Jesus Indicted for DWI?
Chaplain Bill Wolfe
Llano County Sheriff’s Department
Greetings from the bluebonnet capital of Texas and welcome to this edition of the Chaplain’s Corner. OK, OK… Llano is officially the Deer Capital of Texas, but we’ve soooo many bluebonnets up and blooming already this year it could go the other way. J (If there are any of you that remember my comment about our car back in January, we’re a few hundred short of 306,000 and holding, pending repairs.)
I was sitting here still thinking a lot about Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ which I haven’t been to see yet. But as I thought about the clips of the movie I’ve seen on TV, my mind kept going back to parts of a sermon I shared in Waco last year that I titled “Was Jesus DWI?” Of course I started by reading the DWI statute, and that got everyone’s attention. J I’m sure more than a few thought I’d lost it until I explained that I was not using DWI in the sense we most commonly use it in our profession, but rather I found characteristics in, or of, His life that started with the letters D, W, and I. I’m not about to launch forth in full to share that sermon, but I want to focus in on just a few parts. In my sermon I shared a “Ten-Count DWI Indictment” of Jesus. Four counts dealing with His death were:
Died With Integrity
Died With Intensity
Died Without Iniquity
Died With Intention
Space here prevents a detailed look at these “indictments,” but perhaps I can quickly convey the gist of what they mean.
Died With Integrity and Without Iniquity: The Apostle Peter writes that there was no sin or deceit found in Jesus. This can be said of no other person. Pilate, trying not to take responsibility, said: “I find no guilt in Him.” All through the “crucifixion process,” Jesus retained His dignity and integrity by not lashing out at those putting Him to death. He could have bounced off the scale of the use-of-force-continuum, but He submitted Himself to this brutality and, as He was dying, prayed, “Father, forgive them.”
Died With Intensity: This is the part of the movie that really hits hard. The Gospels say that the Romans took Jesus and scourged Him. The writers don’t elaborate on scourging because no elaboration was needed at the time they were written. Then the Romans crucified Him. I’ve read some “autopsy” reports that various doctors have written after reading the Gospel accounts and doing historical research, and they are sobering, to say the least. The suffering was beyond what I can really comprehend.
Died With Intention: Jesus, in His omniscience, knew what He was going to suffer. You can see that in the account of His time in Gethsemane just before He was betrayed, yet He intended to see it through (Luke 22:22, 39-46). In the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, Jesus said, “I lay down my life.” How does one really grasp an understanding of the love of God? Jesus loves you and me so much that He chose to take the path He did. And this was God’s plan from the beginning… that He should suffer and die and rise again so that we can have peace with God.
Yes, Jesus was guilty of these kinds of “DWI,” as the movie and Scriptures record. There were no video cams mounted in patrol cars to record it in those days, so Mel Gibson did his best to recreate what happened. The message of the movie is basically… “It really happened, and here’s how it went down.”
I leave you with one more “DWI” (and this one fudges the first letters a little) to ponder. Defeated (death) With Immortality. The sacrifice Jesus made was traumatic, but His Resurrection was terrific. Jesus didn’t remain in the tomb. After proving to those who witnessed the Crucifixion that He had indeed risen from the dead, Jesus returned to Heaven and there He awaits the time for His return to this earth.
Hey, thanks for listening and riding along and have a happy Easter. J
Blessings to you and yours.
Chaplain Bill
chappy@chaplainscorner.org
