by Rev. Richard Barker
My dear parishioners, as we approach the passion readings in our annual celebrations of Palm Sunday and Good Friday, we remember how the Roman soldiers mocked the kingship of Christ with the intent of shaming him publicly before his crucifixion. I would like to tell you about the "Game of the King." The Romans believed in many gods. One of the oldest in the Roman pantheon was Saturn, whom the ancients believed to be the god of agriculture and the father of Zeus, the ruler of earth from Mount Olympus. Our weekday Saturday is named after Saturn.
The Romans celebrated the satunalia festivals annually in mid-December in honor of Saturn. These revelries, lasting up to seven days, were remarkable for the liberties granted to the people. Slaves were permitted to ridicule their masters. They could speak freely upon every subject. All animosity ceased, no criminals were executed, schools were shut, war was never declared. There was merriment, commotion, and debauchery all around.
During the Saturnalia, it was customary for the Roman soldiers to play a game called the "Game of the King”. One of the soldiers would use the tip of his sword to carve out a rough game board on the surface of one of the huge pavement stones of a popular street. On this improvised game board would be carved the "lifeline" of the festival king.
Next, they crowned as king a designated slave. The slave-king, a poor wretch, would live in royal splendor, escorted by the Roman cohort throughout the festival days of Saturnalia. But at its end, the slave-king was compelled to commit public suicide on the altar of Saturn. Christians have always regarded such customs as grotesque and barbaric. For the chosen slave was not a king, but a pawn and a pitiful victim.
The soldiers reprised the game of the king when they received Jesus into their custody from the Jewish authorities. For one day, Jesus was made to be a slave-king. He wore a scarlet military cloak (John’s gospel recalls purple) which clung to the lacerated flesh of his back. A crudely woven crown of thorns was thrust on him, ravaging the skin of his head and anointing him in his own blood. The soldiers stuck a reed in his right hand as a scepter. They repeatedly spit on him and struck his face. They mocked him, saying "All hail, King of the Jews!" [Jn 19:3]
To the soldiers all this was a diversion, merely one of their many blood sports. They had no knowledge of God, the One who has power over all human games. Neither did they know that Jesus knew God as Abba. To borrow from the Old Testament book called “Wisdom of Solomon” 13:8-9: “Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if (these Romans) had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?”
This Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man and Son of God, who died to deliver us from death, cries out on the cross. Profoundly isolated and traumatized, absolutely all alone, he bears the crucible of human sin and suffering which no other shoulders could ever carry. Unbelievably to those who heard him sigh, he intercedes for his accusers, judges and executioners. “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” [Lk 23:34]
This Jesus was made to be lower than a slave for the sake of your very own life. He is your Christ-God crucified. Why such an ordeal and death? So that in your poverty of spirit, God's kingdom will be yours. That as you mourn and grieve, you'll be comforted. That God may satisfy your deepest hunger and thirst for a moral and truthful life.
Jesus was both sacrifice and victim for the sake of peaceful and gentle human beings, that they may be called children of God and inherit the earth. [cf. Mt 5:1-12] If you're weary and exhausted like Jesus, you'll have a place to lay your head. [cf. Lk 9:58] If you die to your old sinful self and kneel in spirit and truth before Jesus your slave-king, you will live again.
In the present-day old quarter of Jerusalem where the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) cuts through, below the Ecce Home Basilica, there’s a magnificent underground excavation of the real Via Romanum (Roman road) on which Jesus walked. It lies about 15 - 18 feet below the present day narrow stone street you may have walked while praying the Stations of the Cross in the Old City. This lighted underground stretch of pavement stones is called the lithostrotos. You reach the site from inside the Sisters of Zion Convent by descending narrow stone steps into the cool, dimly-lighted cavern.
In Hebrew, the place is called gabbatha, referring to the location of Pontius Pilate’s judgement seat at the Fortress Antonia, the scene where the soldiers brutalized Jesus. It’s highly likely that Jesus himself walked on these 2,000 year old rectangular paving stones when visiting Jerusalem, its temple, and when standing trial before Pilate. On one of these excavated stones appears a striking image, a rough circular design scratched into its surface. There is a line in the middle of it. It is severed. It is the game of the king. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.
