A new book can be something we pick up for many reasons. The Crucifixion of the King of Glory by Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, PhD grabbed my attention when I heard her being interviewed on a podcast by Eric Metaxas. The story we know from the Gospels in the New Testament became richer as I heard her share the historical and religious context of that powerful story. As I heard her in the interview, I was thirsty to hear more, and the book was soon in my hands to begin to deepen and enrich the story I knew so well but without so many fascinating details.

To understand why all the Jewish people did not accept Jesus as the Messiah prophets had said they were to expect, the author takes us into the world as it existed in the scenes the Bible gives us only a sampling of.

So many books have been written about this event and its impact, why did this author choose to write another. Her response and credentials in the introduction help us know the answer:

“This book offers a unique perspective on the final week of Christ’s life. This perspective is based on my academic background and my Orthodox Christian approach, which is steeped in the mind of the early Church. I hold six degrees, one in law and five in theology, including New Testament, the history of biblical interpretation, early Christianity, and patristics.”

She gives us a glimpse into what that includes a few lines later:

“My comments are grounded in research on ancient society, attitudes, customs, practices, medicine, botany, numismatics, law, and the history of the first-century Jewish, Roman, and Christian cultures, as well as Orthodox Traditions and the writings of the Father of the Church, which are important witnesses to the early understanding of the Gospels.“

The book is divided into three parts. The first part (The Stage is Set) looks at Jesus as the Rabbi who taught with authority, the building of the Temple and its significance as well as the three primary catalysts that set the stage for the escalation of conflict and the trap set by the Jewish priests to eliminate Jesus from the power structure they held and feared He would upend. 

The author gives historical details and background for each catalyst that brought us to the cross: the raising of Lazarus, the entry into Jerusalem, and the cleansing of the Temple. 

The second part (The King on Trial) begins with the betrayal of Christ and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then the arrest and the trials (both Jewish and Roman) where we learn more about Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, and all those who sat in judgment and the difference of each one in their authority and perspective.

The third part of the book (The Cross) looks at the stigma of crucifixion in those days as well as its spectacle, who was eligible to be put to death in this manner and who was not, where the horror of this manner of death developed, and what those who faced it endured. 

This third part of the book looks at how each of the Gospels gives us a different view of those last hours, the significance of Christ’s last words and more. The author also looks at the lesson the cross has for us in the modern world where we find ourselves.

“The cross is the wisdom of God; it defies, overturns, and confounds human judgment and expectation. The cross requires us to submit, to renounce our impoverished human logic, because it is in this that we are tempted to put our trust and hope. The cross invites us to surrender to something that confounds us: true glory and eternal life through self-sacrifice, love, and humility. The cross forces us to concede that to seek recognition or to promote ourselves through our human power, personality, achievement, or intellect is ultimately a futile effort that will pass away like dust.”

Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, PhD

This book is a treasure trove to consider if you want to know more about this historic pivotal moment in history and spiritual life. I am tempted to share some of the fascinating details I discovered in this book but I resisted so you can discover them for yourself.

Have you noticed the uptick in the efforts of so many that want to see things as they do? It seems there is less tolerance to accept others and their own perspectives. As a result we do all in our power to try to change them. After all, we believe we are right, don’t we?

The sad truth is that when we do not succeed in persuading the other person to adopt our view or “our” truth, we can be tempted to be unwilling or unable to extend grace. It can be far too easy to walk away from the relationship or put it in such a frosty place that it becomes uncomfortable for us as well as the other person.

It’s thought provoking how often these differences can come from the smallest of things. Many times they relate to preferences rather than actual right or wrong beliefs or thinking. Other times they come from a contrast in lived experience or knowledge, but we cannot skip over biases or prejudice as causes as well.

Some of the areas that remain the stickiest have been so since mankind was created, I think. You can likely guess them − politics and issues related to our spiritual beliefs.

As you might guess, these things are prone to be most ticklish in our closest relationships.

During the years I worked as a marriage and family therapist, one of my favorite resources was a book entitled How to Change Your Spouse (Without Ruining Your Marriage), written by H. Norman Wright & Gary J. Oliver, PhD. The title often appeals to someone who has not been successful at changing his or her spouse despite feeling a need or desire to do so.

Of course the title doesn’t reveal what is involved and requires us to look beyond our preferences alone and see what is good for the whole relationship. An example of their premise is to look at the level of commitment to the other person (in marriage or any close relationship).

Commitment is not a word used or revered as it once was. We like things as we like them and too often our commitment in any relationship is very very conditional.

One quote of the wisdom of the authors of the book I noted is:

“You commit to another person because of the depth of your love and because being with the person fulfills you. You commit knowing the other person’s faults…any marriage is two imperfect people making a commitment to accept one another.”

How true that is in marriage and just as true in any close friendship!

