"The Jewish leaders insisted, 'We have a law, and according to that law He must die, because He claimed to be the Son of God.'  When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace.  'Where do You come from? he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.  'Do you refuse to speak to me?'  Pilate said.  'Don't you realize I have power either to free You or to crucify you?'  Jesus answered, 'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.'" (John 19:7-11a, NIV & NKJV)

Please forgive my harsh language here, but one of the most, if not the most stupid statements and beliefs held over the centuries by people who claim to be Christian is the belief that the Jews killed Jesus.  You and I did that, so did those who believe such lunacy, so too the Jews, so too Pilate, so too...., "For all have sinned...."

What is it about, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above," that people don't (or perhaps, won't) understand and/or accept?  From the Garden to the Cross, the entire "journey" was under the "direction" of the Blessed Trinity.  From the moment sin first entered our race, that "Day of the Cross" was fixed in history.  Whatever "power" humanity has witnessed throughout history is always inside the, "power...from above."  This is so key to victorious living in Jesus Christ: The "inside power" has no chance against the "Outside Power!"

 The Jews and Pilate thought they were running things That Day.  On That Day and, "in His Cross," however, we see that in the Trial, the beating, the spitting upon, the mocking, the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the very Words of Jesus were being fulfilled which He had spoken not long before That Day, "The thief comes not except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly....The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep." 

The Cross of Jesus is God the Father, God the Son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit, demonstrating His love, His forgiveness, and just as the preacher once said when speaking of Jesus' Words to John about Mary, "Always providing."  We can all look around us today and over our life time and see His "always-providing" care, even in those times when our pain did not allow us to see It/Him.  Life can seem so overpowering at times.  "Where is the promise"? can be on the lips, if not at least in the minds, of so many who suffer so much.  But remember today what Isaiah 53 says of Jesus' Cross, "Surely our griefs/sickness, He Himself bore, and our sorrows/pains He carried...."  You and I are well provided for today!

Father, in Jesus' Name, "What Wondrous Love!"  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2