Religion: A Pastor Ponders

A Perfect Ending

by Pastor William Jenkins

March 18, 2005

Today is Good Friday on the Christian calendar. I once heard that Thomas Jefferson, a professed atheist, but most likely an agnostic, edited his own version of the Bible in which he deleted all references to the supernatural.

Jefferson confined himself to the moral teachings of the Bible, which he considered far superior to any other collection of moral instruction. After the death of Jesus his version of the Gospel story ended at the grave with these words, “There they laid Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher and departed.”

Such an ending leaves the body of Jesus of Nazareth to become fodder for the worms. It also leaves the Christian faith with a bloated estimate of its tenants. To strip the Gospels of the miraculous at any point leaves the world where it was that Good Friday when Jesus died.

No supernatural intervention, no Gospel;
no Gospel, no credible Christian faith;
no credible Christian faith, no mechanism to deal effectively with the problem of sin;
no mechanism to deal with sin, no hope;
no hope, despair.

The logical progression ends in darkness. This Friday is Good because darkness is not the chief end of man; there is hope. Thomas Jefferson left off the best part of the Story.

As we move in the direction of Easter Sunday we must keep in mind that this is more than a fanciful story told once upon a time. It would be an exercise in futility to dress to the max on Easter Sunday if we had no where to go after this life; which causes me to pause and ponder where Jesus got his new Easter robe.

Throughout the world Easter is the queen of holidays for good reason. I hope you will find a sanctuary to slip into next Sunday.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org