Spoiler alert

The Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson reflects on the parts played by some in the last week of Jesus’ life on the journey through Holy Week.

A NEW film release. A novel from the bestseller shelves. A television programme. None of us like the ending to be wasted and so ‘spoiler alert’ is becoming a more and more common phrase.

However, while ‘spoiler alert’ warns us that we are about to hear the plot or subplot it is immediately followed with details and so the ending is revealed. That could be said about the Easter message. We know how it ends and so there is not the element of surprise that the followers of Jesus experienced. Yet, each year we journey through Holy Week.

Over the years, I have come to realise the importance of travelling from Palm Sunday to Easter and reflecting on the events and the people of that significant week. We know what happens, we know the stone was rolled away, we know that Jesus rose from the grave, and so it is easy to gloss over the detail. No matter how familiar we are with the events leading up to Good Friday, no matter how well we know what happens next, I encourage us all to open up the scriptures, read and reflect.

Every year I discover something I have previously passed over as I was rushing to fulfil every diary commitment. This year, and for this brief reflection, I thought I would take the time to focus on some of the individuals we read about during this special week. We can learn much from them and as an aid to our reflecting on their role I wish to highlight some of them.

As we enter into Holy week with the shadow of the cross beginning to grow we find Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus, who gave Jesus a place of rest and some relief from the crowds. They opened their home and offered hospitality with Martha setting us an example of giving active support and Mary reminding us of the need to sit and listen and simply be. Both sisters have provided inspiration over the years. However, during Holy Week they are often relegated from our focus by the events that follow.

“ No matter how familiar we are with the events leading up to Good Friday, no matter how well we know what happens next, I encourage us all to open up the scriptures, read and reflect.

Philip is only mentioned a few times in the Gospels and is often overlooked in our reflections. He was the one who earlier had found the boy with two small fish and five loaves of bread that led to the feeding of the five thousand. During Holy Week, it was Philip that the ‘Greeks’ sought out. They wanted to get to know Jesus but they feared that their background, their nationality, would exclude them so they approached Philip, who in turn spoke to Andrew and both introduced them to Jesus. In this encounter we see Jesus extending a welcome to everybody.

Scotland’s patron saint Andrew was also the one who introduced Peter to Jesus. Peter, as you will recall, went up the mountain with James and John where Jesus was transfigured; Jesus was glowing as he spoke with Moses and Elijah. The same James and John requested of Jesus at the Last Supper that they would like to sit one on his right, the other on his left in the Kingdom of heaven. They wanted the greatest position of honour and, of course, they were reminded that those who want to be first will be last. Peter also sat there. We see him as being the first among equals. He tended to be impetuous and we can hear Jesus in Luke’s Gospel saying, ‘Simon, Simon! Listen!’ He needed to learn from Mary and take time to stop and listen to what Jesus was saying. Peter promised that he would be with Jesus through thick and thin. “I tell you, Peter,’ Jesus said, ‘the cock will not crow tonight until you have said three times that you do not know me.” Before it was dawn, Peter denied Jesus three times and yet Jesus was happy to sit at the Table with him and share the bread and wine of what has become known as Holy Communion. Also sitting at that table was Judas who, for 30 pieces of silver, had betrayed his Lord and Master.

The resurrection is important to us, not because it is a nice ending to the story of Jesus but because it is the beginning of our story with Jesus.

Over the week, things quickly transformed from the joy of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the devastation of the cross, and there wasn’t even enough time to prepare his body for burial! At this point another individual comes into view as Jesus was laid in the tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph wasn’t a disciple. Indeed, he was an establishment figure who requested permission from Pilot to take the body of Jesus from the cross and arrange for his hasty burial. Throughout Good Friday, watching the events unfold were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene all of whom were deep in thought reflecting on what had happened.

In this refection, I have not had the opportunity to mention many of the other individuals who play a role during Holy Week. The other disciples, Malchus (the High Priest’s servant who had his ear cut off by Peter), Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate who played such a significant role in the arrest and trial of Jesus. We must not forget Barabbas who was freed on the demand of the crowds at the expense of Jesus, and Simon of Cyrene who was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus.

From what the Gospels tell us, there did not seem to be any thoughts of something going to happen after the crucifixion.

Those characters who were part of the Holy Week journey were not expecting that on the third day he would be raised from the dead. In their mind, this was the end.

That was clear as we enter into the early hours of the Sunday morning when the women who followed Jesus went with the appropriate spices (which include myrrh, one of the famous gifts of the Wise Men) to complete the burial ritual. This was not the end. This was not an ‘Amen’… for Jesus had risen… thanks be to God.

The resurrection is important to us, not because it is a nice ending to the story of Jesus but because it is the beginning of our story with Jesus, for we become individual characters in a continuing story – a story in which our faith can triumph over death just as did the faith of Jesus.

I hope this brief reflection encourages you to read the accounts of Holy Week, and of the individuals involved, and to reflect upon them. We know what happened. The resurrection that followed was not a surprise but it still brings us great joy… for God so loved the world…!

The Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2024/25 and minister at Strathaven: Trinity.