“Go, make it as secure as you can" These were the words that came from Pilate following the death of Jesus. Jesus death didn’t keep them from being terrified. They were sure that Jesus disciples were going to steal away his body and make the prophecy appear to be true. Well, we know the full story which will be celebrated tomorrow. As we know the grave could not hold him, no fraud was perpetrated and the gates of hell shook at his resurrection.

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and addressed God as “Father.” You see He did not pray for Himself; He did not ask to be taken from the cross or to be delivered from His sufferings. He prayed for those who had brought Him to this moment. He prayed to God, His Father, that they should be forgiven, and He even added an excuse for them: “They do not know what they are doing.”

Peter when asked if he knew Jesus denied it three times. As I read this passage over the years I have said how can he do that, I would never do that however more recently I have looked at this and said would I do anything different given the circumstances. I have never been in fear of my life, I’ve had trauma for sure but I have never been in this same type of circumstance so how can I cast any judgement on Peter. As I read this passage I feel nothing but profound compassion for Peter and I know that Jesus did too. How do I know this?

Often when I read this passage I ask myself who would I be in this story? There are times I would act like the disciples. Doing some research I found out that the nard was worth a years wages. If someone were to give you a years wages would you buy some expensive perfume to anoint your pastor? I would immediately think there are all kinds of things we could do with a years wages, there are a lot of people that could be helped. I am sure that I am not that quick to cast stones at the disciples.

As Jesus moved ever closer to the cross he was confronted by the Pharisees who were trying to test him. I sometimes wonder if we try and test Jesus, in fact I know that I have tested Jesus. Having parented and in the process of parenting 7 children and 2 foster children I am very experienced in how children test their boundaries. They test us to see how much they can get away with and also test us to try and trip us up much the same way the Pharisees tested Jesus here. I also remember times in my life where my main motive of studying the scriptures was to know how much I could get away with. I am sure there are still times I do this and just writing this brings me embarrassment.

While Jesus was busy cleaning his temple it is symbolic of the cleansing the Holy Spirit if allowed, will do in our “temples”. I was thinking that during this crazy time in our history, we have been given an opportunity to stop, think, reflect and press into our relationship with the Lord. Many of our excuses of too much work, not enough time have been removed and we have a very special opportunity to “clean house”.

There have been times and there will be times when the Lord is speaking to us as a church corporately.  The Pastoral Leadership Team will be looking at various formats to be able to share messages to the corporate body.  This email will serve as one medium that we will try.  I don't want to set up any expectation that this will be something that will be weekly or even monthly but we want to give this a try and then get some feedback from you as to its effectiveness.