewicz is an area resident and contributes a monthly column focused primarily on faith and religion. He can be reached at fremkiewicz@gmail.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
