An Observer’s Thoughts on The Crucifixion

fivefoldministryireland.com

            The soldiers had made Jesus carry his own cross; it was customary. We had followed along behind the soldiers. When we arrived at the place of the skull, the Roman soldiers set up three crosses; they placed Jesus’ cross between the two others.

            Pilate ordered a sign made for Jesus’ cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” Some of us disagreed with the wording. We felt it should have said, “He says He is the King of the Jews. Pilate exercised his role as governor and refused to change it. He had the sign written in three languages, Aramaic, Latin and Greek.

            The four soldiers cast dice for his five pieces of clothing- shoes, turban. Girdle, outer robe, and tunic. William Barclay tells us, “Legend has it that the tunic could have been made by His mother.^1.

Later on:

            Jesus called out, “I thirst.” The soldiers, prepared for everything, placed a sponge on a hyssop reed, dipped it into a vat of wine vinegar and tried to give Jesus some to slake his thirst.

            Jesus bent His head back and shouted, “It is finished.” He died. Because of our Law, that day being the preparation day for the Sabbath, the soldiers had to remove the bodies from the crosses. The soldiers received permission to break the legs of those on the crosses. The broke the legs of the two criminals first. When they came to Jesus, he had already died˗ to be certain, they pierced His side.

My thoughts:

            I wrote this from the standpoint of one who was a casual observer. Maybe, someone writing a newspaper article. If we had been there, would we be stoic or would we be emotional about what we saw?

1.      Barclay, Daily Study Bible, Book of John, Vol. 2, page 254

More of Pilate’s Thoughts

The Masters Table. WordPress. com

 John 19:7-16

            Those Jews were hard to deal with; they wanted this Jesus dead. They claimed they have a law saying he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God. I went inside again and questioned this Jesus. He chose not to answer. His not speaking frustrated me.  He seemed unconcerned even though I had the power to either let him go free or crucify him.

            Then, he told me any power I had, came from above. And those who had handed him over were guilty of a greater sin.

            I tried very hard to give him back to the Jews but they didn’t want him. They wanted him crucified. I had no recourse. I had to do as they insisted. I believed he was speaking the truth- he was the Son of God.

            During these proceedings, my wife sent a messenger to me. She had experienced a sleepless night. Her message to me was not to bring harm to this Jesus.

            Three times I told the Jews of Jesus’ innocence. I couldn’t understand why these people wanted to kill him. But, they could make trouble for me with my superiors in Rome. I was desperate, I HAD to do as the crowd wanted.

_________________________________________________

On My Father's Side one of my favorite gospel hymns.

Pilate’s Thoughts in Retrospect

www.allempires.com

         
John 18:28-40

John 19:1-6


         As I looked out onto the street from my balcony, I saw a mob of people heading to my palace. “Oh, no. Here comes a crowd of soldiers with that man Jesus. A lot of the Jews follow Him.”

            They could not enter my palace; if they did the Jewish Law would declare them unclean. Then they would not be able to partake of their Passover Feast.

            I had to go out to them. If I didn’t take care of this properly, my superiors in Rome would send someone to replace me and I would have to go back to Rome, (or worse.)

            These people did not care about this man Jesus. In my conversation with him, he said this was the reason he was born. He said he was a king and he was here to testify to the truth.

            This stunned me, I found myself asking, “What is truth?” I found no reason to charge him. I did not find him guilty of anything of which the crowds accused him.

            I offered to let him go in exchange for another criminal. It was the custom for the governing authorities to release one being held in custody. The crowd said no, they wanted Barabbas, a rebellious thug, freed.

            I had a job to do. If I let Jesus go, it would mean my post. I’d get called back to Rome and would be at my superior’s mercy.

            I had no choice. I ordered this Jesus scourged. The soldiers mocked him and his claim. After they finished with him. I brought him out before the crowd again.

            The moment the chief priests and they scribes saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him. Crucify him.” I declared I found no charge against him—in my sight, he was innocent. I told them they could take him and crucify him themselves. I wanted no part in this.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I intend to continue the conflicted thoughts of Pilate. I plan to use some of my research in a drama for Good Friday 2018. 

My World in March

This month has been different. Hubby and I enjoyed the warm days we had in February; March has been a different story.  We have enjoyed the days at the end of last week. Last Friday, the temperature got to 75 degrees. (I call that Florida weather.) I got to spend some time on my porch over the weekend.

Because of the downturn of the weather, I have felt sort of listless. I have begun a book proposal for the collection of meditations I have assembled. Figuring out the target audience is going to be interesting. I also am slowly working the competitive title analysis has been daunting.

A group of people at our church have been working to put together a presentation for Good Friday. I have been assisting the director with some of the plans and the staging. But we hit a glitch with one of my ideas. We will work around that speed bump. When I discovered a problem with what we wanted to do, I talked to the director and we decided we could backup and start again.

April looks to be a bit brighter for me with the Good Friday drama, an evaluation meeting, a Sunday school class party, and a possible trip with Hubby. I will find time to do some work on my de-cluttering and my book proposal. And I hope to get in some quality porch time.

Some scenes from our Good Friday drama

Watching Jesus enter Jerusalem

                                                         
                                                 The servant girl and Peter in the courtyard

                                                  A Jewish sign painter and a Roman Soldier

                                                               John comforting Mary

                                                   Tying the scenes together, our narrator,

Jesus’ Prayer for Us

John 17:20-26

            In this passage, Jesus prays for those who will believe in Him in the future, that’s us, you and me. Just think about that for a second. Jesus prayed for you and me.

           

            He asks the Father that we be unified in love for one another. Jesus requests this so that the people we meet in the present day will believe that God sent Him.

