A murmur of surprise went up from the watching crowd

 A murmur of surprise went up from the watching crowd - no one was expecting this - Cameron looked as startled as anyone - he was the one who actually did it - but Ned was the one who now was going to pay the price.

It was Cameron who initiated the fight with the student Jack through his constant taunting and being in the line of sight of his so-called enemy - Cameron whacked Jack a beauty straight across the face, dislocating his jaw and opening up his left eye - laying him straight out on the ground and making him unconscious.

Ned came to the rescue, and Cameron disappeared quickly behind the accumulating crowd. Shocked! the crowd assumed it was Ned who lay into Jack, and because Ned had tried to stop the profuse bleeding of the unconscious Jack, blood was all over Ned's shirt, and everyone assumed Ned was the instigator of the brutal one-hit wonder that left Jack lying straight out on the ground.

Ned was dismayed - in fact, everyone was shocked. Then there was Scooter, Ned's best friend! Or so Ned thought! Scooter gave his evidence, all twisted and disguised, lacking any dignity whatever - Scooter?? Who would have thought it?

Scooter was so convincing, accusing Ned of starting the whole thing. Ned had been convinced that Scooter was on his side - he was THE witness - he actually saw what happened. 

Ned was going to pay the price - obviously going to be expelled from his job as an ambulance driver and told to have severe and complicated counselling. 

Scooter, Ned's friend, came onto the scene later and just assumed, like everyone else, that Ned was the culprit - so much for being his 'bestie'.

Scooter!!! What are you doing? It wasn't me, cried Ned, but it was too late. Scooter was convinced it was Ned and was so prepared to officially accuse him.

Straight away, the ambulance station attendants took young Jack to the hospital, and there he stayed unconscious and almost wavering between life and death. It was pretty nasty.

During the inquiry, not one person backed Ned's version of events - in fact, more and more witnesses came forward to accuse Ned of whacking Jack, and things were getting more and more complicated.

Ned was laid off. His employment was cancelled temporarily, at least while the police were called and he was hauled away to the police station, where he was cautioned and interviewed by numerous police officers. He had to contact a solicitor, and he was bailed eventually - Ned was devastated.

Ned's hands were clean, there was no bruising or anything, and yet the accusation remained, and even more and more of the crowd came to testify that it was indeed Ned who whacked the unconscious Jack.

Oh dear, what do we do in a situation like this?

It reminds me so much of the trial of Jesus - He was accused by so many, and so many lies were told about Him that it was really impossible to see the real truth.

His friends and disciples all left Him, and even one of His closest disciples, Peter, denied ever knowing Him three times, and then took off so no one would recognise Him.

Many Pharisees at the time were totally convinced that Jesus deserved what was about to happen. Stripped in public, beaten with whips, ridiculed and mocked, punched in the face. whipped again, a crown of really horrendous thorns jammed harshly on his head, scorned and wearing the crown of thorns and the 'royal' robe, jeered at by the crowd, and found guilty of what??? Hard to say, really.

Jesus was found guilty and sentenced to death by being nailed to a huge cross, which he had to carry to Calvary.

Why?? Because it all amounted to paying the price of our sins - Yes, even the sins of today, Jesus has paid for them, and all we have to do is to accept His forgiveness and realise what he did for all of us and to make Him number one in our lives which helps us put aside all the things that come into our lives like jealousy, contemptuousness and wanting to hurt and ridicule.

Ned was extremely hurt and so worried. What about Jack? What if Jack died? What of Ned's future? What was to be? A life behind bars? And so it went on.

Jack remained in the hospital with all sorts of tubes and paraphernalia in and out of his body, and there he remained.  Ned was arrested and found himself on bail as more and more witnesses testified against him.

Scooter knew in his heart what was going on - he was actually on the scene when it happened - he saw what Cameron did, but he didn't want to own up to the truth and be ridiculed and made to stand up for  Ned, whom everyone else was totally convinced was the perpetrator.

Ned was his friend, but the embarrassment of owning up to the absolute truth was totally too much to bear.

Peter fled the scene at Jesus's crucifixion, similar to what Scooter was doing - denying the truth and denying Jesus. Scooter denied the truth and, in so doing, denied his friend.

Jack sadly passed away, quietly and unassumingly. Ned was accused of murder and sent to trial.

Cameron and Scooter never came forward to own up to the truth - just like so many sinners today.

Jesus paid for all of our sins on that hideous cross, and he died. Amazingly, He rose again three days after His death, and today He is in Glory. God raised Him from the dead to complete His plan of salvation for all mankind.

Do you want to come to Christ? All you have to do is ask Him to come and change your life so that you can leave your old self behind and become a new creation in Christ.

God bless you this week