Key events in today’s passage:

• The Last Supper (Luke 22:7-38)
• The Crucifixion (Luke 23:26-56)
• The Resurrection (Luke 24:1-12)
• The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
• The Prologue of John (John 1:1-28)
• Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)
• Jesus and the Woman at the Well (John 4:1-26)

Verse that stood out: The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” And they said many other insulting things to him – Luke 22:63-65

Mocking someone else is one of the easiest ways to feel better about oneself. Put another person down and for some odd reason, you feel lifted up. Who knows what our thought process is? “I may be sorry, but I’m not as sorry as you?” Is that what we think?

I once heard Haddon Robinson tell the story of a Baptist deacon who stood up at the annual meeting to give the report. Things weren’t going very well. There were no new conversions. Attendance in worship had fallen by about fifteen percent. Even worse, according to this deacon, the offerings had fallen about twenty percent. Nevertheless, at the end of his report, he said with some pleasure, “At least I can thank God that the Methodists and the Presbyterians aren’t doing any better.”

It is a strange thing to take delight in another’s troubles. And yet, often we do. We snicker to ourselves when a famous person falters. We smile self-satisfied smiles when our opponents stumble. We might even put a link to it on our Facebook walls or our Twitter feeds. Big money can be made today by capturing in photos or videos well-known people in, well, less than flattering situations. News agencies would have little to report upon if they chose not to highlight the failings of the famous. It’s a part of human nature to delight in someone else being knocked down a peg or two. Of course, it’s a petty part of human nature.

The soldiers that day didn’t realize it, but they were mocking God. What terror they might have experienced if they could have realized who it was they were making fun of. It’s helpful to remember that we get close to making the same error anytime we mock someone made in God’s image. What did Jesus say? Oh, yes, “Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.

For tomorrow:

• Cover to Cover: John 5:17-John 14:16
• Key Passage: John 10:1-18
• Verse of the Day: John 10:11