Friendships in cultural bubbles

Something else happened as all of those truths in cultural bubbles were translated into action during Jesus' trial and crucifixion:

Pilate and Herod became friends.

What a wonderful thing! No? Well, isn't friendship a wonderful thing?

I will be speaking on "Men and Friendships" later this month at the EV Free Men's Retreat so this little feature caught my eye. In all my years of reading the Gospels, I'd never noticed this bit of good fortune that happened to Pilate and Herod.

You see, prior to this the two had been adversaries. But the common task of condemning Jesus to death made them friends. What could be better?

At the Men's Retreat, I will say that unlike relationships such as husband-wife, parent-child, or master-servant, there are no specific passages in the Bible that define what friendship is.

It seems friendship simply arises out of common bonds two people share as they head towards a common goal. The warm feelings of affection that emerge from these common bonds, ah ... this is friendship.

In other words, there's nothing holy about friendship per se. It all depends on the goal, and the shared interests that come from it.

Let's just say that Pilate and Herod became friends because their mutual interest in brushing Jesus off created a shared cultural bubble. They were both Important People; they had more Important Things to tend to than to waste more time on this pesky Galilean.

So they just had him executed.

Not only did their cultural bubble permit such a thing; no doubt having Jesus executed wasn't even a very important thing. The important thing was that, in this Celebration of Their Importance, Pilate and Herod became friends.

So look at your friends. They are a portrait of your cultural bubble. The portrait makes clear the interests you Celebrate.

Don't like what you see?

Well, what is your goal?

Logos2Go

Luke 23.6-12 ... On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends - before this they had been enemies.