Journey to The Journey

On September 24, 2000, the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, two powerhouse teams at the time, played a game at Texas Stadium (the former home of the Cowboys). During the game, the 49ers' boisterous wide receiver, Terrell Owens, who was known for his "over the top" celebrations, on two separate occasions after scoring touchdowns, sprinted to the center of the field and stood arms stretched wide in a "look at me" pose right on the Cowboys' famous star logo.

When reflecting on this passage of scripture, I can't help but be drawn to that line, "His blood be on us and on our children!" I don't believe any truer words have ever been spoken. At the time, the Jews and their religious leaders were blinded by their own sinful intentions. Surely, they didn't...they couldn't...realize who Jesus really was and what they were actually saying...could they??? At least, that's what we want to believe. The truth is though, Jesus' blood was on their hands, and on their children's hands...and it's on our hands as well.

You and I have no more power or ability to resist our will to sin than a wild beast can resist its animal instincts. A dog can't just decide to be a cat, because it is a dog...and it will act like a dog. It will do what dogs do. The great reformer, Martin Luther, says it this way, "For if man has lost his freedom, and is forced to serve sin, and cannot will good, what conclusion can more justly be drawn concerning him, than that he sins and wills evil necessarily?" Indifference to sin is the sign to all men that they are enslaved to it...that they serve it...and it is their master. This is the testimony of a heart that is spiritually dead.

The thought of injustice irks us. We hate corruption and when something is perceived to be unfair we get vocal about it. This week at The Journey we studied the moment when Jesus stood before the High Priest Caiaphas and his council on trial. Jesus was wrongfully arrested and taken before this council where they actively sought out false testimony to charge Jesus with a crime that would be punishable by death.