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John 3:16-17
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John 3:16-17
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12 friends have opened a study shared with them.
In Barracks 28 of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Betsie ten Boom coughed on a bed stuffed with fleas and lice. Corrie carried her on a stretcher to the hospital ward where Betsie whispered her final words. She whispered, we "must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here" (The Hiding Place, 227). Corrie wrote her words down, giving hope to tens of millions in over sixty languages.
John 19:16-27
Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Don't write, 'The king of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the king of the Jews.'" Pilate replied, "What I have written, I have written." When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it." This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Escorted by soldiers, Jesus carries the patibulum, or the crossbeam, to Golgotha. Once there, the soldiers nail him to it, hoist him ten feet high onto a vertical beam, and display him to the city. Then Pilate writes. According to one commentator, it was likely in large letters, probably black or red, against a white gypsum board mounted to the cross: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. It's in Aramaic so the locals can read it, in Latin, for the army, and in Greek, as a message to the empire. It's an unbearable truth for his spiritual enemies. They protest, but no opposition can erase what is written. Then God writes the completion of an old story. A thousand years ago, Psalm 22 foretold, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing." As the soldiers swat flies from their eyes, they sort through Jesus' clothes. Four items for four men, a neat division. But the seamless tunic is too good to tear, so they roll the dice. The soldiers complete a script they've never read. Then Jesus writes a new story. Four women and a beloved disciple draw close enough to hear him as he gasps for air. John records that he spoke a new family into existence: "Here is your son." "Here is your mother." Pilate writes the truth unknowingly. God writes and soldiers comply, unknowingly. Jesus knows, and he writes a story of love.
Why does John show us Pilate accidentally telling the truth in three languages?
Where have you seen God work through someone who had no idea they were part of his story?
What kind of God writes a story like this to reveal himself to the world?
Ask God, "What story do you want to write with my life?" Then write down what you are hearing from him, and share it with a trusted friend.
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