Cross-Bearing “And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross” (Matthew 27:32). by David Hrechuk This small detail of our Lord’s crucifixion experience — the bearing of Jesus’ cross by Simon the Cyrene — leads to the question, “Why was this event recorded in three of the Gospels?” Here we suggest several lessons that come from meditating on this event. All writers tend to include or exclude facts surrounding their […]
Repeated Injustice “So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested” (Luke 23:24, NKJV, all scriptures from the NASV). by Jeff Mezera Studies and meditations on the Memorial generally focus on the events of the Memorial supper, Jesus’ betrayal, and his crucifixion. But there are things that happened between these events — dramatic scenes packed with suspense — that show how things were stacked against our Lord. In six hours there were six trials, three of them religious and three […]
Religious The Guardian Angels private crime prevention group have begun patrolling Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods to provide “visual deterrence” following an ongoing rise in the number of anti-Semitic attacks against the city’s Jews. Curtis Sliwa, who founded the unarmed group in 1979 promised in an interview with NBC News on Saturday evening their patrols would begin in the Crown Heights neighborhood. As promised, the patrols did indeed begin right on schedule. Sliwa said the patrolswould expand to the Williamsburg and Borough Park sections […]
Today in Prophecy “As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of” (Romans 11:28, 29, all Scriptures from Revised Version Improved and Corrected, RVIC). On January 5, throngs of demonstrators, including elected officials, marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in solidarity against antiSemitism. Attacks on a December Hannukah celebration north of New York City had left five peoplewounded, […]
A Reverent, Thoughtful Examination “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). by Robert Brand The commemoration of the Last Supper in our observance of the annual Memorial celebration has two important symbols: the bread, and the fruit of the vine. Our Lord makes it clear how to interpret those two symbols, in his statement that the bread “is my body” and the fruit of the vine “is my blood”(Matthew 26:26-28). We must be careful not only to […]