I knew it was too good to be true.  Yep, I didn't pay my taxes last year.  How that happened I'll never know.    The cancelled check I found (after all that mental trauma and digging through all that paper work) was for the previous year.  I guess I depended on my accountant too much.  He had always given me an addressed envelope to send in, with an explanation for the amount I needed to pay.  All I had to do was write a check and mail it in.

But for the year in question, my accountant turned me over to someone new--and I guess I didn't read what they told me to do very well.  I can only say that I am relieved that it is resolved.  Even if it didn't turn out like I wanted it to turn out.  I am no longer a felon.  Or thief.  Or criminal.  Or whatever you are when you fail to pay your taxes for a year.  It cost less than $20 in late fees--which I think was more than fair.  It could have been a lot worse.

It is my first brush with the law in my entire life except for a speeding ticket.  I hope it is my last.  Well, maybe you might count it a brush with the law when I was called to testify in court in a legal dispute between my dad and another man who thought he owned five extra feet between their houses.  My dad was the owner, but the other guy wanted to take it to court.  It was awarded to my dad.

That's it.  My entire criminal and legal court history.  I can't imagine how Jesus came before Pilot and didn't defend himself.  Especially since he was innocent.  He took our punishment.  He went to his death on the cross on our behalf.  He was called a criminal when all he had done in his entire life was to speak the truth.  Everything he did was for you and me.  And when he was near death, he said, "It is finished."  Everything that could be done in 33 years, he had done.

He showed us how we are to live, how we are to behave toward our fellow man, and how to worship God.  "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..."

The legal system killed him for what we have done.  They executed an innocent man.  You and I, on the other hand, are guilty as charged by God.  Jesus paid for our sin.  He paid it all.