Ken Boa Reflections Ministries

Ken Boa: Good morning. We're going to pick up where we left off. Of course, we're up to John 19 today. At the end of John 18, as we look here, they were going to release someone. I find no guilt in Him, but you have a custom. So they cried out, "Not this man, but Barabbas." There were two things that we looked at last time that particularly were important. The first one was Luke 22:61, where it says as Jesus was being led out from the religious trials to the civil trials, their eyes met. Jesus looked at him just at the point after the rooster crowed, "You're going to deny me three times," and he wept bitterly.

That was a powerful and poignant moment, the recognition that each of us is going to see that face. He will look at us, and we want to look at that face not with regret or remorse but with rejoicing so that we live in such a way that we will encounter those eyes, that face. But then the other thing we saw was that we are all Barabbas, and that was a very important point for us as well. It's intriguing to imagine when he heard "give us Barabbas" and then "crucify him." He may have supposed it was him that they were speaking about. So He took our place and is the substitute for our work.

We're going to pick up where we left off. We looked under "suffering under Pontius Pilate." What is the accusation? That was a question that was raised. Secondly, are you the King of the Jews? The third question: shall I release the King of the Jews? So we're at the end of Chapter 18 going into 19. Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and put a purple robe on Him. They began to come up to Him and say, "Hail, King of the Jews," and to give Him slaps in the face.

This was an incredible situation because Jesus is now first appealing to the sympathy. "Shall I release the King of the Jews?" But the scourge was a leather whip, and it was knotted and weighted with pieces of bone. Many didn't survive that scourging. It was limited to 40, but many people died under that Roman scourge, as you can well imagine. He'd previously been slapped in the face before Annas. He'd been spat upon and beaten before Caiaphas. After scourging, there was the crown of thorns, and it was really a cap that was jammed into His head.

Through this mocking and beating by the soldiers, the thorns and thistles were brought in by sin as we know. So He bears that mark of sin. Thorns and thistles will come out as a result of the curse. Now the Creator of the world would wear a crown of thorns as He bears the sins of the world. It's a very clear image of Him taking upon Himself the sins of the world because it was a result of the fall that you have the curses on the natural world.

The Jews mocked Him for being a prophet and the Gentiles mocked His claim to being King. In verse four, it goes on to say Pilate came out again and said, "Behold, I'm bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him." This is the third time Pilate faces the people, and he says to them, appealing perhaps for sympathy for Him, "Behold, I'm bringing Him out. I find no guilt in Him." He came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Ecce Homo. Behold the man." That's a moment perhaps of arousing pity.

In verse six, the chief priests and the others saw Him. They cried out, saying, "Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him." So he finds for the third time no guilt in Jesus, but he was a weak-willed politician who looked for a compromise that would please everybody. That's the nature of that situation there. In verse seven, the Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law, He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God."

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He's getting to be more afraid. He begins to wonder whether Jesus has supernatural power. In another one of the Gospels in Matthew, it tells us that his wife had a dream about Him. "Don't have anything to do with this righteous man because I was deeply troubled with Him." So he realizes there's something beyond the ordinary power that he's beholding. Jesus was silent, though, and He would not answer him. This made him afraid.

He entered into the Praetorium. "Where are you from?" He gave no answer. Pilate said to Him, "Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin." Pilate's boast was met by Jesus making it clear that all true authority comes from God. Caiaphas really had the greater sin. He knew the scriptures but he hardened his heart.

Pilate sought to release Him in verse 12. His desire would be even more attempts to release Him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." It's an incredible concept that on a high and holy day, the Jews crucified their own Messiah and feigned loyalty to Caesar. Whatever they could do to deny this one, they would do. He washed his hands, but he couldn't cleanse his heart.

So he brings Him out, sat down in the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was the day of preparation for the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your king." We're dealing with noon here. They cried out, "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests even said something that would be acid in their mouths: "We have no king but Caesar."

