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May10 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:3:7-12 LEST THEY THRONG - Arrangements have to be made for Jesus' safety; not hostile endangerment per se but, eager/desperate. The pressing of the crowds were like those in a famine at a food distribution line where innocent people do get trampled. Perhaps the most dangerous thing is that people now presume that they can get healed simply by touching Jesus. They don't even have to converse with Him or receive His consent/action. We are told of this being true in a few cases but, not as I am aware as a general rule. With this inhibition torn down the people feel free to press in on and through and around anything or anyone that might stand in their own way. Crowd control is always a major factor as multitudes take on a illogical unpredictable dynamic all of their own. As we see with modern terrorist tactics, a crowd can even be used against itself by malcontents when excited into a stampede or incited into a riot. How odd/nightmarish it must of seemed to be packed into a tight space of sickly even demon possessed people all moving in without self prohibition toward the center. The plan was to stay close to the shoreline cutting off half of the encirclement, providing a means of retreat via small swift boat. The faith of our Lord is very bold but, certainly not stupid. The nature of men, the nature of desperation, the nature of crowds is all taken into account. Being a disciple was often like being a body guard, intense, physical, eerie, and dangerous; not the place for mere academics. The whole experience must have been becoming more and more unimaginable to them. The Lord I am sure takes that into account too.

December16 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:18:1-11 WHOM SEEK YE - The impression I take from this passage is that Father is in control of everything and Jesus is giving Himself to the Father. The officers and guards marching on the way over surely had rehearsed the situation over in their minds as they approached and were fully aware of who it was that they were coming to get. Others had been sent on the same mission other times and had come back empty handed. The pressure was on them this time. They may have been under orders to assume control of the situation, that they fell back may have been part of that plan (or not), but there was little control for them to be had. Judas may have thought that he was in control, but when the guard fell back exposing him powerless and later when the swords were drawn exposing him to danger and even later when the purse was tossed, control was found furthest from Judas' hands. The Sanhedrin thought themselves to be in control on many occasion and ended up being shown as the fool. This could easily play against them or even explode and cause the very same public rioting they most feared against. If there is any control or settling in their hands it comes directly from their understanding of prophecy oddly enough and Jesus' own words which ties us back into the Fathers control. Out walks Jesus like the shepherd before the pack of wolves, coming between the ravenous and His fold. He asks them twice who they have come after, making certain the release of the others (except for a momentary diversion from a mis-intentioned Peter). Had anyone other than the Father been in control this event would have gone much differently. So we must ask, why is it important that the Father be in full control of this? Couldn't this have played out more dynamically? kjv@Isaiah:53:10 may be our best source for an answer stating that it "pleased the LORD to bruise Him, having put Him to grief" and again "make His soul an offering for sin" and again "see His seed and prolong His days". The "arm of the LORD" is being revealed in this and the events to come. It won't be because of the success of any certain group or person or principality. These actors will play the part that they are given, they will be used as tools and Jesus will be shown as giving Himself freely and completely as sent and directed to perform the Father's ultimate long awaited for mercy. People today see the Father of the Old Testament as harsh and temperamental despite every evidence to the contrary. They point to specific instances like Abraham and Issac with horror not realizing that it was not Abraham that suffered this sacrifice it was HIM the Father. The faith of our Lord presents the Father in a whole new light, that HE is willing to do this for us and for HIS own good name, that HE loves us to this extent and price, that for all that we've mistaken and corrupted HE is still wanting to work it all out, HE will use all of HIS power and ability to make this what it best needs to be. Not only all of this, but that it was HIS plan all along. Maybe today you are part of that guard that is marching lock step to seize our Jesus away. Maybe you are the one who is turning Him/us in. Maybe you are in the elite thinking that you are doing God's work by ordering this to be done. Maybe you are just a simple fisherman at the ready with knife and sword. Regardless, you think that you are coming at this under control. Three words Jesus will have for you... "Whom seek ye?". Think about it!

December21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:18:28-40 TO THIS END - Apparently when you are breaking your own law by having a trial at night and coming to a judgment of condemnation in the same day it is important that you not break your own traditions of not dirtying your hands by going into a Gentile's house; it makes it all better. Apparently if you yourself do not have legal power to perform capital punishment it is okay to take him to someone that does; it is all right. John doesn't go into the false evidence and witness that the Sanhedrin itself trumped up, but apparently it too is okay as long as you don't sully your hands and your image by expressing concern over not missing the closing hours of the paschal festival. Aren't you glad that they thought this all through and got it to where they could murder God's Son without breaking their ceremonial traditions? Why should Pilate entertain this motion? Because they wouldn't have brought him had He not been what they said he was; you can take their word on that. Oh so Pilate doesn't find anything wrong with the man, but it is okay to offer him in a trade for a seditious robber? Did that come out of left field or what? Is it article ?#$& that says that it is lawful to trade an innocent man for a convict tried by Roman law if the Jews insist? What business does Rome have with a man who won't tell you directly that he is a king, with no army, with no intent of removing anyone from their throne, who has gone out of his way on several occasions not to present himself to the public as someone who would? Some would say that Pilate felt for Jesus but cowarded to the pressure of the Jews. WHat? Pilate (who has been tyrannical and utterly vicious to the Jews as recently as a few months ago on the temple stairs) and the Sanhedrin suddenly being buddy buddy should alert us to something politically motivated happening here in a big way. They are both trying to present themselves to the public (and to history) as having clean hands. Don't riot against me Jerusalem for well I pretended not to want to be involved in this when most vehemently I did. Don't riot against us thousands of followers because we did not kill Jesus, Jesus killed Himself by what He said to Pilate. This is why all the detail is given to public perception. Little did they know that it was going to be written about. A few weeks and all this messiness would be done with, so they thought. It was written in a time span where if the written testimony that we have was false that the many witnesses could have fought back, we would have historical evidence that these misrepresentations had been vigorously disputed.Truth is that Rome didn't think much of this little incident until it had stirred the people so that they had to destroy the Temple, burn the records and ransack the city a few decades latter. What we do have is our Apostles talking about it quite openly to the public in a tone that everyone else knew about it and accepted it; many were convicted by it. The words here of Jesus then take on deeper meaning when He says that He came into this world to "bare witness unto the truth" and everyone that is "of the truth" heareth His voice. Truth is not the perception portrayed of washing ones hands of the matter, nor is it of making it back to the festival in time, truth is why it is you feel the need to trip all over yourself and the law on the way to portraying yourself as innocent of a most guilty matter.Truth is proving man his nature so that then you can show them God's. The faith of our Lord remember is that this is all in the Father's hands. No it is not right what they are doing, but what else could be expected. How does this ever change unless the Son of God suffers this wrong and takes it in His flesh to the grave along with every other wrong so that He might raise up a people free of it's corruption. Born into to bare wittness, to this end completed.