My Hope

  Where are you in your relationship with Christ this Resurrection Sunday?   Are you dining at the Passover supper with Jesus- blissfully unaware of what you’ll soon be called to do?  Do you know that something is coming, but you’re focused more on who is sitting where?  Are you looking for someone to overturn the oppressive government or do you search for a servant king? Maybe you’re in the garden, fighting to stay awake.  You know what you’ve been told to do and yet you struggle to obey.  Maybe you’ve seen the innocent mistreated and you react in anger and violence rather than allowing God to bring justice. Perhaps you’ve just experienced the death of your Rabbi, teacher and friend.  You don’t know what to do and so you hide from this world and wait until things are clearer.  You protect yourself by denying your relationship.   Maybe you’ve seen the risen Messiah.  You have touched his hands and feet.  Now he is telling ...

   Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, "You don't know what you're talking about!     You don't realize that it's better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."    He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation.      And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.    So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death.   (Joh 11:49-53 NLT) His death transcended time and space.    His death was for the Jewish nation at that time.    But his death was also for each person, no matter their nationality, for generation to generation.    I can tell you firsthand that Christ is able to unite those of us who are children of God, no matter where we’re from.    There have...