How desperate they were because it's the last thing they believed and wanted to do. Their desperation was driven demonically. It seems to me it was a collective power that overwhelmed them. From the human standpoint, the crucifixion was a great crime and a great tragedy. But as you know from the divine standpoint, it was the fulfillment of prophecy and the accomplishment of the will of God. We have to look at it from that perspective. What appears to be a tragedy is the purpose for which He came.

He was telling them all along, "My hour has not yet come," but now "My hour has come." This is the purpose for which I came into the world. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Those are very clear purpose statements. He knew who He was. He knew where He came from, and He knew where He was going. He'd come forth from God as we saw in John 13. All things had been given into His hands, and then He knew that He was going back to God.

Because of that, He was able to do what otherwise would have been impossible. Had He believed what people were saying about Him, He could never have had the capacity to do what He was called to do. He instead knew who He was because He allowed the Father to define Him. That's what gives us security, isn't it? The more you grasp your true identity in this world, the more secure you are to be able to serve other people. Even when people mistreat us or treat us unjustly or if there's not a proper reciprocity, we know that our identity is not based upon people's expectations and opinions. It's based upon what God says we are.

Choosing to believe that has always been so critical for us as we've been emphasizing all along. From this standpoint, it's a great tragedy. But from a biblical standpoint, it's the purpose of God fulfilling Isaiah 53 and also, as we're going to see in this chapter, Psalm 22. All these things are very clear. It's interesting. Someone was describing how in Israel, one person read out loud Isaiah 53 and didn't say where it came from. They asked the people, "Who's it speaking about?" They said it was Jesus.

They didn't know that it was in their own Bible. Usually, in the synagogues, they skip that chapter because it's too painfully obvious who it's about. But the point is that this is a powerful word fulfilled in His purpose. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Like one from whom we were, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried. But we regarded Him stricken of God, smitten. But we realize now it was because of our sins that He was crucified.

This just is a very powerful word for us to realize this crucifixion. We go up to here. Shall I release the King of the Jews? Then where are you from? Again, he's increasingly wondering who is this one who has a power and authority? Remember when he says, "What is truth?" cynically? He's walking and looking at the face of truth, the incarnation. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." So we move from Pontius Pilate now to the whole idea that He was even unto death on the cross, that He would give Himself in this manner.

Crucified. Verses 17 to 27. We see this description of the crucifixion. He handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus therefore, and He went out bearing His own cross to the place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side and Jesus was in between. Remember He was flanked by the two options that you have before God, either to accept Him or to reject Him.

At the end of the day, one ultimately believes and the other chooses to reject Him. There's not a third thief of indifference. You don't have that option. You don't have a third option where you can say I'm just going to choose not to receive Him or reject Him. I'm just going to go in between. You don't have that option. Not to receive Him is to reject Him. So a choice must be made, and a hard choice it is at the end of the day. But you'll be either one of those or the other. It's a very significant concept.

Roman citizens were not crucified. This was reserved for the lowest criminals. This was not a method that was used at the time that it was described, especially in Psalm 22. "They pierced my hands and my feet." This was not known at that time. So it's an anticipatory prophecy. The criminal customarily would carry his own cross or perhaps the crossbeam from the hall of judgment to the place of execution. It was a mile-long walk where Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry it, as we know from the Gospel of Luke.

He's taken to the Place of the Skull, Golgotha. Jesus was crucified outside the city as it tells us in Hebrews 13. The sacrifice was made outside the city. We cannot be sure of the location because of the destruction of Jerusalem. But the idea here, they crucified Him. Many of the Jews read this inscription because what would take place then would be that the criminal would wear a placard and it would announce his crime. So this was Pilate's insult to the religious establishment: "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews."

You ever see I-N-R-I? Most people don't know what it means. It stands for Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. That's where it comes from. The idea is interesting because it was Pilate's insult. The language was three languages. John emphasizes, I think, the worldwide emphasis and dimensions of the work of Christ. Hebrew is the language of religion, Greek of philosophy, and Latin of law. All three combined to crucify the Lord.

