Each year as we move toward Good Friday and Easter, let us remember that Jesus valued women. The last week of Jesus’ life we find him heading toward Calvary where He will lay down his life for men and for women. That sacrifice is equal toward all. Equal sacrifice for men and women means that we are equally responsible and equally privileged to serve our Savior.
Easter is when hate prevailed. From Thursday to Friday, evil had its way. But it did not start then, and it did not end then. It started earlier, when Jesus touched a raw nerve. He told them that only the meek and humble would be able to receive him. That shoe certainly did not fit. So in the middle of his sermon in the synagogue, some jumped up, and others followed, and they dragged Jesus out to throw him off a cliff.
“They got up, and drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff” (Luke 4:29).
Well, it did not work that time. That was just a practice run. They would get smarter and better organized, and it would work the next time.
But Jesus would not be quiet. He preached that they were too full of themselves and not full enough of the love of God, or love for their neighbor.
Hate prevailed at Easter. The killing of Jesus did not end their hate. Saul continued with the hate when he persecuted both men and women who became followers of the Risen Christ.
There is still a battle of hate. This time it is Christians who choose to hate others (cloaked in the words “hate the sin, love the sinner”).
Those Jewish leaders would not have described their emotions and actions as hatred. They would have said they hated the sin and not the sinner. But you see, Jesus was the sin to them. And to get rid of him, they killed “the sinner.”
Hate prevailed. But the story is not over yet. There is more to come.
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