The Slap Heard Around the World

“What just happened?”

Gasps of disbelief, dropped jaws, nervous laughter. No one could believe what they’d just witnessed. 

“Was that for real?”

Eyes darted around, looking for some logical, scripted explanation. 

“Oh, that was real.”

There was nothing natural about it—only shock, dismay and confusion.

“I can’t believe that just happened.”

You’ve probably heard about it by now. At the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face during Rock's presentation for Best Documentary Feature. Rock had just made a joke about the shaved head of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who began shaving her head in 2021 as a way to manage her condition of alopecia areata. 

After the slap and upon returning to his seat, Smith shouted a handful of profane remarks at a stunned Chris Rock—who mumbled through some brief commentary, then completed his presentation without further interruption. The audience was stunned—but the world couldn’t wait to talk about it.

Within 24 hours, footage of the incident went viral on social media and across the globe, prompting widespread debate and discussion. At the office, in the classroom, at the gym—no matter where you were over those next few days, you could surely find someone talking about it: dissecting the incident, analyzing perceived body language, lending sympathies and passing judgments… relating to one crowd-declared victim or another as the entire world jumped at the opportunity to play jury from the sidelines.

Yes, it truly was the slap heard ‘round the world.

And yet, shocking as that slap was, it was not the most shocking one I’d heard about that week. In fact, it was inconsequential compared to the one mentioned during my midweek Lenten service, just a few days later.

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”

When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. John 18:19-23

“Wow,” I remember thinking. “For all the times I’ve heard the Passion reading, I’m not sure I ever realized that Jesus was literally, physically slapped in the face.” 

Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” Matthew 26:67

Stricken, smitten and afflicted goes the old Good Friday hymn. We know that Jesus was betrayed and bound; ridiculed and flogged; beaten, degraded and bloodied before His body was painfully extended and nailed onto the cross. But for scripture to specifically call out the slapping, apart from all the other ways in which Christ was abused—well, that seems significant. Today, that would seem personal.

He was despised and rejected by mankind, 
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces 
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3

And it was personal. Those people who scorned and spat on the Savior of the world, who eventually placed a crown of thorns on His head and jeered, “Hail, King of the Jews!”—they knew who He was, and who He was said to be. And still, they wanted no relationship with Him. Jesus had challenged Jewish leaders’ authority, after all; He upset their traditions, held Himself above their law, prophesied and performed miracles that no one could explain. 

Unable to recognize His divine authority and identity, the chief priests and Sanhedrin felt threatened by Jesus. They sought false evidence to condemn Him, inciting crowds to join and support them in their murderous hatred of the Savior.

Jealousy and pridefulness were surely part of their hatred. But, deeper than that, they simply did not have the eyes to see or the faith to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Mark 15:6-14

So blinded was the crowd by collective, ignorant hatred that they didn’t mind condemning an innocent man. Pilate even tried to avoid sentencing Jesus by challenging the crowd and asking what crime Jesus had committed—but still they shouted “all the louder,” wanting only their voices and their opinions to be heard. No need for further questioning or trial; they wanted action. They wanted blood.

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Matthew 27:24-25

Now, it’s easy to criticize those who condemned Jesus. It’s easy to read these Gospel accounts and think, “Wow. What awful people, to be so swept up by snap judgments and reckless emotions, shouting and cursing from the sidelines and casting judgment on someone they don’t even truly know.” 

But Sisters, if that’s not calling the kettle black, then I don’t know what is.

How often do we allow ourselves to get swept up in the crowd, willingly pulled toward one extreme or another? How quickly do we participate in gossip or contribute to slander? How easy is it for us to indulge in an episode of the Bachelor (or two, or three…) and chastise a contestant for her attitude, when ours might not be all that different the moment we get off the couch?

How often do we delight in the drama of this world at the expense of our focus on the God of the Word?

Consider this: would we have acted any differently, had we been among the crowd on that fateful Good Friday? We too are sinners—and we too have rebelled against God, time and time again. 

