Good Friday in Three Parts: Part II
Behold, But a Man Pontius Pilate is altogether human, perhaps too human. He is a man of some knowledge, but not a man of conviction or ideals. Pilate knows that truth and justice are important but, likely due to being assigned to the provincial backwater of Roman Judaea, decidedly not Roman and filled with a plethora of competing political and religious worldviews, took a subjective stance on the issue. What mattered at the end of [...]
Good Friday in Three Parts: Part I
For Our Sins There is nothing particularly necessary about the maltreatment that Jesus suffers as part of His Passion. None of the animal sacrificial victims of the Old Law were abused prior to their sacrifice, and their slaughter was as humane as a sacrifice could be. Even the goat of Yom Kippur, upon which the sins of the Nation were placed, was simply let free. The abuse that Christ suffered prior to His death is [...]
Why is Tonight Different From All Other Nights? — A Reflection
Why is tonight different from all other nights, Papa? La Última Cena, Bartolomeo Carducci, 1605 The high point of the Jewish liturgical year: the Passover, the day when the Jews recollected and celebrated God’s deliverance of the ancient Hebrew peoples from bondage in Egypt and set in motion that which would bring about the giving of the Law, the founding of the Korban and Levitical priesthoods, and the establishment of the great Kingdom [...]
Spy Wednesday – A Reflection
Spy Wednesday Judas Accepting the 30 Pieces of Silver Icon, Maxim Sheshukov It would be wrong to view Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of the Lord, as a tragic figure in the unfolding of the last days of Our Lord’s Passion. Pitiable yes, but tragic no. Tragic denotes a figure to whom misfortune out of their control befalls. This is not Judas, for his actions were not fated but chosen by himself. He was [...]