The Suspense Increases

The verses from the four Gospel accounts in the weeks leading up to Palm Sunday, and ultimately Easter, each illustrate a foreboding and increasingly suspenseful story involving Jesus, his followers, and the leaders of the priests and of the regions.

I think all Catholics—even all Christians—would agree that Christmas and Easter represent the two most important and celebrated events in the Church calendar. That said, I find that the Christmas story does not have the same intensity in the lead-up to the actual event as does Easter. Yes, there is the Advent season, the Advent wreath, and some possible apprehension present when the Gospels speak of Herod’s decree following Jesus’s birth that all males under the age of two be killed. I do find there to be some suspense in these chapters, but not nearly as suspenseful a plotline as the one leading up to Jesus’s capture and killing. Perhaps it is because I know deep down that the Christmas story is one that concludes with a happy ending—the birth of Christ—while the Easter story ends with a gruesome torture and crucifixion of the person who was created and sent to be the savior for all.

In today’s Gospel reading, we read that the leaders of the Pharisees are collectively bewildered at how to respond to Jesus, the many miracles he is performing, and the increase in followers these miracles are creating. They fear what the Romans may do—not to Jesus, but to them and their people as a whole. They surmise that if they allow Jesus to continue performing miracles and growing his number of believers, the Romans will take their land and their nation. This concern causes one leader to posit that it is better for one to die than for all the(ir) people to do so. The Gospel of John then continues by explaining that this leader prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation. Two lines later, it says, “So from that day on they planned to kill him.” Not much of a prophesy in my opinion if you yourself plan to carry out the plan you have just predicted, but maybe that’s just me.

This prophesy near the end of today’s reading really ramps up the suspense in the story in my opinion. The statement has now been made that Jesus will/should/ought to die, so now the plot continues in subsequent verses with the unfolding of how, specifically, this ultimately occurs.

If one were to compare any part of the Bible to a truly classic mystery novel or a great page-turner thriller, I think this next week’s worth of verses would be the selection for such a comparison. Even for those Christians that have read the verses before and/or know quite well how this specific story ends, it makes for a rather gripping reading experience nonetheless.

Author: Seth Waits, Language Department