Envy and Blame

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pilate “knew that it was out of envy that [the Jews] had delivered [Jesus] up.” It was evident to anyone with half a brain that the chief priests and the teachers of the Law were out to get Jesus because they feared for their position and reputation. Caiaphas himself said prophetically that “it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:50) They feared that if Jesus were elevated in the estimation of the people, the whole nation would follow after Him, and the priests and scribes would be dishonored.

Envy leads people to do some awful things. It leads to wars and genocides. It leads to murders and beatings. It leads to discrimination and division. It leads to people whom you might consider otherwise neighborly and peaceable doing and saying things that are downright despicable and destructive.

Of course, envy is nothing new. It began long, long ago, when Lucifer was filled with envy against the planned salvation of mankind. He was morbidly jealous that the Lord of Hosts would bypass the glorious heavenly angels and condescend to become such a simple thing as an human being. He was jealous of the love and fellowship the Lord chose to bestow upon the human race, and so he rebelled against God and against His hosts. He attempted to seize the throne of heaven, and for his efforts was thrown down to earth, and sentenced to hell forever.

Enraged by his heavenly defeat, the evil one determined to spend his envy on the children of God, and so he attacked Adam and Eve in the Garden, causing them to fall into sin and run into every kind of danger and death. The envious rage of the devil leads to his prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour and drag down into hell with him, thus depriving God of His due glory and worship.

Envy led Cain to kill his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy because the Lord respected Abel's offering but not Cain's. Envy led the men of Sodom and Gomorrah to seek evil deeds with the Men of God. Envy led David to take Saul's wives, and to take Bathsheba and kill her husband. Envy led to the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Envy led to the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem. Envy led to the beheading of John the Baptist. And this is but a sampling of the fruits of envy as recounted in Sacred Scripture.

Do not be fooled, however – envy is not limited to the characters of Holy Writ. Envy is alive and well today. You look at the house of your neighbor and see the new improvements he is doing this spring, and you feel envy. You look across the parking lot at the grocery store and see the cars that are newer and shinier than yours, and you feel envy. You look at the number of Facebook friends your friend has, and you feel envy. You look at the energy and vitality that that other person has, and you feel envy.

So you take out a line of credit to do some fixer-upper work. You buy a car you do not need. You start sending out gratuitous friend requests to everyone in sight. You take the pills or down the shakes or run the miles to “get in shape.” And does it quell the envy in your heart?

And then envy leads to blame. If you cannot have what you want, then you seek out someone to blame for your problems. Blaming someone makes you feel better, at least momentarily, because you can make someone else feel badly for your bad feelings.

You can blame the lazy and selfish unwed mothers for hanging out on the welfare dole and soaking up your tax dollars. You can blame the people on the other side of the political aisle for gumming up the wheels of government. You can blame the gays for destroying the marriages that no one has bothered to fight for in decades. You can blame the pro-death lobby for murdering the babies that you have not done anything to support. You can blame someone else for the world going to hell in a hand-basket, because the talking heads on the news services say it is someone else's fault. You can blame the government for taking too much tax and also for spending too much. You can blame your pastor for making you feel guilty for stuff.

Surely it was Jesus' fault that control of the Holy Land was slipping away from the Sanhedrin. Surely it was down to this guy who raised Lazarus from the dead, who healed the blind man on the Sabbath, who called “the establishment” out for their lack of leadership and dishonor of the Law. Surely it was this Jesus of Nazareth who was inciting the people to riot and insurrection against the Emperor.

Oh, wait – that was the Zealots. Oh, wait – that was the chief priests and scribes. Oh, wait – they were losing their power because they had been a thorn in the side of the Empire for centuries and the imperial patience had worn thin.

Perhaps the institution of marriage has been devalued and denigrated because no one taught the children of this generation what the value of marriage is. Perhaps the reason the tax bill is so high is because you expect the government to do for you what you will not do yourself. Perhaps the reason the welfare rolls are so clogged and people are so dependent on handouts is because true Christian charity has been replaced with referrals to government programs and blame heaped on someone else's head. What are you – your brother's keeper? What has the need of your neighbor to do with you? Hosanna! Save us, Lord!

You cry out to the Lord for salvation, and then turn around and do what? “They all said, 'Let Him be crucified!'” You, with the crowds of the Jews, cry for the death of the one who comes in the Name of the Lord. You clamor for the blood of the one who speaks the Word of the Lord. You scream for the head of the coming King who will sit on the throne of His father David.

And so He is. The Blessed One who comes in the Name of the Lord is crucified in the place of the whole people. Caiaphas will get what he prophesied. The crowds will see the death of the one against whom they rail. The blood of Jesus will be upon them and upon their children.

But, while they receive the blood-guiltiness for Jesus' death, the blood of Jesus is upon you and upon your children, not for condemnation but for salvation. Let Him be crucified, for His death upon the cross is the only means for your salvation. His blood sprinkled upon you is the death of sin and hell. His blood shed upon the cross is the undoing of the curse upon you and upon the whole human race. Let Him be crucified for you, for your salvation.

Jesus came in the Name of the Lord, not to be crowned king and placed upon the throne of David. He came to bear your envy, your jealousy, your rage. He came to quell the sorrow you feel at the good of others. He came to absorb the blame and hatred and strife that your envious and idolatrous heart churns out. All that is gone, washed away by the blood of the Blessed One who comes in the Name of the Lord to save His people from your sins.

Let Jesus be crucified, for then the cries of the crowd, the cries of your heart, the cries of all creation are answered – the Lord has saved His people, just as He promised He would. For He has been crucified, but He is now risen from the dead, lives and reigns with grace, mercy, and love for all mankind, for you. Look around: there is no one to blame, no one to envy. Whom could you envy? You have the greatest gift of all: the love of God and His forgiveness.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.