He said there is only one democratic election recorded in all of Scripture. “It was hosted by Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem where he gave the crowd a choice of who they would elect to pardon — Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Barabbas. It was a choice between two versions of the Jewish religion, two viewpoints of the empire, two valleys by which to travel, two visions of salvation and the future. But fundamentally, if you look carefully, it was the choice between a healer from Galilee and an extremist who led an insurrection at the Capitol where people were murdered. That’s the choice, and the crowd chose Barabbas.”
That’s a choice “we are now very familiar with,” he continued. “This week was not the first time the crowd has made a perilous and misguided choice. It’s why Jesus’ last words from the Cross were, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ The founding story of our faith told us that when crowds of people are given a choice, they will often wittingly or unwittingly choose violence and make a choice that leads to crucifixion and that’s why we grieve.
“One of the reasons we grieve today is because we’ve been told quite clearly that the election of Donald Trump will lead to the crucifixion of people we love. It will lead to the crucifixion of immigrant families, women in need of reproductive rights, transgender and nonbinary people, sick people in need of health care, government workers clinging to a job, poor people in need of resources. And so we grieve today with our entire body for those who we love. But our faith also teaches us something else. It teaches us that every crucifixion needs a witness.”
He continued: “Even when all hope seems lost, we can stand and keep, watch and remain vigilant like Mary Magdalene and the other women as witnesses. We can witness to the truth of what is happening. We can speak truth to power. We can say this is wrong. We can advocate for those who are being crucified by the empire.”
https://baptistnews.com/article/north-carolina-pastor-abruptly-forced-out-of-prominent-pulpit/
Good stuff.
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