Friday, March 31 John 19: 6, 15-17 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him." But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion of Jesus So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
Reflect We continue our reflections on the stations of the cross. See them all here: http://trappistabbey.org/?page_id=723. Today's reflection is the seventh station: Jesus bears the cross.
God makes things so simple.
An innocent man An echo chamber of priests connive Three nails and a cross
Never mind the Priests' attempt to shoehorn the kingdom of God into current events to appease masses. Pontificating, espousing laws and presiding among the intellectual, cultural and social elites they've mastered high-tech social media of the day covering all bases. They're so cool. Caiaphas' keen political eye concludes it's better for Jesus to die than to risk wholesale destruction of an ordained and tenured world. He mines guilt during the mumbo jumbo of the Sanhedrin Trial.
The news goes viral. Crucify. Crucify. Crucify him!
God quietly continues low-tech, incognito (as loud as ever).
Take this cross and die on it for all mankind.
Jesus in turn, must drag the cross to the Skull. The road, sans U-turns, exit ramps, and breakdowns live-ends on the cross. As Jesus' body fails him, a stranger is enlisted to absolutely, positively deliver the cross. (God's FedEx® guarantee.) Jesus, bodily broken, exhausted and scourged, undeterred in faith accepts his fate.
Astonishingly, there's no account of Jesus looking back as his surreal coronation on the cross begins.
Jesus never looks back.
God makes things so simple.
Ponder Why do we choose to longingly look back to a deluded reality rather than boldly accept God's glorious future?
Pray God help me to quiet this world's limited, self-deluding knowledge, self-serving wisdom, material desires and babbling minutiae so that I might experience the peace of yours. Provide me the eternal strength and bravery to stay the path, finding truths you have chosen for me against all odds. Amen.
Author Karl Shaffer is husband to Kris, father to Karah, Chloe, Stefan and Kate, and grandfather to Leigha and Jameson. A swim coach/dreamer for many, he is a dryly-enthusiastic fan of Shanghainese pragmatism.