04102020 – Good Friday
Good Friday was STILL being “STAGED” by the JERUSALEM AUTHORITIES, the rich and the powerful, the ELITISTS.
They were FLEXING THEIR ARMS and PULLING all the STRINGS in the BACKGROUND…obviously, with the help of ROME. THEY were doing THEIR thing.
It was like a FINAL HURRAH! A HAIL MARY! (as it were.)
The CROWDS that were present on GOOD FRIDAY will all be LOYAL to the Jerusalem ELITE. These are THEIR PEOPLE, their high brow FRIENDS, their NEIGHBORS.
It was “OUT of JEALOUSY and FEAR” that they were MOTIVATED to put Jesus “IN HIS PLACE”– a low backward country bumpkin from somewhere in Galilee.
THEY intended to SHOW HIM.
According to JOHN’S GOSPEL – they ONLY THINK they hold the power.
The REAL POWER lies with Jesus. HE is IN CONTROL. HE is IN CHARGE every step of the way. HE is SEEING what he initially STARTED through to its COMPLETION.
YOU TRUST IN G*D.
YOU ARE LOYAL TO G*D.
YOU BELIEVE IN G*D.
YOU LOVE TO THE END.
THAT’S WHAT YOU DO.
HOW does LOVE respond to hatred, stealth, false charges, taunting, false accusations, pain and torture…JUST WATCH!
You DO NOT RESPOND to coercision and violence in KIND.
That is NOT the way of LOVE.
That is NOT the way of the KINGDOM.
He knows all about “the power of ROME” and “their kingdom.” It will NOT LAST!
He understands WHY THEY DO – WHAT they do. But they WILL NOT be SUCCESSFUL. They only think they will.
GOD HAS THE FINAL WORD!
It was all a part of the “SHOW!” And a “real SHOW” – it was.
Almost every part of it was to be anticipated!
Even the soldiers mocking was just one more step in the ritual.
Stripping of his clothes they thought they were stripping AWAY his IDENTITY and WHO HE WAS.
They were wrong.
The GOAL of ROME and their whole PROCESS was to reduce the prisoner into a nobody, a non-person, someone with WHOM no one else WOULD EVER IDENTIFY.
They were wrong.
Jesus understood them and their program TOO WELL.
They attempted to KILL everything that the person stood for…
They THOUGHT they were eradicating ANY REPUTATION that the person may have had.
They were wrong.
They knew that through the program and process they would KILL any movement the person may have started.
They were wrong.
They thought they were KILLING any and all possibilities that ANYONE WOULD-or-COULD remain LOYAL.
They were wrong.
The thought they were KILLING any future possibility.
They were wrong.
They thought they were KILLING all HOPE.
They were wrong.
FACED with the CHOICE of being LOYAL to G*D or suffering ROME’S torture – JESUS CHOSE GOD!
He understood the MOCKING, the FLOGGING, the STRIPPING, the NAILING, the public viewing, the SHAMING, the cat-calling it was all a part of it. Even the DIVVYING up of his LAST POSSESSIONS were all “STANDARD crucifixion operating practices.” Almost as if, it were taken directly out of a SCROLL somewhere.
They had it down PAT. They had it down to a SCIENCE. For THEM it was all routine. THIS IS HOW YOU SNUFF OUT ANY AND ALL OPPOSITION.
But they were wrong.
UNWAVERING TRUST in GOD sometimes REQUIRES UNIMAGINABLE COURAGE…
It is not always easy to LOVE to the END.
The expectation was that his BODY would be THROWN and DISCARDED on an UNMARKED MASS GRAVE and become prey to the birds and the wild dogs.
But that didn’t happen as planned, either. A man by the name of JOSEPH violated this final DEGRADATION ritual.
“THEY” were in control of none of these things.
And if, they thought they were, they were wrong! Amen.