A Bible scholar once said, “The Bible is the story of God’s dysfunctional family.” That is a pretty good description. I would add that the Bible is the story of death and life, despair and hope. We are in the middle of Lent. A time of reflection. A time to contemplate Christ’s suffering and death. But there is more to the story.

- The betrayal of Jesus by Judas and Christ’s trial before the Pharisees on
Thursday.
- Jesus’s first hearing before Pilate early on Friday morning.
- Jesus is then taken and has a hearing before Herod.
- There is the crown of thorns and thirty-nine lashes with the cat o’ nine tails.
- There is a second hearing before Pilate in which Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus.
- A disgraced and beaten Jesus is led out before the crowd and they demand his death.
- Jesus carries His cross to the place of His execution.
- Jesus is nailed to the cross between two thieves.
- In the midst of His suffering, He asks God to forgive all who have put Him to death.
- In the midst of His suffering, He offers forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life to one of the repentant criminals.
- In the midst of His suffering, He makes sure that His mother will be taken care of by one of His disciples.
- In the midst of His suffering, He cries out and asks why God has abandoned Him.
- In the midst of His suffering, He cries out, “It is finished,” bows His head, and gives Himself over to the care of
the Father.
- He is taken down from the cross, His body is hastily prepared for death, His body is wrapped in a burial shroud, and
placed in a tomb.

The despair is overwhelming! Death has reared it’s ugly head. But unbeknownst to Judas, who betrayed Him; the
Pharisees, Herod, and Pilate who tried Him; to the Roman guard who sealed and watched over His tomb; and to the
apostles who had gone into hiding for fear of their own lives, there was a flicker of hope. The Holy Spirit was already
at work. And on Sunday the despair of death was replaced by the promise of the resurrection and the empty tomb.
Despair loses and hope wins! 

Veritas - Curt