Host Greg McCollam's reading of the full text of "A Tree Full of Stars" by West Virginia author, Davis Grubb.

Simeon was an old man who had been promised by God that he would see the Messiah, God's Promised One, before he died. When Simeon observed Mary and Joseph entering the temple in Jerusalem with Jesus, he knew that God had fulfilled His promise. Still, it was important that Simeon hold Jesus in his own arms. Why? I think it has to do with the time of year when Jesus was born (spoiler, it was not in December!). And Simeon's proclamation had some sadness to it, especially for his mother, Mary.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds on that first Christmas night, they proclaimed certain things about a Savior who had been born. Some of these were signs for the shepherds so they would know when they had found Him in Bethlehem. In turn, the shepherds proclaimed these things to Mary and Joseph, and to the whole world through the gospel of Luke. God sent His messengers to the lowliest of the low that night, so that they could become unlikely messengers themselves, and a further proof of the truth of their proclamations!

When Pilate finally pronounced judgment upon Jesus, he turned and washed his hands in an expression of innocence of "this man's blood." In doing so, he was repeating the religious ritual of "hand washing" which was part of the Jewish seder observed during Passover. Does this mean that Pilate was ultimately innocent of the condemnation of Jesus, or was he truly guilty of Jesus' crucifixion?

At the conclusion of Jesus' second trial before Pilate, the religious leaders persuaded the crowd to demand that a man named Barrabas be released, and Jesus be crucified. How did the religious leaders convince the crowd to do so? We talk about that and also about how God's plan is almost always accomplished by man's hands, even if the man or woman whose hands God is using does not know it at the time.

At the end of Jesus' second trial, Pilate offered to release a prisoner, who would be set free. The crowd shouted for Barabbas instead of Jesus. Who was Barabbas? What do we know about him? Why did Pilate leave this decision to the people when he was the Roman governor in charge of the region? And what role did Pilate's wife play in this whole drama?

Jesus has been sent back to Pilate by Herod, which must have come as quite a surprise to Pilate. He thought he had seen the last of Jesus when he sent Him Herod's way, at least he hoped so. Why did Herod refuse to decide Jesus fate? And why did the "Hosanna" of Palm Sunday eventually turn into the "Crucify" of Good Friday?

Herod subjected Jesus to a harsh interrogation, even though Herod thought of Jesus as unimportant. It was during this trial that Herod's soldiers adorned Jesus with a special robe. This robe was different than the one that Pilate's soldiers placed on Jesus later. Does Herod's robe show up elsewhere in scripture, after Jesus' crucifixion? I think it does!

Herod was in charge of the area around the Sea of Galilee, the same place where Jesus had carried out the bulk of His ministry. So when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for prosecution, Herod couldn't wait to interrogate him. Herod planned on making it a big show for all of his friends, but it didn't go quite like that. Who was Herod anyway? How did he become part of the narrative of Jesus' crucifixion?

When Pilate declared, "I find no reason for a charge against this man," he was saying that Jesus had done nothing, that Jesus had no fault, that there was nothing blamable in this case. In essence, Pilate was saying that Jesus was sinless! Can you imagine? From the mouth of a pagan, Roman governor comes the proclamation of truth about Christ, while the religious leaders were screaming for crucifixion. Could part of the problem have been the way the Jerusalem leaders looked at Jews from Galilee? There was a definite divide between them in the religious culture of that day. Jesus was considered to be one of "those" people from Galilee who could not possibly have known better than "us," the elite of Jerusalem!