Just thinking.
1 - Pilot. Pontius. The guy has always fascinated me. His interaction with Jesus covers so many different aspects of life. Here he is presented with the Truth to which he, in an almost heart breaking display of despair, responds:
"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." (John 18:38)
Did the man have slumped shoulders as if resigned to the conclusion that Truth did not exist? Even in the man before him who, in direct opposition to the very idea, claimed to BE that Truth. Surely he couldn't have had disdain on his face, or looked down his nose at Jesus to then proceed so vigorously to use what power he had to try to free Jesus.
He has been presented with something he had thought lost but cannot allow himself to believe it. It feels so very close to home in so many of the debates I've had and read about; what do you do when presented with something you don't believe in. How would you react in Pilots position? You are not Jewish, you do not have those beliefs, and yet you would have to give up everything should it turn out to be true. It's hard. Circumstantially it couldn't have gone any other way, so you wonder about the fate of Pilot. Where does his soul rest now? Did he later come to recognize Truth or not?
It's like he is the epitome of trying to DO the right thing, to do what seems BEST, even when it goes against what you know is RIGHT. If that make any sense ^_^ Maybe I connect with Pilot on some level. I mean who doesn't, right; the guy has to make a choice - it's the same choice everyone comes to at some point. "Is there a God?" At least it sure seems to me like everyone has to face that question. How does your own life grind against that question? The pressures of social expectations or your own personal goals; whatever you think you need to accomplish in life before you die. What of it all when faced with what might just be the Truth.
2 - Communion - God HAD a body to break. Think about that. It just hit me today. The creator of everything. Indescribable. Perfection. Is 3 entities; able to have a relationship with himself. Yet He takes on the form of His creation so that he may have the qualities that allow himself to be broken, so that we might understand our purpose; where we come from and where we are headed.
The creator of suffering, took on a form so that He might suffer.
mind=blown.
3 - i forgot.
2 comments:
yes! i have also always been fascinated by Pilot's response to Jesus' statement about truth. interestingly, i just learned recently that this particular passage (specifically John 18:31-33, 37-38) is the oldest manuscript fragment of the New Testament to be found thus far (dated to the 2nd century). i find that significant, since, like you said, it deals with a question we all come up against. 'what is truth?' and it also presents the answer. Jesus declaring his purpose to 'testify to the truth.'
HEY! sorry I haven't written back to you on "the book." =\
That is pretty awesome. ahhh foundations =) Sometimes I think it'd be lots of fun to be a Biblical scholar - learn about ancient histories, learn Hebrew...but then I realize I can do that anyway if I just read the books those fine intelligent gentlemen put out ^_^
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