It was a time of political and religious turmoil. People in general were hungry spiritually. They often felt empty. But also confused. There were many strangers walking through the land.
There were leaders intent on devising ever more laws, rules, and regulations telling the people how to live their lives down to the smallest details.
Then a guy appeared. He taught people how to live with freedom–from blindly following rules; from the things that kept them from God like their emotional hang-ups, addictions, blindness (physical and spiritual), rigidities.
He constantly called out the leaders for their hypocrisy.
He talked about God as his father, with whom he was very close.
People loved him. Leaders (for the most part) hated him.
They killed him.
The Bible tells this story.
Dostoyevsky retells it in the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the story of the Grand Inquisitor within The Brothers Karamazov.
What if he came today. Would we kill him again?
For Pentecost I was meditating on the coming of the Spirit upon Jesus’ followers when the meditation started to focus on Jesus coming–not like we expect him. Sort of like 2,000 years ago.
Faith Venture 
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