Chapter 23
This chapter tells of the
crucifixion. A group of people take
Jesus to Pilate and they continue to accuse Him of stirring up the people and
not paying taxes. Pilate told them he couldn’t
find a reason to punish Jesus. When Pilate found out that Jesus was from
Galilee, he sent him to Herod, who was responsible for Galilee. Herod couldn’t find a reason to punish Jesus
either, so he went Him back to Pilate.
The charges against Jesus
were that he was a revolutionary; that he incited people to not pay their
taxes; and that he claimed to be a king (and Caesar was the king).
Pilate wanted to release Jesus.
It was the custom to release a prisoner every Passover season. But the vicious crowd made the choice. They asked that Barabbas be released and that
Jesus was crucified. Jesus was beaten in
a way that made Him so weak that He should have died quickly, once hung on the
cross, which He was expected to carry to Calvary. Simon carried the cross for
Him. I don’t need to describe the
details of the crucifixion, but in the Gospel of John, Jesus says says of His
life that no one takes it from Me, but I lay in down of Myself.
Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. Those
words spoken by Jesus at the end are probably examples of a prayer He said all
through His ministry. How many times did
He face adversaries?
Jesus died on the cross.
Joseph of Arimathea asked to have His body so He could be buried in his tomb. Then
everyone rested on the Sabbath.
My take-away from this
chapter takes me back to something I’ve written previously. Everything was carved in stone since the
beginning of time, one of my dad’s favorite phrases. He believed it and I believe it. This tragic horribly sad story of crucifixion
had to happen. It was a part of the
plan.
It may seem a little
strange to be reading about the crucifixion two days before Christmas, when we
celebrate the birth. Several years ago,
I stood next to a man watching our community’s Holiday Lights Parade, as floats
went by us. One of the floats was built
in two parts. The front was the Nativity
and the back was Jesus hanging on the cross.
This man was aggravated that anybody would put that on a float for
Christmastime and I told him I thought the two events were connected. He scolded me. This man is attempting to run for a seat in
Congress. That seat is currently filled
by a man with strong religious roots, so I don’t think my parade-watcher stands
a chance of winning!
One year, Joe and I
wanted to celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. The Feast finds its origins in
Italian-Catholic traditions pertaining to fasting on the day before the
Christmas Day Feast. We were just
interested in the food and I started cooking at about 2:00 in the afternoon and
we ate fish seven different ways throughout the evening.
Let’s Cook!
Follow this link to one
of our favorite ways to prepare fish!
