Monday, April 1, 2024

Struck

 I don't know if I've ever done a post that's likely not going to be finished.  

Last week at Bible study we were reading a passage in John where it tell us that even though the enemies of Jesus wanted to kill him, that it wasn't His time and He passed through the crowd without being seen.   I recall several instances where something similar happened to Jesus and His enemies.   

What struck me on Good Friday is that Jesus finally decided that it was time for Him to be seen.  He clearly had the ability to move away from His enemies, but at some point He chose not to use that ability.  It was his time, and He moved into His destiny.   This seems to go against the narrative that places the blame on the Jews or Romans, not that they didn't play a role, but it seems clearly that Jesus chose to be seen and captured.  


As I considered Good Friday, I was struck by the fact that YHWH took something that was unimaginably evil, the death of His sinless, perfect, completely innocent Son, and turned it into something amazing.   If that's the case, than maybe we choose not to see other places where YHWH is using evil to bring about His good purposes. 

2 comments:

Marshal Art said...

I made this same point to Dan in what is now a thread which has gone totally off the rails. In supporting the notion of PSA as actual Biblical teaching, Dan wanted to insist that God forgives us without needing to crucify His Only Begotten Son. I countered by insisting it's not about what God "needs" to do...or more specifically...what God is capable or willing to do, but rather simply what He is recorded as having done in Scripture. He sent us Jesus to die on our behalf, to redeem us so that we can be spared God's wrath. Ultimately, I asked him what other reason could there be for Christ's death and he responded because certain Jews and Romans wanted to. It is then when I presented the same argument, that He had eluded assaults on Him previous, but willingly assented to this incredibly horrible execution. Why would He do that? The answer is what Scripture teaches about the event, and that is what the label "PSA" means.

Craig said...

I agree.