Howdy.

The account in Matthew 27 of Jesus before Pontius Pilate is interesting to me. Jesus was presented before Pilate, and the chief priests and elders made various accusations against him. Their goal was to kill Jesus… they wanted him dead. Of course Jesus did not reply at all to their accusations… he just sat there silently. Pilate questioned Jesus, “don’t you hear what they are accusing you of?” Again, Jesus did not say one word. The scriptures say that Pilate was “amazed”.

My guess is it would take a lot to amaze Pilate. I find very little in my profession that amazes me, by and large in 28 years as a Veterinarian, I am no longer “amazed” at what I see. So to see that Pilate was amazed is a little surprising. You don’t become a Roman Governor by being a “Pollie Anna”. Pilate knew how to deal with people and he was used to treating people with brutality.

My guess as to what amazed Pilate was Jesus’ calm demeanor in the face of certain torture and a slow excruciating (a word derived from the cruc or cross) death. Pilate was amazed that Jesus was not begging for his life or arguing with his accusers or sweating with fear.

But what Pilate did not know about Jesus was that he was in the presence of the one who had helped create the universe and helped to create Pilate himself. Jesus knew that but Pilate didn’t… he had no idea. If he had, the emotion of “amazement’ would have quickly changed to the emotion of “terror” at what he was contemplating. Jesus was as far above Pilate as a human is above an ant… certainly more so… humans can’t create ants.

Jesus was calm because of his superiority and the knowledge that whatever Pilate might do it would not last very long and Pilate might be able to temporarily abuse and kill Jesus’ human body but he could never kill the God part of Jesus and even Jesus dead body could be revived.

I think behind Jesus’ calm eyes were calm thoughts. Calm eyes watching the scene that had been played over so many times in his mind, finally become reality. Jesus’ emotion might have been… relief. Relief that it was all about to be over and that he could again be reunited with the Holy Spirit and the Father in heaven.

That’s a big lesson for us too; no matter what we may have to endure here… eternity in the presence of God will surely be worth it.

Cody and Jennifer have a new address…

Jennifer & Cody Cargile
15322 Guadalupe River
CC, TX. 78410

Visitors…

Melissa Neal
4848 S. Alameda St. #1107
CC, TX. 78412
melissaneal@gmail.com

Melissa has moved here from Florida and will be teaching at Texas A&M University.

Jennifer Nuckel’s baby shower. Oct 3 at 1:30 pm at Linda Torno’s house. Invitations to follow.

Last week we announced that MD Anderson told Dave that they could do nothing else for him. This week they want him to come back to see another doctor.

The Cargile’s annual hayride at their ranch in La Garto is Nov. 7.