We see then there's this haggling here. The chief priests and the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write the King of the Jews, but that He said 'I am the King of the Jews.'" Pilate says last, a little bit back at them, "What I have written I have written. I'm not going to change it." Actually, it's a declaration that He is the King of the Jews. In spite of their desire to say He claimed to be, it's actually a declaration that He was. Again, how God has a capacity, doesn't He? He always overrides the historical dimension here and everything serves His purpose.

Now in verse 23, it describes how the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic. A centurion and four soldiers were usually assigned to do executions. This again fulfilled Psalm 22:18. They divided my garments among themselves. And the people reviled Jesus. But the tunic itself was a seamless tunic woven in one piece. They didn't want to tear that up. So they cast lots for it to decide. Then this is the allusion then. "They divided my outer garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." The allusion then is to Psalm 22:18.

At this time, people reviled Jesus and the soldiers did these things. But by standing by the cross of Jesus, there was His mother. So we go from there in verses 25 to 27. They saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby. John never names himself, but that's who he is, the disciple whom Jesus loved, standing nearby. He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." From that hour, that disciple took her into his own household.

It's an incredible experience that you see here. You had three Marys and Salome were at first near the cross and then later further away. Mary was experiencing, remember it said "the sword will pierce your heart" in the infancy narratives. Mary's experiencing the sword that fulfilled the prophecies about her son. He gave His closest disciple responsibility even here to care for her. She's later seen waiting Pentecost with the disciples in the upper room. You have this whole scene that's very powerful with the last words of our Lord from the cross.

Then 28 to 32, His death. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, He said, "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Here's again a fulfillment of Psalm 22 and also Psalm 69, two Messianic psalms. These are quoted in that text. There were three hours of light followed by three hours of darkness when He was separated from the Father.

Then He said, "It is finished. Tetelestai." That word, the debt has now been paid in complete. So the blood of the sacrifice could only cover sin, but the blood of the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world. All they could do was put off the debt each year as they went into the Yom Kippur. Remember they would go, the high priest once a year would go into the Most Holy Place, only once a year and only that one person. He brought an offering for himself as well.

Remember what he would do when he would sprinkle the blood on the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat? It would be kind of as it were the blood between them and the power and the authority of the law that was covering because the law of God was in there. So the requirements of the law were covered up and it put it off and it postponed it another year. But the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. But they did put off the debt, as it were, collectively, and the debt got bigger and bigger. Every year it grew and grew until ultimately one person would be able to accomplish what all the sacrifices could never do. When He, having accomplished this purpose, for one time paid for the sins of the world.

Then He could say, "It is finished." From this point, His work was complete. When He said "it is finished," that's when He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. He gave up His spirit, which is interesting, His voluntary death, that He gave it up at three o'clock, the time when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered. So it's very significant, the moment. But from that point on, His work was complete and sinful hands did not touch His body after that.

It's in this situation here that I wanted to call your attention to the seven last words of Christ. It's helpful to look at this. They fascinate me, these seven last words from the cross. The first one is "Father, forgive them." First He thought of others, those who crucified Him. So this is Luke 23:34, which is significant. And then the believing thief. Today I say to you, truly I say to you, you will be with me in paradise, which is an incredible thing for this man to receive that gift.

And then His mother. He makes provision for His mother as well. First He's thinking of others: those who crucified Him, the believing thief, and then His mother. "Behold your son," and then He said "behold your mother." So He made provision for her. That's very significant. So first of all, it was for others. And then the central word had to do with His relationship with His Father. In Aramaic, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" And we know that's also from Psalm 22.

So this central word had to do with His relationship with the Father. This is a profoundly dark and mysterious and deep thing that we have to see. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. It's an incredible concept that the one who had no sin receives the sins of the world. It's an amazing thought when you look at the righteousness of Christ. If I add up my thoughts, words, and deeds, what does it add up to? We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed.

