3/24/17
The earliest Christians followed a Jewish tradition of pausing to pray, preferably together, first thing in the morning, about mid morning, at noon, about mid afternoon, and in the evening. “Just a Note” posts are brief observations made from Scripture readings not related to a lectionary. If I have one to post, it normally appears about 9:00 in the morning, at “the hour of prayer.”
Pilate takes an interesting tack to the trial of Jesus. In John 18:38-40, having concluded that Jesus is some sort of a king, he goes before the people and declares Jesus not guilty. Because the people wish to have him killed anyway, he says there is no adequate charge. He offers to release Jesus according to his festival custom of releasing a prisoner. He offers in his place someone whom he really thinks the people would like to have remain a prisoner.
Pilate even calls Jesus the king of the Jews. This is striking. When presented with the evidence about Jesus we may well conclude that he is the king. We may well conclude that he is God almighty. However, our reaction is often just like that of the Jews gathered outside the governor’s palace. Kill him anyway. We seem altogether too willing to let our own will, our own presuppositions, our own disbelief take charge. It’s a sad world indeed.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
The earliest Christians followed a Jewish tradition of pausing to pray, preferably together, first thing in the morning, about mid morning, at noon, about mid afternoon, and in the evening. “Just a Note” posts are brief observations made from Scripture readings not related to a lectionary. If I have one to post, it normally appears about 9:00 in the morning, at “the hour of prayer.”
Pilate takes an interesting tack to the trial of Jesus. In John 18:38-40, having concluded that Jesus is some sort of a king, he goes before the people and declares Jesus not guilty. Because the people wish to have him killed anyway, he says there is no adequate charge. He offers to release Jesus according to his festival custom of releasing a prisoner. He offers in his place someone whom he really thinks the people would like to have remain a prisoner.
Pilate even calls Jesus the king of the Jews. This is striking. When presented with the evidence about Jesus we may well conclude that he is the king. We may well conclude that he is God almighty. However, our reaction is often just like that of the Jews gathered outside the governor’s palace. Kill him anyway. We seem altogether too willing to let our own will, our own presuppositions, our own disbelief take charge. It’s a sad world indeed.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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