Would we have been like those who watched in shock, sadness and confusion as our Lord was crucified, or would we have been too busy shouting and heckling to feel any sort of remorse? 

“These are the ones I look on with favor:
  those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
   and who tremble at my word.
But whoever sacrifices a bull
    is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb
    is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
    is like one who presents pig’s blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense
    is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
    and they delight in their abominations;
so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
    and will bring on them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.” Isaiah 66:2-4

As humans, we by nature do not want to submit to God. Instead, we often end up trying to make ourselves gods, even if we don’t realize it—worshipping fully not the Creator of the universe, but knowledge and control, money and status, relationships and reputation. Remember how Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, urging her to consider herself like God? Satan said, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). 

Of course, I’m not saying that we’re not allowed to talk about crazy things that happen at work, at the mall or on live television. Of course, we can talk about current events of this world, as long as we do not dwell in them. (One might consider taking the joint approach of Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, who reportedly prayed with Will Smith immediately following the slapping incident.)

But I am saying that we must beware the temptation to grab our pitchforks and run toward the drama-seeking, cancel-culturing mobs. The temptation that led Eve to disobey Christ is the same temptation that stirs in each and every one of our sinful hearts today. Whether at Calvary in the 1st Century AD or the Academy Awards in 2022, we can often be too eager to follow our own thoughts, too quick to lend our self-aggrandizing, near-sighted opinions—listening first to our own echoes within the crowd’s chamber, rather than a voice of one calling, “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3). 

Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
    and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy!’
    Yet they will be put to shame.
Hear that uproar from the city,
    hear that noise from the temple!It is the sound of the Lord
    repaying his enemies all they deserve. Isaiah 66:5-6

But, because of the Savior who took on flesh—flesh that was slapped, abused, punished and pierced—there is hope for us yet.

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:23-24

The Good News is that, even when our sinful hearts relate us more to the crowd shouting “Crucify!”… Jesus wants a relationship with us. He does not retaliate and does not give up on us, no matter how many times we give up on Him. He is constantly working in our lives to draw us closer—mercifully providing sacraments like baptism and communion to bring new life and nourishment, graciously giving His Word as instruction for humble and contrite hearts, and boldly using His Church to form, nurture and encourage throngs of believers in His name.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

The Good News is that, even when our sinful hearts would relate us more to Pontius Pilate, stubbornly trying to wash our hands of any sinful responsibility but knowing full well that Jesus is the real deal, the Way and the Truth and the Life… Christ offers himself to us and He uses us, even when our thoughts and actions might suggest that we’d rather have nothing to do with Him.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Acts 9:11-16

The Good News is that, even when we are quick to stop celebrating Easter but slow to stop talking about drama, even when we are more interested in things of our temporary, shallow and transient world rather than daily proclaiming and glorifying the eternal hope we have because of Christ’s resurrection… God is patient with us, and has mercy on us.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

The Good News, dear Daughters of the Messiah, is that even when we are the ones who deserve every slap, every pain and every penalty of death—and we will always be the ones who deserve that penalty—Jesus took each blow for us, putting to death our every guilt, shame and sin in order that we might have eternal life with Him in heaven. Because He loves us. 

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43

To this day, I am still seeing updates about “the slap”—feelings and actions in the aftermath of the incident, perceived tension between Jada and Will, further commentary from Chris and other comedians. And oh, people are quick to comment on the slap heard ‘round the world. But what about the slap that saved the world? What about the punishment that we deserved, but didn’t get? 

My Friends, rather than exhausting the hamster wheel of progress, running our mouths and participating in the drama of this earth, we should use every opportunity to fear, praise and honor the One who took the slap of death for us.

Because, at the end of days, when the rest of the world is stuck in the mud of their own disbelief and confusion, debate and outrage, skepticism and hatred… Dear Sisters in Christ, as we are raised to new life on that Last Day, it is by faith that we will have peace, joy and certainty in Christ’s love—and that is the one thing that can never, ever be cancelled.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52