Reading from Sunday, May 30

Hey friends. So, I've missed a couple days. I ain't proud of that, especially because I missed writing out of laziness - I didn't do anything but watch movies yesterday. And by "movies" I mean I watched one movie and then 6 hours of "Clean House" starring Niecy Nash. She was cleaning up people's foolishness, for sure. The movie I watched was called "Triangle" and it was awesome. If you're into movies like Memento or The Machinist, Triangle is definitely up your alley. So good.

Alright let's hit the good book.

Reading for May 30
2 Samuel 15:23-16:23
So once again the Israelites are in exile. Except this time they are leaving out of fear of persecution, not out of persecution. Also, this time there is not a single mention of God having an active role in this story. The people talk about him and reference him, but there is no God sending plagues or parting the Red Sea or anything like that. So David and his people are once again wandering around a desert. Absalom, who has taken over Israel was receiving advice from these two guys - Hushai and Ahiphotel. They give him the praise he was looking for and Ahiphotel's first piece of advice to Absalom was to sleep with David's concubines that were tasked with watching over David's palace while he was gone. So Absalom does just that, but he doesn't do it privately - he does it on the roof of the palace so all of Israel can see. He's saying "look who's the effing man now! Me!"

I'll admit this section is pretty confusing with all the names and cities, but I think what I can draw from this is that Absalom was looking for the praise of man and the advice of man, and terrible things were happening. Well, I guess you could argue that having sex with ten women isn't horrible if you're into that sort of thing - but I think the point here is that his - and most of Israrel's for that matter - morality is gone.

John 18:25-19:22
Really interesting scene here. So this is Jesus' crucifixion...and there are - as usual - many more details here in John than in the other gospels. In John, Pilate comes across as the most rational person in the Gospels. He sits with Jesus and asks him about the charges brought against him. The way this conversation was written seems so enchanting. I picture the crowd of  Jews outside, Jesus and Pilate inside - the muffled shouts of the crowd beating on the walls. And here sits two decent men, a governor and a king. It doesn't take like for Pilate to realize that this guy is awesome and shouldn't be charged with anything. He pleads with the crowd and then finally gives in and sends Jesus off to be flogged.

Pilate then brings Jesus back out on the stage and once again  pleads with the people to let him go. It appeared that Pilate tried to reason with the crowd for several hours, but could not get through to them. They wanted Jesus dead.

The coolest thing here is a discussion about power:

"Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

 ¹¹Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

Pilate has this narrow scope of understanding of power. In his eyes, and likely many others, he is the most powerful person in this region. He has full dominion over money, people, resources, the law and the punishment. Jesus has divine power that Pilate could not even understand.

I know I  think about this at the end of every Gospel, but I can't get away from it: as nasty as they Jews were portrayed here, they were the essential piece in this event taking place. And while Pilate seems like the good guy, he is actually holding Jesus back from he needed to do. It's so backwards and upside down, but its also one of the best stories of all time. Jesus was able to redeem all of mankind through the actions of wicked men. He would have failed to save mankind if the actions of a kind but ignorant man were carried out.

Psalm 119:113-128
Now this guy's starting to sound a bit like a zealot:

 ¹²⁶ It is time for you to act, O LORD;
       your law is being broken.

The majority of  this section of the psalm is very violent and angry. The  opening line is "I hate double minded men." To open a poem with "I hate" is always a little scary.  This  is the  kind of stuff that fuels the Westboro Baptist Church when taken out of context. It is hard to deal with though, but I need to deal with it and justify it for myself. 

Proverbs 16:10-11
 ¹⁰ The lips of a king speak as an oracle,
       and his mouth should not betray justice.
 ¹¹ Honest scales and balances are from the LORD;
       all the weights in the bag are of his making.

Alright, g'nite.