Tag: Pilate

Tracing in the Sands of Time

Dr. J.D. Wilkins1 Comment

Daily Post:  Trace

trace

Jeffrey Deaver has written 13 novels about Lincoln Rhyme, a former NYPD Homicide Detective turned Forensic Consultant, who left the NYPD when he became a quadriplegic after an accident on the job.  Partnering with Amelia Sachs, a former model turned investigator now working with NYPD, she tall, fast driving, nail biting detective “walks the grid” in search of trace evidence to solve complex crimes.  The science behind Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) is not fiction however. This process involves meticulous observation and documentation of the scene – photography, identification of physical evidence and collecting it, including fingerprints, footwear impressions, hair, fibers, biological fluids, and DNA for analysis.  All this information combined with careful reasoning of the facts surrounding the crime, often aid in solving the “who done it,” which makes fiction authors so famous.  “Stranger than fiction?”  Often not, in real life.

There is one mystery today that remains solved but unresolved, for those who study the facts of it.  Since we only have trace evidence in the matter, and that only a smattering of documentation compared to what is being collected at crimes scenes today, we must trust in the veracity of said documentation.  The narrative is as old as time itself, in terms of motive.  The scene of the crime was one of power, and an expression of what happens when you cross the sovereignty of the State.  The characters in the story are countless, including perhaps on some level all of mankind itself.  The weapons, still not in evidence today: three nails and a spear.

The Jewish leadership determined that rather than let the people perish at the hand of a hostile Roman overlord, which they deemed would occur if something wasn’t done, agreed to hand over Jesus Christ of Nazareth as their sacrificial lamb, in an effort to restore sanity back to heir jurisdiction.  The puppet king Herod, laughed his way through the proceedings, expecting Jesus to perform miracles to entertain him.  The powerless procurator, Pilate, tried cunningly to outwit the Jewish high priests, but in the end came up with a plan to free Jesus, whom he thought was an innocent, which backfired, releasing the murderous Barabbas instead.

In the end, not only Judas, but all of Jesus’ closest followers ran from his arrest and hid themselves.  Historically the brutality of crucifixion is well documented through secular documents as well as the Bible.  The horrific nature of this kind of death, and the reasons why the Roman government employed it, are not lost at all.  Yet the mystery remains unresolved in many people today.

Some read the story as a fictional narrative, believing in their hearts that most of it is made up, just like Noah’s Ark, the crossing of the Red Sea, or the walls of Jericho crumbling to the ground.  All we have left of any of these stories is the trace evidence.  A document which has lasted so long as a validated, historically accurate, evidentiary exhibit, that the truths it holds cannot be challenged.  When God documented what he determined would happen, it happened.  Including offering up His own Son, His only Son, as a sacrifice for the Sin of the world.

Yet the mystery remains.  Why?

Why would God, “so love the world?”
Why would God see this death as the only way to redeem us?
Why would Jesus allow Himself to be used in this way?
Why?

We could search for the rest of our natural lives to answer this question, but human minds cannot reason with the unmistakable truth of it all:

Romans 5:6
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Why did He do it?  He did it for me.

Why did He do it?  He did it for you.

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One is the Loneliest Number

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

Outlier

55,62,47,58,60,63,54,1,49,62,61,59

The number 1 (above) “lies outside” a group of similar numbers, and statistically stands out as an aberration in the set; it is an “outlier.”  In this sense, it’s lonely.   If it had emotions it would be asking, “why me?”  “Why can’t I be like the others?”  “Why doesn’t anyone like me?”

outlier

Humanly speaking, when you’ve had a good run, and almost everyone who had gathered around you, supporting you for several years, turns and abandons you… you really are an outlier.  Regardless of their reasons, abandonment hurts, always has… always will.  For those reading this blog who think I might be in some selfish, agonizing, self-destructive downward spiral, I’m not talking about myself.  I’m talking about Jesus.

We tend to forget that Jesus was the original outlier.  If God had wanted to save the animal kingdom He would have come to earth as an Elephant or Tiger or some other animal.  But God created humans to have relationship with Him, and since we basically screwed it up, He had to fix it.  So God became a human, yet not subject to Sin, since His father was the Father’s Holy Spirit.  This indisputable fact is the baseline for believing Jesus was fully God, and fully human, while here on this earth.  It’s an interesting and challenging thought.

All His life, childhood through adulthood, Jesus contended with emotions just like every other human.  Yet in all the pains of these periods of life, He was perfectly aligned with Gods’ will, way, and purpose.  I believe this was to demonstrate to the hosts of humanity, that when aligned this way, we too can be empowered (by the Holy Spirit) to deal with any emotionally upheaving circumstance that comes our way.  Without Him, it’s virtually impossible.

Now, fast forward to the Passover and we understand just how different this ONE man was.  He knew ahead of time that his closest friends, the disciples, were each and every one going to abandon Him.  He told them so before it was ever true.  Yet, He loved them anyway.  He still went through with the plan of salvation.  They traipsed along to that Garden in Gethsemane, one gospel says singing songs together. [Mark 14]

The four biographies of Jesus’ life tell differently the passover/garden/betrayal story.  In John’s gospel we have a lengthy prayer from Jesus to the Father, which is not included in the other narratives.  All four of these authors describe the betrayal and abandonment by the disciples.  Jesus knew of which He spoke.  And there He stood – the One.  The outlier.

