Advent Devotions

Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Bob Reichman.

John 19:1-16a

We seem to be pretty good at realizing what we had once it’s too late.

David Ortiz was a gifted young hitter with star potential who played for the Twins from 1997-2002. But he was plagued by inconsistency, nagging injuries and disagreements with the coaching staff. The Twins and many fans (guilty!) eventually gave up on him, and the Twins let him become a free agent. If you’re a baseball fan, you know the rest of the story. He helped lead his new team, the Boston Red Sox, to World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013.

Kevin Garnett was a supremely talented basketball power forward whose time with the Timberwolves overlapped that of Ortiz with the Twins. Garnett led the Wolves to the conference championship series in 2004, but no further. After the 2006-2007 season, the Wolves traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics. In 2008, Garnett helped the Celtics win the NBA championship. (Note to Boston professional sports teams: Acquiring players discarded by teams from Minnesota is a good strategy.)

Today, we face the greatest threat to democracy in our lifetimes, maybe in our nation’s history. Why? I think a critical mass of people got bored with democracy. It’s messy, it’s ponderous, seldom does anyone get everything they are hoping for and change is frustratingly incremental. It’s easy to imagine something else might work better. But in the well-known words of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” It’s worth saving.

What does all this have to do with John 19:1-16a? Jesus attracted followers as he moved about Judea, speaking words of love, forgiveness and inclusion. A lot of people didn’t understand it, they only knew he was healing the sick and reaching out to many who were powerless and looked down on by society. Even his disciples didn’t always seem to get it, but they knew they had something special in Jesus.

He sometimes angered the religious authorities, and the Romans came increasingly to see him as insolent or even a threat. When push came to shove, even those who had embraced him scattered to the winds just days after welcoming him into Jerusalem. Peter denied him three times, and the rest of the disciples were nowhere to be found. When shouts of “Crucify him! Crucify him!” filled the air, there were no voices defending him. Pontius Pilate, not known for his warmth and generosity, may have been toying with the chief priests when he said repeatedly, “I find no case against him.” Historians and biblical scholars differ on what exactly was going on.

If you’re like me, you’ve wondered what you would have done in those circumstances. Would you have raised your voice in defense of Jesus? If Jesus were here today, would you recognize him and defend him against what would surely be a large number of haters?

Unlike David Ortiz and Kevin Garnett (but not, I hope, democracy), once Jesus was gone it wasn’t too late. While his disciples were surely lamenting his loss, it wasn’t long before they knew that Jesus’ story wasn’t over. And because of that, we know what we’ve got: God is always with us and nothing will ever change that.

Prayer: God, our impatience, frustration, cynicism and fear often cause us to give up on people and things prematurely. Thank you for refusing to give up on us and loving us in our weakness and shortsightedness.