You add up the account and it leads to sin. But if you look at His account, His thoughts and words and deeds were always righteous, were they not? So the amazing thought of this verse "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf" is this: He takes my account, the sin, and places it on Himself on the cross. He bears our sin. There's nothing like this anywhere. No one could have ever thought of it or imagined it. There's nothing like it. The idea that the one who made the cosmos, the heavens and the earth, who rules and authority would actually become one with us and then die on our behalf. It's all mysteries within mysteries within mysteries.

So this is an amazing thought that He took our sin. But there's something even more amazing: that we might have the righteousness of God in Him, which is a double imputation. That means that He imputed our sin on Himself and His righteousness on us. The thing that caused us actually to be separated from God was imputed sin. It was the sin that was imputed from Adam, was it not? God takes the very thing that condemned us and doubles it and double imputes. He takes our sin and imputes it on Him, and then He takes His righteousness and imputes it on us. What an incredible thought. You'll never get a better deal.

Think about that. There's nothing like it in all the world. So I call that to your attention because it's such a profoundly important text. He bears the sins of the world. So it's first thinking about others, then between His relationship with the Father. The last three statements focus on Himself. First of all, "I am thirsty." It has to do with His body. And then, "It is finished," with His soul. And then with His spirit, "Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit."

So it's a beautiful portrait when you tie those threads together of the seven last words of Christ. It's a powerful overview. When you put the four Gospels together, you have a composite account. Each one selecting it from a particular angle, but the total is greater than the sum of the parts. It's a unified discourse that provides for us a rich picture of what's actually happening. So His death was actually voluntary.

The death of Jesus is a major theme in John's Gospel. Consider, for example, in Chapter 1, it's pictured as the slaying of the lamb. In Chapter 2, this destroying of the temple. "Destroy this temple but in three days I'm going to raise it up." Third, in Chapter 3, it's portrayed as the lifting up of the serpent. And then also in Chapter 10, it's the Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep. And in Chapter 12, it's the planting of seed in the ground unless the grain of wheat goes into the ground and dies, but then when it's raised up. So His death was not an accident. It was a divine appointment. His death was voluntarily given and He willingly dismissed His spirit. Jesus does this at three o'clock, and the work is now complete.

In verse 31, then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath—for that Sabbath was a high day—asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. The way in which you accelerate the crucifixion, which was a gruesome death and it could last for days in some cases, was asphyxiation. It was a cruel thing because the instinct is to preserve yourself and you're pushing down so that you can breathe. Every time you do it, what happens? It's agonizing because of the spikes in the foot.

It's a perverse kind of thing that causes a person to constantly go through agony and it goes for a long period of time. The way you accelerate it then is by breaking the legs so they can no longer hold themselves up and they would die then of that asphyxiation. But we see that the Roman soldiers did not do what they were commanded to do when it comes to breaking the legs. As we know in Exodus, not a bone of His would be broken. But they did do what they were not supposed to do: they pierced His side.

In His case then, so that you had the piercing of the side, and so the blood and the water clearly Jesus had a real body. The soldiers came, broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him. But they came to Him and they saw that He was already dead. They didn't break His legs, but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. He who has seen this has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you may believe.

These things came to pass to fulfill the scripture: "Not a bone of His will be broken." So this clear fulfillment then of the prophecies in scripture are evident here. "They pierced and you will look on Him whom you have pierced." All these things work together as the Zechariah 12:10 is being fulfilled as well. That He had a real body, experienced a real death. The blood may speak of our justification, the water of our sanctification and cleansing. But it was a clear picture of the completion of this work.

And then in verses 38 to 42, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, and as I said from this point on, unbelievers did not touch the body of Jesus. The work was now complete. There's no more suffering to be done. He's completed that on the cross. God prepared those two influential men, Joseph of Arimathea and also Nicodemus. He was a secret disciple, but his men were of the Sanhedrin. For fear of the Jews, he asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate granted permission.