He stood alone before Caiaphas.  He stood alone before Pilate.  He stood alone before the Jewish people in the courtyard of Fort Antonia.  He stood alone while the soldiers mocked Him.  He stood alone as they scourged Him.  He was alone – the One – the outlier.

On the cross, He was the One of three who could effect change in the world.  Still the outlier.  One man knew he deserved to die the death He faced, and asked Jesus for mercy.  The other was in denial, so he mocked the One as delusional.  In a set of three, crucified for crimes against the state, Jesus was the outlier.

Why would He do it?  Why knowingly put yourself through this enormously painful existence?  God, the Son, did this to prove once and for all the extravagant lengths to which He will go, to establish right relationship with His highest creation – humans.  It was modeled for us 2,000+ years ago, and still there are those who laugh at the cross with derision.  Like the other man hanging next to Jesus that day, they say to all who believe in the One, “You guys are nuts!”

One day, either soon or far away (I do not know), this same One – this outlier – will return to planet earth to establish a kingdom that will never pass away.  In theological terms we call this the “consummation” of human history.  The last book of the Bible speaks to the events that happen during this time.  But here’s the thing.  Revelation tells the story of Jesus.  Revelation helps us see that the same kind of self-sacrificing motive that lead Jesus to the cross, is demonstrated by God in the extravagant lengths to which the Father will go, to save all those at the end of time – who will believe in the Outlier – Jesus as their savior.

The whole book, the Bible, points to Jesus.  His earthly existence was a lonely One.  He did it all to have a family, so we could all be ONE.  Praise to the Outlier.  He is our only hope and salvation!

 

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Color of the Ages

Dr. J.D. Wilkins2 Comments

Daily Pompt: Purple

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) ruled England and Ireland from 1558 until her death. The childless queen was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.  She also forbad anyone around her to wear purple, except the royal family.  Not that many would, or could, since the cost of purple fabric was so outrageously expensive, only rulers were wealthy enough to afford it.  What became modern-day Lebanon was, in the ancient world, the Phoenician city of Tyre, where the dye used to make purple was traded like gold or silver.  When Paul the apostle arrived in Philippi, in Acts 16:13-15, his first meeting was with women washing clothes at the riverside.  There Paul met a woman, “a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God.”  This woman was from Thyatira, and quite wealthy from her business selling purple cloth. Her wealth afforded her a large dwelling, so she invited Paul and his traveling party to come stay in her home. However, this is not the most ancient use of this purple dye.

When God was instructing Moses in the wilderness to build a tabernacle, the instructions included this command:  Moreover, from the blue and purple and scarlet material, they made finely woven garments for ministering in the holy place as well as the holy garments which were for Aaron, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. [Exodus 39:1]

Where did this purple material come from?  The simple answer is from Egyptian royalty.  Since only the extremely wealthy could afford the purple material to make royal robes, this cloth is associated with the ruling classes of Rome, Egypt and Persia.  As such, this color also became associated with spiritual holiness because in most of these ancient cultures the emperors or kings were thought of as gods or descendants of a god.

When God-Jehovah assigned Moses the task of leading the Hebrew people out of bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, there was a time of challenge between the gods of Egypt and the God of Moses, the true and living God.  Finally in the last battle for authenticity, God gave the Hebrew people instructions for their last night in captivity.  They would take a lamb without blemish into their homes and treat it like a family member.  Then, on a specific night, they would kill this lamb, collect the blood and splash it over the header to their front door.  Then they would eat the lamb according to specific instructions from God.  If they followed these simple commands, God’s Holy Death Angel would passover their house and not harm them.  For every door header that didn’t have this blood, God’s Holy Death Angel would take the firstborn from that family in death.  It was only after Pharaoh’s firstborn was taken in this way that he allowed the Hebrew people to leave and follow Moses into the wilderness.  Still not the end of the story…

Where did all the stuff for building this Tabernacle come from?  Exodus 12:33-36

The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Did you see it?

Now fast forward back to Jerusalem in the New Testament circa 33 A.D., and the day following Passover.  Jesus has been arrested, hustled back and forth between Caiaphas and Pilate, where Pilate attempts to placate the Jewish leaders by having Jesus beaten.

Mark 15:16-18
The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

Here the Creator of the color purple, is mocked by His highest creation, in derision calling Him a king, when in their hearts they believed no such thing.

There was a small mollusk found only in the Tyre region of the Mediterranean Sea where this purple dye was found.  It is said that more than 9,000 mollusks were needed to create just one gram of Tyrian purple dye.  Expensive beyond measure.  Some would say, priceless.

But what of the grace shown by the Son of Man, who without resistance or reticence would yield to such brutality as Jesus suffered, to pay our debt of Sin?  At what cost our salvation? The death of Jesus.  Rightly He wore the color purple, yet men today still mock Him, and unyieldingly use His name in vain.  Regal and royal, the color still remains a constant reminder to me, of a King who loves me personally.  Loves me so much, He gave His life for mine.

Purple is the color of the Ages.  It is Priceless.