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Jesus is Judged By Pilot
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“But this is your hour - when darkness reigns.” Luke 22:53
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As we journey to this Station, we see the result of the Sanhedrin’s scheming and plotting. Pilot is vulnerable. His lust for power and position and the resulting gymnastics of politics that mark his reign, make him susceptible to the Father of Lies and the Accuser and opens the door for something very dark.
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And it is on the loose. We have seen this darkness creep into the thoughts and actions of Judas. Even Peter succumbs. Jesus had lamented to him, “Simon, Simon Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you … when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32 No wonder Jesus has enquired of his Father that if there was any other way than this, if this cup could pass, he’d take that option.
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“He knew this death would carry with it the full horror of darkness, of God-forsakenness. He was going to the place where the evil powers of the world could and would do their worst at every level. And part of the torture was precisely the mental agony, the insistent questioning: perhaps there would be another way, maybe he’d misread God’s signals, maybe, as with Abraham when he was about to sacrifice Isaac, now that he’d come this far perhaps God would do something new which would mean he didn’t have to go through with it. Luke’s addition of the medical detail about Jesus’ sweating drops of blood has been confirmed by modern research; under conditions of extreme stress and horror, this can and does happen. (Wright, T. (2004). Luke for Everyone (p. 270). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)
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Psalm 112:4 declares, "When darkness overtakes him, light will come bursting in.” Hard to reach for when the lights are out however. The courage to stand on the firm ground of hope and not run in the moment is challenging. As Ephesians 6:13 encourages us, “after you have done everything, stand.” The Good News Bible translates Psalm 23:4 like this, "Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, LORD, for you are with me. Your shepherd's rod and staff protect me.” Let’s grab one more text. Colossians 2:15 states that Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities ... made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” As we journey with Jesus in this “time between the times” where God’s kingdom of light has overcome the kingdom of darkness - now, already - yet is still emerging into the fullness of all that that means when the Kingdom will come in all its fullness, we can look to his final work on this cross that looms before him and realize that he has disarmed the powers and authorities. This is the death that brings life. This is the light of love that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
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Although we must be cautious about searching for a demon under “every bush” and blaming our poor decisions and lack of character and moral fibre on “the devil”, there are moments where darkness reigns. Breathe. Lean. Trust. Jesus never pulled punches on us when telling us about the trials and tribulations that we will face. Those moments of suffocating darkness. Rather than leaving us helpless and hopeless however, he tells us in John 16:33 that he has told us "these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
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Let the Kingdom of Light come bursting in.
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Art by Scott Erickson