Good Friday Meditation #4: Not Abandoned by Everyone

Good Friday Meditation #4: Not Abandoned by Everyone

John

…but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

(John 19.25–27 ESV)

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Jesus Apr 18, 2014

Good Friday Meditation #3: “…that we may see and believe.”

Good Friday Meditation #3: “…that we may see and believe.”

Luke

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

(Luke 23.35–38 ESV)

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Jesus Apr 18, 2014

Good Friday Meditation #2: The Cross

Good Friday Meditation #2: The Cross

Mark

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour [9 AM] when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

(Mark 15.22–27 ESV)

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Jesus Apr 18, 2014

Good Friday Meditation #1: The Way To Golgotha

Good Friday Meditation #1: The Way To Golgotha

According to the Gospels, Jesus has been arrested and tried by both the Sanhedrin and Pilate (and questioned by Herod).  He has had no sleep.  He has been scourged. He has been betrayed and abandoned by friends and followers, rejected by a crowd of people, exchanged for a murderer, and near this time, sometime before 9:00 AM in the morning, the scriptures tell us:

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Jesus Apr 18, 2014

Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail

Though he wrote it a week earlier, today is the anniversary of the publishing of Reverend Martin Luther’s King’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”.  Last week Jamaal Bell, Director of Communications at Kirwan Institute at Ohio State, shared with me this video that he directed and gave me permission to share.  It’s fantastic.  Here’s the info from the Vimeo page:

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Larry Hurtado on the “Jesus Wife” Papyrus

Larry Hurtado on the “Jesus Wife” Papyrus

You may be seeing headlines today on various news sources about the “Jesus Wife” manuscript. While students of ancient Christian texts from the early to Medieval period will find this fascinating, most of the headlines are sensationalistic. It’s important to note that this Coptic manuscript looks to be from the 8th century and has very little potential to have any connection to the historical Jesus.

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Jesus’ Last Journey to Jerusalem

Jesus’ Last Journey to Jerusalem

One thing that I have appreciated since getting back from my trip to Israel is a deeper understanding of the locations and journeys in the scripture.  This week I have been thinking both about Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem (celebrated next week by Christians as Holy Week) and also about his last journey from Galilee to Judea (which likely would have started a week or less earlier).

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