e-Devotions from The Rev. Bob Dannals ~ for Christ the King Sunday

Saturday, November 24

 

 

Daily Devotionals - Based on RCL The Last Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 29, Year B:

Daniel 7:9-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37

 

 

Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" John 18:34

Pilate questions Jesus inside the Praetorium, but he negotiates with the Jews outside, since they do not wish to be defiled by entering a Gentile's house and thus be prevented from eating the Passover meal. Jesus detects that Pilate is not smart enough, aware enough, or caring enough to have knowledge of Jewish messianic expectation. He is working the crowds and the authorities for his own advantage. Mostly, he doesn't want to be bothered with religious matters. So, Jesus pointedly asks him to state his investment in the questioning.
 

Challenge and Opportunity:

The question comes directly at each one of us. To what extent is our faith in Jesus Christ a personal faith, personally decided upon and personally nourished, or to what extent is it a matter of something picked up by hearsay, a voice reading a lesson, pages in a prayer book idly turned, words drifting to one's ears from a pulpit, the half-remembered voice of a parent, or of a mentor, or of a priest in one's confirmation year? That's the question our Lord asks of me ... how about you?