It’s Not Fair!

A Series on Lent
The stories of Passion Week – the trial
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 18:28-40; 19:1-16 

[Lent is a 40-day season of personal reflection with the purpose to prepare your heart to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. In this series on Lent, we will be looking into the stories of Passion Week. How the people who were directly involved were impacted and how that applies to us today.]

In 1892, James Naismith invented the game of basketball. According to Wikipedia, beginning in 1924 foul shots were taken when a player was fouled. This included a one and one free throw which occurred when the opposing team reached a specified number of fouls.

 Fast forward to 2023, 100 years later. My oldest granddaughter played on the eighth-grade school basketball team. Early in the season, there was a game where the referees were clearly not following the one and one rule correctly.

 

Feeling like they were treating my granddaughter’s team unfairly, I yelled at the top of my lungs to let the refs know… twice! Everyone in the gym heard me! After the second time, a nearby spectator quietly informed me that the rule had been changed that year. I wanted to crawl under the bleachers.

 

Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus was treated unfairly.

 

At the beginning of Passover, the chief priests and elders had made plans on how they could get Jesus crucified. In Deuteronomy, the Mosaic Law states that anyone who is crucified is cursed by God. Therefore, the chief priests and elders rationalized that if Jesus was crucified, his messianic claims would be discredited.

 

They were willing to take any means necessary to accomplish their goal. To this end, they offered a substantial reward to catch him. They found false witnesses to testify against him. They shouted for Barabbas to be freed and Jesus to be crucified.

 

All of this was done, not in the name of justice, but in an effort to protect their position and power. They wanted to keep the status quo and Jesus was a threat. For them, the ends justified the means.

 

Their hypocrisy was unfathomable. During the trial, they wouldn’t go inside Pilate’s palace because that would make them ceremonially unclean and prevent them from eating the Passover meal. But, in their mind, it was okay to kill Jesus.

 

“It’s not fair”!

 

Who hasn’t said that before? Maybe you felt like a sibling got preferential treatment. Or, your co-worker got the promotion that you deserved. Or, that the refs weren’t calling the game fairly.

 

None of these compare with how unfairly Jesus was treated. And yet, it was a part of God’s plan of redemption. Someone had to pay the price for our sins. The only one who could meet the demands for God’s justice was the unblemished Lamb of God.

 

Through an ironic turn of events, what the chief priests had intended as a curse that would ruin Jesus, became a blessing that brought us life. It wasn’t fair. But it was loving.

 

¹³ But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”        NLT   Galatians 3

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Here am I. Send Me.

Reaching Higher: A Series on My Journey of Discipleship

Isaiah 6:1-9

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206%3A1-9&version=NIV;TLB

[Preface: This series is autobiographical to the extent that it is loosely based on my spiritual journey. In some ways, you could compare it to the stock market with a gradual overall increase, but many ups and downs; even a crash or two. Through it all though, the Lord has loved me and been with me the whole time. I hope you find my journey encouraging, but also, that the Lord might speak to you through it.]

 

How do you know what your calling in life is?

During the period between dropping out of college at Michigan Tech and returning to school at Michigan State, something happened to me. It was during this interim time that I experienced God’s call on my life… only I didn’t know it.

 

It came in the form of a simple specific desire; the desire “to use basketball to reach young black boys for Christ”. The Lord grew that mustard seed size desire for ministry, one step at a time, into twenty five years of working with urban youth.

 

In the Temple, Isaiah sees an awe inspiring vision of the Lord, including seraphim with six wings.

 ³ In a great antiphonal chorus they sang,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is filled with his glory.”

⁴ Such singing it was! It shook the Temple to its foundations, and suddenly the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke. TLB

 

 

As a result of coming face to face with the holy Lord Almighty, Isaiah was struck by his own sinfulness. It was only through the Lord that his sins were forgiven. Following this, Isaiah felt the call of God on his life.

 

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”           NIV

 

It took me years to figure out what the Lord wanted me to do; what my calling was. Not everyone has a rock concert “call of God” experience like Isaiah. More often, I think our Father calls us in a “still small voice”, and takes us through a series of steps. After all, if we knew what was on the road ahead, we might never go.

How do you know what your calling in life is?

Look at the people in your life; look at the things you enjoy doing and are good at; look at the opportunities around you; look at the desires of your heart.

Don’t miss his “still small voice” while listening for the smoke and thunder. Don’t let the business of life; the intimidation of the unknown; or the fear of rejection keep you from what the Lord has called you to do.

Then… take your first small step.