Good Easter Morning!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ Has Risen, Alleluia! This is the holiest day in the Christian calendar. Christ was crucified, died, and was buried. He walked among his disciples for forty more earthly days before ascending to Heaven.

Whether a believer or not, it is a hopeful and glorious story. Jesus wasn’t on earth as a king but as a carpenter in an obscure village in a poor province of the Roman Empire. There was nothing in His life to suggest that Jesus would do anything but live and die in poverty and obscurity.

Yet here we are more than two thousand years later celebrating His resurrection.

Galilee, though not under direct Roman control was a protectorate ruled by Herod. Judea to the south where Jerusalem is located was under the Romans. Smack in the middle of the two was Samaria which practiced a form of Judaism that only recognized the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Torah.) It is today’s West Bank.

In over two thousand years Israel is still a divided land. There is still no political congruity. The fighting between the occupants for sovereignty has never ended.

Jesus lived in that world of occupation and would die because of politics. He made it quite clear that His message transcended political and territorial concerns. Christ’s refusal to be a warrior for freedom or to overthrow Rome or Herod, shows Jesus’ apolitical message.

That hasn’t stopped every nation from making Jesus’ words part of their nationalism. Christians have an obligation to live by His teachings not appropriate those teachings to fit a political narrative. Why has that been such a hard point to remember by us?

This edition has us focusing heavily on Mayor Boss Collins. He just sucks the life out of good government not only in Stuart but also at Martin County as we show in one of our stories. For most of the time he has been on the stage (and it is less than 4 years) Collins has managed to operate as if Atilla cutting through the Roman Empire. The Boss is anything but collaborative except with those he can dominate. It isn’t about policy but a warped ideology of narcissism.

Our regular columnists are all with us. In picking our contributors, I have tried to balance politics and civics, business, nonprofits, other interests, and add a bit of medicine. Sometimes readers think it is too many voices. The point is that only read those that you want. I just think you need to sample every column at least once.

I hope you enjoy your Easter or if Jewish the 4th day of Passover, “Chag Pesach Sameach” or in Yiddish from my New York days “Gut Yontif.”

Have a great Sunday Morning!