Sin

We like to make light of our own sin. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps because Jesus already paid the price for it, and all that we have to do now is place our faith in him to have forgiveness of our sin (in the simplest terms at least).
I wonder if we would take it so lightly if we had to sacrifice things according to Levitical law. My sacrifice has already been made, but it's easy for me to forget about it. To forget what it looked like. Smelled like. Felt like.
Here's what they used to have to do according to Leviticus 4:33-35, in case you were wondering:

He must put his hand on the animal's head and kill it as a sin offering in the place where the whole burnt offering is killed. The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering on his finger and put it on the corners of the altar of burnt offering. He must pour out the rest of the lamb's blood at the bottom of the altar. Then the priest must remove all the lamb's fat in the same way that the lamb's fat is removed from the fellowship offerings. He must burn the pieces on the altar on top of the offerings made by fire for the Lord. In this way the priest will remove that person's sins so he will belong to the Lord, and the Lord will forgive him.

JM

Acts 3:12-17

Why do we hold everyone to the standards of Christianity when only God can do that? We look at our neighbors and friends and judge them by rules that have no meaning for them. Our illegitimately pregnant neighbor, our partying co-worker, our cousin addicted to pornography. But without Christ, why would they have any reason to abstain from these things. Sure they are unproductive and unfulfilling, but in the momentary, they're fun. All sin is.
We should certainly hold other Christians to these standards, but we step into some messy territory when we take those standards elsewhere. We need to let God do that and relegate ourselves to helping them simply find God. JM

Matthew 27:46-49

I always wondered why they gave Jesus vinegar to drink. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know:

Jesus was offered vinegar while on the cross according to the King James version of the Bible, yet actually it was sour wine or wine that was turning which was given out by women of charity to comfort people dying on the cross as this was a common daily occurrence as a Roman punishment of the time.

It's funny, though, the way this is worded, it's like the Bible is wrong. But earlier on in the article it says that the word vinegar is from the words for sour wine.
I'm blown away that people can watch someone suffer and laugh about it. Like, I hate cats, but I could never hurt one. One time I had one lined up that I was going to run over. It wouldn't move and so I slammed on the brakes and swerved. I was so freaked that I might hit it.
I think the more you become familiar with something the more you become calloused to it. You don't even realize you're doing it.
When we first start off into sin, we barely do anything. But the more we do it, the easier it becomes and the more we're willing to do. After a while we're doing things that would have shocked us before we started, but are comfortable because it's just one more step. JM

Matthew 26:1-5

These next few chapters are awesome. I love how Jesus sets up the whole scene by reminding his disciples that he's about to be crucified on Passover. Then it talks about how the Pharisees said that they wanted to trap Jesus, but they were going to wait until after the Passover. Of course, Jesus ends up being right.
I wonder if the disciples were curious about Jesus word choice of saying he will be "given" to his enemies. I wonder if they thought about who would be doing the giving.
I love to villify Judas and make him the guilty guy, but really I'm just as guilty as he is. It wasn't Judas who gave Jesus over, it was Jesus' desire to rescue us. Kind of puts sin in perspective when you see the consequences of your selfishness. JM