Grains of Sand

Google Images Well, you have to give him some credit for trying. Pilate, the Roman Governor in Judea, came from a tradition where men could be gods. Caesar himself had made that claim. So when the Jews insisted that he give the order to crucify Jesus because he claimed to be the Son of God (John 19:7), the possibility of that being true was a real one. “ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid... ” (John 19:8). The man was already afraid. An uprising among the Jews could cost him his career. Somewhere in this whole mockery of a trial, Pilate’s wife had warned him not to have anything to do with the plot against the Galilean rabbi (Matthew 27:19). She had seen it in a dream—something else to pay heed to. Pilate was caught in the middle. Beating Jesus wasn’t enough for the rabble (19:1). Declaring him innocent of the charges wasn’t enough (19:4). Passing the buck didn’t cut it (19:6). Oddly enough, Pilate even advocated for Jesus, introducing Him as king—somet...

Google Images Martha is much maligned. Yes, the Lord did rebuke her for getting so uptight about the meal she was preparing for thirteen men (and what hostess wouldn’t be?) that she missed the spiritual meal that came from sitting at Jesus’ feet. Yes, she did that. But by the time we get to John 11, we find a different Martha. We find a woman with whom Jesus discussed the resurrection. Hmmmm, she must have been sitting at Jesus’ feet to have gotten that intelligent in a world where women were hardly educated in anything but washing, cooking, hauling water, and having babies. It was Martha who said: “ I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world ” (John 11:27). Martha didn’t pick up that bit of good theology by scrubbing floors. As Jesus and His disciples approached Bethany, His arrival was announced at the house where Mary and Martha were mourning the loss of their brother, Lazarus. This time it was Martha who dropped everything and rushed...