The Roman Vs. the Rabbi
A dear senior citizen was angry. She came from a generation in which you dared not speak out of line to a teacher let alone hit the instructor. The average public school of her generation was more strict than the average Christian school today. Part of her anger had to do with the seismic shift in American public opinion regarding gay marriage and other issues. To this Bible teacher, patriot and godly woman, her country was not just in decline but hurdling toward an abyss. She was in the background of my mind as I prepared to give a portrait of Jesus on Good Friday. I surfed through a Harmony of the Gospels (if you have never seen one of these, you must get one) and cut and spliced together a thorough narrative of the events of this tragic yet triumphant day. After having studied it and considered what to present, how to present it and how to drive it home, one particular scene especially caught my eye. Jesus is standing before Pilate. He is...