So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night in John 3, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. They took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. It's significant to me. Is it possible that Joseph prepared this new tomb near the place of execution not for himself but for Jesus? No one knows, but it's interesting that they had it all ready. They had the clothes and the spices needed for the burial. But maybe that Nicodemus and Joseph searched the Old Testament Messianic prophecy, but we don't know.

At any rate, God worked it out because otherwise He would have been thrown into a pit with the others and it would be unmarked. All these things made it clear that all these things were done according to the purposes of God. In the place where He was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So being a rich man, it was done and made for Him. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Mary and the other women would have noted the place and planned to return after the Sabbath to complete the burial procedure. Jesus finished the work of the new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17, this whole idea of the new creation. Now He will rest in the Sabbath as the Sabbath is about to begin. So those days are completed then and the Sabbath now comes upon Him. So now He rests. It's an incredible portrait of how Jesus then accomplishes all these things on our behalf.

I'd like us to just consider and I thought it would be good for us to consider the last words of Christ and for you to reflect upon the seven last words of Christ. Remember the first three are concerning others, then concerning His relationship with His Father, and then concerning Himself. It's a powerful portrait then of the implications every all these things have for your life and for mine. John's narrative gives us details others don't have, but you put it all together and you have this extraordinary picture of the grace of God in the timing of God, the perfect work of God, the power of God, and that nothing will defeat God's eternal purposes in the life of His Son and therefore in your life as well. Because this has happened to Him, now you also are a bearer of the resurrected life of Christ. That life of Christ, which is now in you, is manifesting itself in you and through you as you. Let's take a look at this text.

All right, it's our wrap-up time. What profound insights did you gain today? Anyone at your table? We have the microphone here. What group would like to share a thought or a question? Was this a helpful exercise to look at these things? One of the things that I wanted to emphasize with my group and my table is the fact that this Word is active and alive and sharp as any two-edged sword. Every time you approach it with an open heart and an open mind, you should be receiving new insights. It's layered and layered and layered, and it just gets richer and richer as we go. I hope that will be true of you as you study this material. Yes, Larry.

Larry: What I was going to say is that I think Jesus on the cross looking down, forgiving the very people who had nailed Him to the cross—forgive them for they don't know what they do—and the fact that God throughout history had already planned all these events coinciding with each other perfectly for His Son to be the sacrifice. A lot of people today, the Jewish people, they get defensive because people say the Jews crucified Christ. Had the Lord not planned this ahead of time, none of us would have salvation today. It is an amazing thing to think about what a brutal thing He had to go through to purchase our salvation.

Ken Boa: No, that's actually so. It's amazing how all these things really work together for good. It's interesting if you show this little scripture here, you made me think of something. In Acts Chapter 4, "Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel." It was everybody. It wasn't just the Jews. You need to understand that everybody's covered there: Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel.

It was needful for this to be done. God's purposes will not be thwarted or defeated by our own machinations and ideas. That's a comforting thought because nothing can defeat His purposes in your life, even though everything seems often to be go contrary to it. You recognize that we are in a story that's going to end very well indeed. Right now, it looks like it's a tragedy. If we didn't have the next act to come, it would be. But it's the grace of God that all that we've gone through, the adversities we encounter in this world—and we will, the scriptures guarantee it.

The more serious you get about it, the more adversity you're going to encounter. It's just the nature of that. But moreover, He will redeem what He allows and make it a stuff of redemption and joy. Ultimately, no one will regret any of that, but they will, in fact, the only thing they'll regret in my mind looking back is the time when they didn't trust Him enough to do what He told us to do. Our regrets will not be the adversities and pains we suffered, but rather the times we drew back. I'm often wondering what our expression might be when we see things as they will be and say, "If I'd only known. How it might have been different if I'd only known."