             In our world, we have many different groups, each with their own views on the way to worship God. Barclay tells us we should love and respect one another. ¹.

            Our Lord gave those who believe in Him glory, the glory the Father has given Him. Jesus prays that we receive future glory in proportion to our temporal sufferings while we are on earth. Yes, we will suffer for Jesus while we go through life here on earth.

            Our Lord wants us to be with Him and to see His glory. Jesus speaks not of His crucifixion but of His glorification. The Cross would bring Him glory.

            As 21^st Century Christians, we can remain close to Jesus by studying God’s word, spending time in prayer, sharing the scriptures with others, and yielding to Him when we face trials and tribulation. When we practice these ways, we honor Him.

            You may ask, how can we do these things? Have you considered joining a prayer or a Bible study group? Do you have a set time for your personal devotions and prayer time?  

1.      Daily Study Bible, Book of John, Vol.2 © 1975 Westminster Press, Phila, p.271 

Jesus’ Prayers to the Father

Jesus Prays for Himself

Pastor Mark Robinson.com

John 17:1-5

           

            We see here a very intimate time between our Lord and His Father. Barclay states this degree of intimacy can only happen because of Calvary.¹ Also, He describes the Cross as the gateway to everlasting glory.²

            We realize Jesus obeyed His Father by going to Jerusalem. He could have turned back at any time.

            Jesus had spoken to the disciples in what we call straight language as He prepared them for what lay ahead for them all. Here, as He talks with the Father, Jesus speaks of his being glorified and returning to the glory He had before the world was created.

            In our own relationships with God, we have times when we have times of deep prayer about issues looming on our horizons. We look forward to being able to converse with our Father and tell Him what is in our hearts. Personally, those times are the best times of prayer for me.

His Prayer for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

            In this passage. Jesus shares his feelings about His disciples. He tells the Father that He, Jesus, knows that these men were given to Him and they had obeyed the Father’s Word. Jesus prays for them because they belong to God. All things belong to God and to Jesus.

            In our prayer times, we ought to feel we are able to share our deepest thoughts on any subject with God. Maybe these thoughts are not things we dare share with even our closest friend or even our spouse. The hurt might be too deep for anyone but God.

            The Master asks not that they be taken out of the world but that they be protected from the enemy. William Barclay states, “He never prayed that they might find escape; He prayed that they might find victory.” ³

When we pray for someone who finds themselves in a crisis, we do them a disservice if we ask God to take them out of the circumstance. If we asked God to take them out of that situation, God may want that person to learn a lesson that he or she would not otherwise learn. Instead, we should ask God to guide him or her through the problem and give them the strength they need to get through it.

           

            Jesus prays for the disciples’ protection and their unity, “so that they may be one as we are one.”(Verse 11c) We should do likewise.

________________________

        1. Daily Study Bible, Book of John, vol.2, Westminster Press Phila. © 1975pp. 206-207

          2. Ibid. p. 207                                                                                                                        

           3. Op Cit.  p. 215

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Change

Pinterest.com

            In a way, this is a slight departure from the topic of Lenten thoughts. Please bear with me.

            The disciples faced a major change in their lives. Their Master told them He was going to leave them. They could not fathom what Jesus said. We have Peter and his misguided declaration of following the Lord to the end.

            The youth at our church are facing a change in their lives. Our youth leaders all graduate from college this spring. All three of them came here from an adjacent state. The main youth leader and his fiancée, also a youth leader, will get married sometime this summer. We believe they will all return to their home state.

            Several of us have been aware that this time was coming. Those in church leadership roles have been discussing this upcoming time and how to transition through this change.

            Word has come to me that one of the comments heard from a youth member is, “I don’t like change.” I understand the thought. At different points in our lives, none of us like change. I believe one reason we don’t care for change is we have a fear of the unknown. We sometimes have seen change whose result caused more problems than were present before.

            When I was a freshman in college, about midway through the first semester, one of the girls in the dorm told some of us she wasn’t coming back for the second semester. Some of us took it hard. Another freshman girl mentioned it to some upper-class girls in her Greek organization. She shared the response with some of us.

            “That’s going to happen the rest of your life.” The response referred to people moving out of our lives. As I have become older and have seen many changes in my life. I know the response given to one of my peers is true.

            The disciples faced and eventually went through losing their Master. All but one of them deserted Jesus as the cross loomed bigger and bigger on the horizon. Our Lord promised to send a helper, the Holy Spirit.

            Because of the arrival of the Holy Spirit, they yielded themselves to Him, returned to Jesus’s teaching, and grew in their faith to aid in enlarging the Kingdom.

            As a young adult, I taught a junior high Sunday school class. Late one winter, the pastor announced he had accepted a call to pastor another church in the southern part of our state. This pastor was departing our church after at least 15 years. (Memory won’t give me the exact number of years.)

            When our class met again, the subject came up. One of the boys told the class that pastor was the only one he had known. I didn’t know what to say. Later, I realized these boys and girls feared the unknown.

            Change will come:

           

            Children grow,

            Young people go to college or start working.

            People get married,

            People move to another neighborhood, community, or state. (I discovered earlier this year that a friend of mine’s stepdaughter moved to London, England.)

            Marriages fail and dissolve

            People pass away

            Neighborhoods change

            Cities change

            Relationships change

            Not all change is bad. When Jesus went to the cross, God sent the Holy Spirit to help us through the difficulties of our lives. We grow because of the work of the Trinity. Without the Holy Spirit, the disciples would have returned to their previous trades and God’s Kingdom would not have been enlarged at that time.

            How do you react to change in your lives? Do you accept things easier as an adult than you did as a child? Do you have any suggestions for the up and coming generations about changes they will see in their lives?