In a world dominated by Empire, can a poor man from a distant province get justice from the highest authority in the world? Yes, he can!

That's not exactly what's happening here, though, is it?

Or is it?

We are celebrating the International Day for Children and Youth by taking a few minutes to examine the story of how one group of young people decided to respond to a difficult situation.

When the big things are out of your control, will making the small changes you can to stay close to your God make any kind of difference?

People tend to confuse "justice" with just getting what they want. What do most people want? To hurt people who hurt them. Is embracing the idea of retribution going to help us attain justice?

Today we look at Paul on trial, the reality TV vibe of scripture, secret motivations, and what justice and injustice looked like in one situation so that we can understand how best to seek justice in our own lives.

The people knew Jesus was a miracle worker, casting out evil spirits, healing the sick, even giving sight to people who were born blind! So when someone they love died the obvious question was, "Why did you let them die?"

Death stinks. There are no words of comfort or solace that change that fact. Even Jesus wept because of the pain and loss brought on by the death of a friend, and he is the one person who actually had an understanding of the bigger picture.

What do we choose to do when we know that? What CAN we do?

Paul is losing his life of freedom and privilege. And he's threatened with losing his life altogether! But somehow he is going to respond to all that as if it is meaningless. It's like he's got some secret which allows him to be content in even the most chaotic and dangerous of situations...

Want to know what that is?

Easter eggs are hidden in movies, on purpose or by accident, to give thoughtful viewers something to find and think about, or something to notice and wonder about. Scripture is rife with the same kind of gems waiting to be uncovered!

Today, as we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, we're going to look at a couple of these and see if they can bring us at least as much joy as a few colored eggs and jelly beans do.

A long time ago, when I was in a customer service job, there was one annoying and mistaken client who, after long minutes of berating me for a problem of his own making, said, "If you don't do what I tell you, I'm not going to be your customer any more!" and I thoughtlessly said - out loud - "Promise?"

He may have been a jerk, but that didn't give me license to respond in kind.

It's been over 30 years and the memory of that mistake still helps keep me from going down that road again. I developed tools to be better and allowed God to work on growing my self-control in this area (and others). But what about someone like the Apostle Paul? What happens when he makes a mistake - or a series of them? Is there any way for him to go on? Can God still use someone who has put themself in a deep hole of trouble?

What group or groups do you belong to? How does that set you apart or make you special?

Now ask yourself why you think that makes you better than people who are not part of those groups. No, don't get defensive - we all do it. We should at least try to be honest with ourselves. We all like to think that WE are better than THEM because we are set apart. The problem here goes two ways: First, it isn't true, and second, the OTHER groups think the same things about YOUR group.

Instead of excluding the OTHER, we need to treat everyone as part of US. Why? Because that's what Jesus commanded us to do.