We can miss that the change we seek for us from them usually is not looked at as something that will be a gain for them also. If we don’t do that, it shows that self-focus lurks around our motives and is not defeated.

A key here is summed up by this sentence by Wright and Oliver:

“Whatever change you seek needs to be advantageous for both you and your partner (or friend…my addition)…”

Change requires something of each of us. Some of us handle it better than others. Maybe we see change with a negative lens and forget that without change there can be no growth in any area or realm of our life.

If asked if we want to grow in any area (you make the choice), we might choose “yes” if we really acknowledge what not growing looks like: stale, dormant, stagnant, lethargic, and lazy (to name a few).

Another key to keep in mind if we desire change in another person is to remember that he or she may be able to more readily change a behavior than a preference. You may groan and wonder what good that does?

I’m glad you asked that.

If we are committed to what is best for both persons in a relationship and choose to change our behavior, it tends to result in softening the sharp edges and allows the other aspects of the relationship to grow stronger.

There are persons in my life who do not line up with my preferences in a number of areas while having other aspects of them that I like a great deal. Choosing to change my own behavior has resulted in a “win-win” and allowed the relationship to weather the differences between us.

Acceptance given often comes back to us as a gift.

Lisa Wingate wrote this truism regarding change in her book, Tending Roses:

“What we cannot change, we must endure without bitterness. Sometimes we must try to view the actions of those around us with forgiveness. We must realize that they are going on the only road they can see. Sometimes we cannot raise our chins and see eye to eye, so we must bow our heads and have faith in one another.”

Lisa Wingate in Tending Roses

If you catch up with me here very often, you know I can be arrested by something I read that challenges the lens I use. That happened again when I was reading Troy Schmidt’s Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God’s Promises. One little sentence caused me to look at an area more deeply regarding blessings.

I doubt there is anyone who isn’t hoping for blessings in nearly any and all areas of our lives. Many of us can sometimes miss the breadth of blessings we experience more days than not. Before you challenge that statement, let’s remember that the definition of the word is “God’s favor and protection.”  It is a broad statement that doesn’t outline the scope of blessings.

Some of us can look often at blessings related to our financial status either because we just received a raise or bonus or we feel we want or deserve one. Financial provision is clearly a blessing and it is likely that all of us will experience at least one season where the provision will change. Job loss or change for any number of reasons or unexpected large expenses will send our budget (if we have one) hurtling to the basement.

Some of us look at the blessings related to our health. That is more true of us if we or someone dear to us has experienced a loss in his or her health or we are getting older and things don’t work quite as well as they used to.

The truth is that we are most aware of our blessings when they disappear.

We become aware of the blessing of breathing easily when a cold or sinus infection suddenly creates congestion making breathing easily something that eludes us and we long for. We become aware of the ease of movement when an accident, illness, or arthritis assaults our body.

We become aware of the blessing of relationships in our lives when there is a change with one of them. Sometimes the change is a natural expected occurrence such as children going off to college or leaving home. Sometimes the change comes from a move, a divorce, or a death.

Change in a relationship causes us to reflect on what the relationship meant to us. We may see the bad, but often we will recall the good that we took for granted as well when it is no longer there.

We become aware of the blessing of freedom when it is taken from us. That happens in war and incarceration, but it also happens when we cannot drive ourselves wherever we choose and whenever we choose or when we develop diabetes or allergies that upend the diet we enjoyed and foods we most relish. Freedom in every sense of the word and in every area is a far greater blessing than many of us truly get.

The conundrum is what we do with blessings. Are we sponges that absorb them or cups that take in and pour out?

That question usually faces us related to financial blessings when we are asked to share or give more for one cause or another, but perhaps we miss that it goes farther than that. It also isn’t just about sharing our gifts or skill sets in various ministries or community organizations (even though that is good and needed).

Blessings from the Lord are often “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3: 20-21). God is not stingy. He gives enough and more.

When He fed the 5,000+ people after Jesus had been teaching all day, they not only got enough fish and bread through the blessing and miracle of a boy’s lunch, there were also 12 baskets of leftovers. Have you ever wondered what they did with those? Maybe they passed them out to those who were poor and hadn’t been there or maybe they let people pack a few of them for the trek home.

I think Jesus wanted those on the hill that day to pass on more than the loaves and fish miracle story. He wanted them to pass on the blessing of the spiritual food that had filled them to overflowing and kept them spellbound listening for a very long time.

If I am a sponge, I only soak up more and more and more. I might forget that even a sponge has a limit and the answer is not to look for another sponge (or to build another barn as the rich man considered doing).

What am I soaking up without even a thought of pouring out?

What are you?

“Blessings are not gifts to be consumed, but resources to put to good use. Blessings do not stop with us. They continue on through us.”

Troy Schmidt

I am called to be grateful of blessings and how many there are that cannot even be counted, but they aren’t supposed to stop with me (or you).

Are you a sponge or a cup?