What did I just say? "We have no king but Caesar?" How did we fall this far...? We have only one king, the LORD. It is the LORD who redeemed us, the LORD who gave us the Law, the Temple, the sacrifices. Why did I just say that I have no king but Caesar?
Oh yeah, God hasn't done much for me lately. Caesar has, but God hasn't. God's been letting us get beat up by every nation under the sky for the past five hundred years. First it was the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, their kin, and finally now the Romans. Where's the deliverance in all that? I thought the prophets said that we would be restored and wouldn't be oppressed. No wonder we don't read those books. Full of empty promises.
I'm tired of working to no end to people who don't care with a God who won't reward me. I'm tired of people like Pilate mocking me and reminding me over and over again that I have no real power in this world. All I can do is ask him for permission before doing anything. I'm just plain tired.
And this is it. I know the Pharisees talk about heaven and being rewarded for all this, but I don't buy it. I think I'm being played. So why keep offering sacrifices? Why keep burning incense and saying prayers?
Frankly, the money's pretty good. I can hang out in the best of houses and I don't have to beg on the street. And if God's ever going to do anything about this, it will look pretty good to say I took care of the Temple until it happened.
I wonder if God's ever going to do anything about our situation. I feel so lost. I just hope that if God ever does appear, I don't miss it. Either way, I better get to the crucifixion. We finally got rid of this Jesus guy, now life can get back to normal.
- Taken from the diary of a chief priest at the time of Jesus
May we all have eyes to see God in God's appearance.
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