In the Beginning

March 1, 2020

Memorial of Jesus’ Death The Memorial of our Lord’s death is one of two ceremonies Jesus requested of his followers, the other being baptism.Each year, as we consider the special trials and testing Jesus endured during the last week of his life, it should help us to rededicate ourselves to his service and to renew our commitment to follow in his footsteps. “The Great Deliverance” reflects on the initiation of the Passover with the children of Israel in Egypt. That generation did […]

The Great Deliverance

March 1, 2020

Passover and Memorial “And this day shall be a remembrance for you, and you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD through your generations, an everlasting statute you shall celebrate it” (Exodus 12:14, Robert Alter Translation). by Jon Bivol The time had come. The cry of God’s children reached His ears and it was time for a change. It was time for the nation of Israel to be delivered from Egypt’sbondage, slavery, and oppression. This became a reality when God […]

Simon the Cyrene

March 1, 2020

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 […]

Six Trials, One Night

March 1, 2020

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 […]

News and Views

March 1, 2020

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 […]