This reminds me of Alice Coopers song 'Wicked young man' from his Brutal Planet CD .. where some people are just wicked. As J.R.R. Tolkien says in the Fellowship of the Ring, they are "villains". Yesterday I talked about Pilate, and here we have a regiment of soldiers taking Jesus into the courtyard of the governor, to be tortured, flogged, and mocked by his soldiers. They dressed Jesus in a purple robe, saluted him, then taunted him. After they were done, they put Jesus' own clothes back onto him.
Yet, as horrible as this action is, as horrible these soldiers were, and Pilate was for allowing this to happen, to encourage this to happen ... the kicker of it is ... Jesus died for their sins as well.
Anger wants to rise up in me about these guys, and if I was in the situation that Jesus was in, I would of fought back, I would of sent legions of angels to decimate everyone there, left earth and said, "To hell with you all"
Yet, that's not what Jesus did. Jesus didn't just suffer on the cross for the good guys did he? Now the challenge is .. where do we place our anger? This goes hand-in-hand with "love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike." (Matthew 5:43-45)
What a testimony of God's work in us, if every time we get angry at someone, we crash on our knees, and pray for them!! Why? Because Jesus suffered and died for them.
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