Today's Gospel in Art - The Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices

Christ Rejected, by John Sartain, based on original painting by Benjamin West © Alamy / Christian Art

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 23rd October 2021 - Luke 13:1-9

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, 'Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.'

He told this parable: 'A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, "Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?" "Sir," the man replied "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down."'

Reflection on the Engraving

Our Gospel reading today talks about two events which would have resonated with Jesus' listening audience but have now been somewhat lost on us. Luke is the only evangelist who mentions these two tragedies. The mention of Pilate's mingling the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices appears to refer to a massacre of a group of Galilean pilgrims when they travelled to Jerusalem. Our reading does not tell us why they were slaughtered. Luke already portrays Pilate to be a brutal leader, preparing us for when we meet him again at Jesus' trial (see Luke 22:14-23:56 and our engraving).

The two calamities which are described remind us that we live in a world in which we are not in control. Bad things can happen which are out of our control. When we are confronted with a friend dying from cancer, a hurricane hitting Haiti, forest fires destroying houses, etc., we try to come up with rational explanations of what happened. But we realise we cannot explain all events. Somehow if we try to make sense of such events or try to find an explanation, it helps us to come to terms with what happened. But either we put our effort into trying to explain events that can't be explained, or we put our effort and trust in God. Easier said than done, I know. Jesus in our reading does not promise that we will be free from tragedy, but He does urge us to avoid false self-assurances or self-explanations.

Our engraving from circa 1870 shows Pilate in full action. We see Jesus being rejected by the Jewish High Priest, the elders and the people of Jerusalem when brought before Pontius Pilate. We see and 'hear' the shouting, chaos and rejection. Pilate, arm outstretched pointing towards Christ, is soliciting the rulers, but the High Priest with both arms outstretched in the centre, exclaims "Away with him!". In the foreground we see Mary Magdalene lying on the cross which Jesus will start to carry shortly… A cross we share in when our own tragedies hit us…

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/968
Christian Art - www.christian.art/