So let's live that way. Nothing defeats His purposes. It was needful that He came. Remember Jesus was a Jew. It's not anti-Semitic. The whole thing was He was the fulfillment of their prophecies and it was a Messianic image that we have. It's interesting. I know of one Jewish scholar who concluded that the resurrection actually was true, but then he had to conclude that Jesus was only a Messiah for the Gentiles. Where did he get that from? The evidence for the historical resurrection—so this fellow actually comes to conclude it's true, but he doesn't want to bow the knee to Jesus because He was just a Gentile Messiah. There's no such thing as a Gentile Messiah. It's amazing to me. What other thought did you have?

Guest (Male): When we read this account, sometimes we go through it and we don't really put ourselves in the account. Sometimes, like you read the story of Stephen, I've often said sit there sometime and try to pretend you're Stephen. You'll get a sense of what's going on. But with this, I was telling the guys about 40 years ago at Mariners Church in Southern California, they had a guy come in with a big wax upper body of Jesus. Then he told this story, but he had a scourging thing as he told the story. He whipped that wax. Oh, he was whipping it. Then he'd talk a little more and then he'd whip it again. So you could while you were hearing the story, you could experience that. I can honestly tell you when people left that day, nobody said a word. It was silence in that place.

Ken Boa: It's hard to conceive what He endured. I think we have to see that He is both God and man. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He was the only one who could have done what He did. I like this chart here. The birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of human history. The resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story. And the incarnation is the story. It begins and ends in joy. This is Tolkien's idea. Remember what did he mean by a eucatastrophe? Euthos is the word for good. So it's a catastrophic eruption in human history for good.

A beautiful and brilliant way of putting it. So the birth is the eucatastrophe of our history, and within that narrative, the resurrection is the key theme because it shows us that it was received and ultimately because He rose from the dead, we will rise from the dead. It gives me that great hope. Age conspires with God to transfer our hope from the temple to the eternal. It's really true. I'm seeking to think more about my eternal citizenship because, after all, this body that which is wearing out is only temporary and it's rather good to consider the nature of the resurrected body. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. The desire to depart and be with Him is far better. That is the way we should see it. So it is not a tragedy when a person goes into the Lord but actually it's their coronation, as it were. It is our difficulty. We grieve, yes, but not as those who have no hope. So when we grieve, yes, it's legitimate, but the grief is for us, not for them. At the end of the day, they're now in the presence of the Savior. That's a wonderful portrait for us to see.

When we read this account, the Jews just said, "Hey, we honor Caesar." They hated Caesar. They hated him. That was how we do the same thing. The very thing that they loathed, they hated him for violating their traditions. They violated their law in order to defeat the one who violated their traditions. It's amazing how the viciousness of that. They're going to be even willing to do something. It must have been gall in their mouth to say this: "We have no king but Caesar." The last thing they wanted to acknowledge. How do we do the same thing? We're our own worst enemies in many ways.

Each day we have to do this thing: Your kingdom come, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done. It has to be the dethronement of the self and the enthronement of Christ on a daily basis, or we're going to naturally take it back. You're supposed to give yourself a living sacrifice, but you know the phrase: a living sacrifice can crawl off the altar. You have to keep on reviewing that every day. It's amazing how often we go from a Christocentric to an egocentric world just like that. So again, who is at any moment of the day our desire would be to be so much engaged with and training ourselves to be aware of His presence that life becomes more and more about Him. The more it's about Him, the more we gain. Remember what I've said before: God never calls us to give up something without giving us a greater good.

Guest (Male): Two thoughts. I was listening to a podcast last week about Michelangelo's Pieta and the pain of a mother watching her son being crucified and the pain of a son watching the mother watching the son. They were debating about the level of that pain. But the second thought is it was the worst day in human history but the best day in human history. It was a true eucatastrophe.

Ken Boa: It was a eucatastrophe. Yes, and that's a good way of seeing it. It's an amazing thought. May we be encouraged by this word of the cross, but then also we're anticipating the word of the resurrection. See you next week. █