What
a bunch of idiots! I have to catch myself, sometimes, because I just want to
laugh at the poor planning and execution of some things in life. We had a great
example last year with the launch of Obamacare. They had years to get it right,
and they couldn’t. The website crashed within minutes of starting. What a
demonstration of the ineptitude of the government attempting to do something
the government is not designed to do. But when the goal is consolidation of
power rather than providing a good product, ineptitude is acceptable!
But
here in Florida, and I am sure other places as well, I see examples of some
really poor planning. Here we have whole communities laid out with roads and
utilities, but no houses. Thousands of acres just sitting, empty. I know the
real estate booms and swamp land deals of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s took their
toll on our landscapes. I get that. But some simple market research could have
told them that there were only so many people who had the money to buy these
second homes. And the competition was fierce.
We
see this poor planning when some shopping centers open up with half the stores
empty. And then they stay empty. Or the houses that begin to get built and then
just stop, standing for years as empty shells. Or the new restaurant that opens
up in the old IHOP and expects to make a go of it. Location, location,
location. What makes them think their restaurant will survive where five others
have failed! There is a reason those failed.
Or
the young couple who get married way too fast, against the advice of all their
family and friends. Caught up in ‘love’ (hormones), they think they can
overcome all the obvious obstacles that everyone sees but them. And then the
inevitable struggles start, and they don’t have the resources to deal with the
onslaught. They run out of money, energy, ideas, coping skills, friends,
options…ideas. (I know I said ideas twice!) And then they wonder what happened.
The
religious leaders have been planning to kill Jesus for some time, at least
months. They have been plotting and gathering. You would think one of them
early on in the planning would have asked the question, “How are we going to
get evidence against Him that will be sufficient to warrant His execution?” But
it seems no one did. They arrive at the moment and they are scrambling to find
the video tapes, the eye witnesses, the DNA evidence. They have nothing!
They
didn’t want to nab Him during the Festival to avoid the crowd’s reaction, and
yet this is exactly what happens. They stumble over themselves because of their
own fears and anxieties. Jesus is such a threat to them and their way of life
that they let things get out of hand. The let the proverbial cart go before the
horse.
They
haven’t lined up any evidence. They haven’t interviewed their witnesses. They
haven’t even found witnesses. They thrust themselves into the grand jury
without even a shred of evidence. Good thing the judge, the high priest, is
corrupt or the whole thing would have gone down the tubes.
Of
course you can’t find witnesses to things that haven’t happened. Jesus hasn’t
done anything worthy of death, and they know it. But that doesn’t stop them
from trying.
So
next time you try to frame someone for a crime, be sure to do better planning
than these religious leaders! Well….. You probably shouldn’t be trying to frame
someone in the first place, right?