THURSDAY, July 17 Matthew 26:3-4. Then the chief priests and the elders…conspired to arrest Jesus. We miss a great deal of the Bible’s message when we distance ourselves from the people in its stories. The chief priests and elders who engineered Jesus’ crucifixion are a case in point. To say they have suffered from bad press would be something of an understatement. Opportunities to see ourselves as their political and spiritual kin have not been sought. We are the poorer for it. The chief priests and elders were responsible for the status quo in Jerusalem, a delicate balance of zealots and oppressors with a huge crowd of innocent people in between. Keeping the two extremes from destroying the center was a thankless task fraught with danger. That danger became a reality in 70 CE when the riot they all feared took place, the Temple was destroyed, and the nation exiled for eighteen centuries. “Messiah” in the first century was a term for a political-military leader, not a loving Lord. Jesus’ connection with that term made him look very dangerous to those responsible for peace. As Caiaphas said, it is better for one to die than all to suffer. I know the whole story, and I still agree with his terrifying logic. PRAY for the Diocese of Edmonton (Rupert’s Land, Canada) Today the Church remembers William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, 1836. From ForwardMovement.org
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:49:56 +0000
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