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My dear parishioners, as we approach the passion readings in our annual celebrations of Palm Sunday and Good Friday, we remember how the Roman soldiers mocked the kingship of Christ with the intent of shaming him publicly before his crucifixion. I would like to tell you about the "Game of the King." The Romans believed in many gods. One of the oldest in the Roman pantheon was Saturn, whom the ancients believed to be the god of agriculture and the father of Zeus, the ruler of earth from Mount Olympus. Our weekday Saturday is named after Saturn.The Romans celebrated the satunalia festivals annually in mid-December in honor of Saturn. These revelries, lasting up to seven days, were remarkable for the liberties granted to the people. Slaves were permitted to ridicule their masters. They could speak freely upon every subject. All animosity ceased, no criminals were executed, schools were shut, war was never declared. There was merriment, commotion, and debauchery all around.During the Saturnalia, it was customary for the Roman soldiers to play a game called the "Game of the King”. One of the soldiers would use the tip of his sword to carve out a rough game board on the surface of one of the huge pavement stones of a popular street. On this improvised game board would be carved the "lifeline" of the festival king.Next, they crowned as king a designated slave. The slave-king, a poor wretch, would live in royal splendor, escorted by the Roman cohort throughout the festival days of Saturnalia. But at its end, the slave-king was compelled to commit public suicide on the altar of Saturn. Christians have always regarded such customs as grotesque and barbaric. For the chosen slave was not a king, but a pawn and a pitiful victim.The soldiers reprised the game of the king when they received Jesus into their custody from the Jewish authorities. For one day, Jesus was made to be a slave-king. He wore a scarlet military cloak (John’s gospel recalls purple) which clung to the lacerated flesh of his back. A crudely woven crown of thorns was thrust on him, ravaging the skin of his head and anointing him in his own blood. The soldiers stuck a reed in his right hand as a scepter. They repeatedly spit on him and struck his face. They mocked him, saying "All hail, King of the Jews!" [Jn 19:3]To the soldiers all this was a diversion, merely one of their many blood sports. They had no knowledge of God, the One who has power over all human games. Neither did they know that Jesus knew God as Abba. To borrow from the Old Testament book called “Wisdom of Solomon” 13:8-9: “Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if (these Romans) had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?”This Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man and Son of God, who died to deliver us from death, cries out on the cross. Profoundly isolated and traumatized, absolutely all alone, he bears the crucible of human sin and suffering which no other shoulders could ever carry. Unbelievably to those who heard him sigh, he intercedes for his accusers, judges and executioners. “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” [Lk 23:34]This Jesus was made to be lower than a slave for the sake of your very own life. He is your Christ-God crucified. Why such an ordeal and death? So that in your poverty of spirit, God's kingdom will be yours. That as you mourn and grieve, you'll be comforted. That God may satisfy your deepest hunger and thirst for a moral and truthful life.Jesus was both sacrifice and victim for the sake of peaceful and gentle human beings, that they may be called children of God and inherit the earth. [cf. Mt 5:1-12] If you're weary and exhausted like Jesus, you'll have a place to lay your head. [cf. Lk 9:58] If you die to your old sinful self and kneel in spirit and truth before Jesus your slave-king, you will live again.In the present-day old quarter of Jerusalem where the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) cuts through, below the Ecce Home Basilica, there’s a magnificent underground excavation of the real Via Romanum (Roman road) on which Jesus walked. It lies about 15 - 18 feet below the present day narrow stone street you may have walked while praying the Stations of the Cross in the Old City. This lighted underground stretch of pavement stones is called the lithostrotos. You reach the site from inside the Sisters of Zion Convent by descending narrow stone steps into the cool, dimly-lighted cavern.In Hebrew, the place is called gabbatha, referring to the location of Pontius Pilate’s judgement seat at the Fortress Antonia, the scene where the soldiers brutalized Jesus. It’s highly likely that Jesus himself walked on these 2,000 year old rectangular paving stones when visiting Jerusalem, its temple, and when standing trial before Pilate. On one of these excavated stones appears a striking image, a rough circular design scratched into its surface. There is a line in the middle of it. It is severed. It is the game of the king. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary.