John 19: 11 “Jesus answered, ‘You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’”
Dear God,
On this new day, I praise, worship, thank and love You. For You are Almighty God of heaven, earth and universe, for all were created by You. The most amazing and humanly unbelievable thing is, that Jesus allowed Himself to be part of the events leading up to the crucifixion, and then submitted to be nailed to the cross and die; all as part of Your agreed plan to save sinners from eternal death. It is beyond my human comprehension, to imagine You as the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all present God, actually watching and experiencing with Jesus, that entire time He went through this ordeal. I imagine that You must have identified with the purpose, purity and love that Jesus displayed throughout His trial, and subsequent crucifixion, because You and Your Son, are One in all things.
As a sinful human person, I am capable of only barely comprehending the physical and emotional pain that He endured, delivered by those who thought they were God’s representatives on earth: the priests and religious leaders of the day. In sinful distorted thinking, that can be part of a self-absorbed person, they thought that someone who said they were the Son of God must die. But further to that, they actually believed they were serving their God, by killing someone who claimed to be His Son! In their concern about loss of power and hate, they had not reasoned, that if the claim of Jesus was not true, they were not at any risk, for the claim would have been due to mental issues, which would have become noticeable to all people after time. If it were true, it would be a blasphemous act to betray the prophesied Messiah, the Son, of the God whom they worshiped.
They were so given over to the powers of evil, that their hearts were not softened by the sight of blood on Jesus from the scourging, as Pilate had thought they would be. History is full of actions of murder, torture and terrorism by those who thought they were serving You.
The scriptures are filled with admonition to love You, and love our neighbour as ourselves and not kill any man, for all were made in Your image. It is for me and all to be mindful, that hate towards another is included in Your admonition to us all: not just to refrain from having murderous thoughts or intentions toward any person!
Thank You that the Holy Spirit can bring me to a place of being able to overcome all wrong thoughts and deeds; because Jesus died on the cross for each of us.
Amen