October 28, 2024: Monday Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark 15:1-5
May the blessings of your Baptism surround you today.
Please vote. We are one of the few democratic governance nations in the world where freedom to vote is held in such high regard. A week from today is the final opportunity to give your selections for elected offices in our nation and state. Please take the time to express your right of citizenship.
In our prayers today, please remember three homeless men who our family has given aid this past week. Gus is a double amputee who lives on the street. Shawn is also on the street, and for Rick and his lovely healthy little dog, both of whom are homeless. Pray for Annette too. Her knee surgery went very well, and she is working hard to recover at home now. She is anxious to get back to church and all of her friends. Please pray for Teri Hardy too. She is scheduled to have a third hip replacement surgery on Nov 18, and her hip has been slipping out of the socket already. Pray that it does not dislocate before the surgery.
Today we are at the beginning of the trial of Christ. He is taken to the Romans, not on the charge of Blasphemy, which Pilate would never touch for fear of creating an uprising, but on the charges of the betrayal of the Government and sedition with the Jewish people, who were already usually in a occupied frenzy over the Roman occupation of their land, that accusation he would be willing to hear. This is why we hear Pilate questioning Jesus about His Kingdom. "Are you the king of the Jews?" We certainly must believe that Pilate was well aware of Christ's ministry, and its influence on the people. He healed the sick, and preached love. Both are hardly the basis for a condemnation by Pilate. However, Pilate was smart enough to try not to get caught in the middle between Christ's followers and the Jewish religious authorities. And at this point in the recalling of this trial, Jesus goes silent refusing to answer any further questions from Pilate. For Christ, the time has come. He knows by His Father's answer to His prayer that this is the time for His sacrifice for the sins of all of creation. Let's look at the things which might foster the use of Silence.
There is the silence that comes in the midst of one's wonder and admiration. When in the presence of that cherished special person, Silence, the only eloquent thing in the midst of such wonder, may be the very best response.
There is also the silence of deep contempt. Like the earlier one, this is not what drove Christ to His silence either. If, as we acknowledge, Jesus already knew Pilate's heart and mind, then it might only move Pilate to greater anger with him, instead of a judgement and action that had to be done at the hands of His own people.
Another inbreaking that may bring silence is fear! Jesus was not afraid to move forward to His death. His silence would give the disciples time to hide away and continue God's control of the timeline and shape of Christ's death.
We may all, perhaps, have been in a relationship when we were hurt by the person who was very special to us in our lives, but that hurt is just too great to respond to it with words. There is nothing that can be said to soften it, at least not yet.
There is also the silence that comes when a person experiences a grave tragedy. There are no words to express the grief and loss that tragedy may bring. Jesus knew the hatred of the Jews for Him. That hatred was the gravest tragedy. After all, God sent His Son to bring the truth of His Love for all People, and Christ own people refused to hear and accept that love which might have given to Christ and one another in the first place. Jesus knew that Pilate was a coward with no appetite for the uprising that might occur if he called Jesus not guilty, and then stuck by it in the face of that chanting crowd. All of this is Christ's reason for staying silent in the face of this beginning in His trial. He knew from God's movement through all of these people that our lives were on the line if He chose to go any other direction. He could see the signs of God's activity all around him. It was time!
Tomorrow we will continue with Mark 15:6-15
With love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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