Pilate's P.S.

My Prayer

Picture of a Holland woman holding a sign from first “No Kings Day” Protest. Next “No Kings Day” will be March 28th

Reading through the Bible: Deuteronomy 32-34/Mark 15

Pilate asked him, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”He answered, “If you say so.”…It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews. (Mark 15:25-26)

Pilate says it. Pilate, like a coroner, signs it. Cause of death…King of the Jews. In order for Pilate to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus, he needs a reason. That’s it.

So, after Pilate turns Jesus over to the soldiers, they decide to play dress up. They hold their own coronation for Jesus. They gather the entire brigade. Parade to the palace, They dress Jesus in royal purple and bloody Him with a crown of thorns. (vs.16-20) This is no prayer to a King. This is a parody of a of a crowning.

As a friend and follower of Jesus, I can’t imagine this scene without wincing. I pray over them, as Jesus prays over us later, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

The soldiers don’t know what they are doing. Neither does Pilate. He not only signs Jesus death warrant, he Post-scripts it on Jesus’ cross in three different languages.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. (John 19:19-20)

If Jesus, is indeed only an unwanted King of the Jews, why not just P.S. in Hebrew? Why include Latin, the official language of the military and administration? Why go even farther and include Greek, the lingua franca, the dominant language for daily life, commerce, and culture in the eastern Mediterranean and later the language in which the New Testament is written?

Pilate’s P.S. becomes a prophecy. It signals that this Man crucified on a cross will eventually be crowned with many crowns. He will be worshipped not only by Jews but by people of almost every tribe and language.

Writing…

That’s why I plan on joining what is expected to be the largest protest in U.S. history on March 28th. My Post-script will look something like my “sister’s” homemade sign.

P.S. #No Kings. Jesus is the only King.

More than my P.S. however, this remains my prayer. It’s not only my prayer. It’s the “Our Father”, the “Lord’s Prayer” of Christians everywhere. We ask God as Jesus teaches us.

“Your Kingdom Come…”

We don’t ask God to Make America Great Again. We ask God to give all of us, every human being created in the image of God, We ask God to…you know it…

Give us all our daily bread.

We ask God to do it and we volunteer to help. We ask God to give every person what they need to live today: air, water, food, shelter, clothing…

We ask. We act.

This morning at 6:15 AM, I walk over to a ““warming center” at Maple Avenue Ministries. They give about twenty unhoused persons there at least some shelter on a night when wind chills take the temperature down close to single digits.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Wrapped around the basic necessities of life is the opportunity to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. When God’s kingdom comes on earth, like it already is in Heaven, there will be reconciled relationships.

The big “8”: age, ability, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion will be “1”. There will be a harmonizing of Cultural & National Identities: ancestry, language, traditions, citizenship, nationality and ethnic background.

Could I even suggest that asking and acting for Jesus’ Kingdom to come might even bring Republicans and Democrats across their political aisles to embrace?

Lead us not into, and deliver all of us from, evil

We know it, when we see it. The power to destroy, to malign, to hate and curse. We see evil. We ask and act to be delivered from it.

Building…

It’s Pilate’s P.S. It’s my prayer. Let the Kingdom that King Jesus teaches me to ask and act for…come.

P.S. What’s yours?