Memory of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda

Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

This is the Gospel of the Poor;
Liberation for the Imprisoned;
Sight for the Blind;
Freedom for the Oppressed.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Luke 23, 13-25

Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people.
He said to them, 'You brought this man before me as a popular agitator. Now I have gone into the matter myself in your presence and found no grounds in the man for any of the charges you bring against him.
Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see, the man has done nothing that deserves death,
so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.'
But as one man they howled, 'Away with him! Give us Barabbas!'
(This man had been thrown into prison because of a riot in the city and murder.)
In his desire to set Jesus free, Pilate addressed them again,
but they shouted back, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!'
And for the third time he spoke to them, 'But what harm has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him flogged and then let him go.'
But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be crucified. And their shouts kept growing louder.
Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted.
He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned because of rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Son of man has come to serve
He who wishes to be great,
must be the servant of all.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Pilate�s sentence is clear, and Herod concurs: Jesus has done nothing to merit death. �What evil has he done? I have found in him no grounds for the sentence of death.� Jesus is innocent. But despite his innocence he is to be severely punished. The motive is certainly not legal; if anything, it is political and it meant to appease the hatred of the majority. But the hatred arrayed against this just man does not dissipate; indeed it keeps growing, like a tide or a storm: �Crucify him, crucify him!� There is fanaticism, perhaps even religious fanaticism, raging against the young prophet. They want to eliminate him because he is the enemy; he is not worth defending seriously, and he is not worth risking one�s life. And so Pilate �released the man who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.� This is the end of the story of Jesus, the story of an innocent man against whom the hatred and the fanaticism of the world were unleashed. And yet they are not able to stretch the tombstone of death over him.