The most significant event in all human history….in all history, really…and it’s covered in scarcely more than one chapter. It just proves that significance isn’t always synonymous with volume.
I’m sure there are deeper spiritual thoughts to be had….but I seem to be having a hard time focusing today. I find that if I come into the office and immediately read and blog I do much better than if I look at my email, or look at Facebook first. Those apps have a tendency to draw your attention away from what is truly important. Sadly, today I looked at facebook and saw some of the “less than wonderful” things that my friends have been doing over the weekend… it’s sad to see people wander from their faith. Part of me wants to try and “fix” it, but I also know that there has to be a desire to get better, and I’m not sure that exists right now.
Anyway,
Judas has realized that He made a mistake, and he does the right thing by returning the money. If he had gone one step further and repented of his sins we might have seen him in heaven…but there’s no indication that he did that. He allowed the guilt and shame of his failure to overcome him, and killed himself. As far as we know, Judas died in his sins. Even given what he did, that’s sad. Who among us can say that we are any better than Judas? Every one of us has done something that separates us from God…if it weren’t for the witness of others around us, teaching, sharing and encouraging us…we might have gone the same way as Judas.
I recoil in disgust as I read about the religious leaders and elders saying “let him come down from the cross and we will believe in Him”. They remind me of snake oil salesmen that will say anything to sell a product. At the moment they are trying to win over the crowd, and are having some success…which doesn’t say much for the collective intelligence of the crowd. These are the same men who put Him on the cross, and now they imply that they might believe if they saw one more miracle. Well, they will soon see that very miracle, and they still won’t believe. Their hardened hearts and seared consciousness isn’t able to respond to the movement of the Spirit. Sadly, they have rejected the only one that could have saved them.
This brings up an important point: The people might have believed in Jesus had He come down from the cross…but the cross was why He was here. Certainly that didn’t make any sense at the time, but looking back it make perfect sense. Prophecy was being fulfilled down to the smallest detail…and everyone was missing it. What the people were asking for..what they wanted….was the worst possible thing that they could receive.
If Jesus didn’t love them (and us!) so much, He could have come down off the cross and given them what they asked for. But it would have spelled their eternal doom. No sacrificial death, no payment of sins….and that means our sins stay with us, and condemn us to hell. Thank you, Jesus for not listening to us when we ask for stupid things that would actually harm us.
The suffering of Christ has been the focus of much media over the years, but the suffering is only part of the story. The main part of the story is His purity. No one makes any movies about that. Jesus was sinlessly perfect, which is why His sacrifice can spell forgiveness for you and I. Only the perfect man could be offered as the sacrifice for the sins of others, and Jesus was the only perfect man to ever live. His death guaranteed our opportunity to be forgiven, and His resurrection guaranteed our eternal destiny in heaven, and our own resurrection from the grave.
Faithfully,
PR