It's another day and I pick up my quill pen again to continue the story of my divinely conceived son, Jesus. Last entry I wrote He had been taken from the Mount of Olives where He had prayed in agony yet submitted to His Father's will and purposes for Him to take the "cup of suffering". This was also where He had been arrested and betrayed by Judas Iscariot, then led to the High Priest Caiaphas' house to stand trial before the Sanhedrin.
Oh the dread of that. Religious censorship and criticism...! They did not much care for Jesus nor have mercy. (Some of us can relate to such spiritual abuse. Jesus was there before us.) They were bent on having Him killed. (Some may have church folks bent on excommunicating them. Jesus was there before us.) How my heart ached and still aches at the thought of such cruelty that befell the One entrusted to my care for those precious few earlier years granted.
It was another heart break to learn of Peter's denial. He had so bravely, or rather, brashly, declared he'd go to prison and even to death with Jesus, not many hours before. Yet, true to Jesus' prediction, Peter did just that, denied he even knew Jesus; not once or twice, but a full three times before the cock crew twice.
When Jesus looked Peter in the eye at that moment, I believe it was in love and compassion and forgiveness. That tore Peter's heart and he went out and wept bitterly.
(Oh, if only church leadership would look those they want to discipline in the eyes with love and compassion and sincerely wishing restoration; what a wonder that would be. Forgiveness instead of bitterness for those who do need correcting or for those who have been misunderstood.)
Later, when Pilate sent Jesus over to Herod's palace, the heat was notched up. Soldiers bullied him and made fun of Him, putting a royal robe on Him and blind folded Him, beating Him and insultingly asking Him to tell who had hit Him.
A totally unfair trial. The Sanhedrin had declared that Jesus "said" He was the Messiah and the Son of God; accusing in such a way as to imply Jesus was an imposter. To think of these claims of Jesus, riled them up; this was a crime! To them it was blasphemy, which indeed if Jesus had been a mere man, it would have been. These religious leaders, who should have known better, should have realized Jesus was fully man AND fully God. If they had, or perhaps some did realize but wouldn't admit it, or were too scared at the time to say anything, then Jesus would have been spared the blasphemy charge.
It seemed Jesus was done talking. He was quiet, indeed as the Old Testament said,
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearers is silent, so He does not open His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
He did not answer Herod's questions later, either, as Herod was not really a sincere seeker and only wanted to see Jesus perform some miracle or other. But I get ahead of myself...
Jesus had done a fair bit of talking and asking earlier pre-trial days and these Sanhedrin members could or would, not, reply. So now He would not speak further, except to say that from that time on, He, as the Son of Man, would be exalted to sit at the right hand of God.
Oh, they were spitting furious at that! I do recall the warning Jesus gave about people claiming to be Him; there are such people in this world in this day and age, and we really do have to watch out for them. Their lives show that they are rather despicable sinners -- not even "good" living men.
Jesus, our Messiah, was perfect man: 100% man and 100% God; fully man and fully God. He really was, who He said, He was.
The Sanhedrin, headed by the High Priest, felt they had an iron clad, condemnable-to-death, accusation, sailed forth with Jesus to Pilate's Palace in high hopes of gaining their aim of "license to kill". They would just love to see Jesus sentenced to death by crucifixion. (As there are those who would really love to see "Mr & Mrs So-and-So" excommunicated from the fellowship of believers. May this type of scenario be very few to non-existent.)
The quill pen in my hand shakes uncontrollably from the sobs wreaking my frame thinking about all that. Will write more another day.
~ERC November 2020~
Based on Luke 22:54-71
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson & Jeff VanVonderen is an excellent book that addresses a variety of church related issues regarding spiritual abuse. It will help equip believers better able to understand some of the dynamics that divide believers and hopefully, and prayerfully will help to circumvent such happenstances from occurring in their gathering of believers. Jesus, our Savior came to love, heal and forgive.
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