Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Pontius Pilate (Holy Week Devotional)



“So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.”

- Mark 15:15

The annals of history tell us Pontius Pilate was a vindictive, cruel, and corrupt Roman prefect, less interested in governing the Jews of Judea than terrorizing them. His willingness to continually disregard and disrespect Jewish customs earned him enmity, and the fury with which he put down rebellions earned him fear.

Yet the gospels show us a different Pilate than the monster that historians like Josephus describe. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John describe a man motivated not by cruelty, but cowardice, a governor whose chief concern was avoiding a mob. The Pilate they describe didn’t condemn Jesus to death because of any personal malice against him or because he wanted to see an innocent man suffer. Rather, Pilate placed our Lord’s fate in the hands of the mob, offering to grant freedom to either Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, or Jesus Barabbas, a notorious murderer. “The choice is yours,” he said. Pilate’s was not a sin of malevolence, but of passivity—he simply gave the people what they wanted.

That Friday morning, Pilate learned something that is still true today: people rarely want Jesus. Sure, they want parts of him—his healing miracles, his compassion, his power, his forgiveness. But when the full picture comes into view, they get uneasy. Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor? Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Take up your cross and follow? No thanks. Given the choice between a Barabbas—a bad choice, but a familiar one—and the unyielding holiness of Christ, it is only the leading of the Holy Spirit that allows us to even consider choosing Jesus.


So, with the crowd rejecting Jesus, Pilate had the unique opportunity to be part of something bigger than himself, bigger than Rome even, to stand for what was right and say, “I will not doom someone unworthy of condemnation.” But instead he took the easy, convenient route and gave the people what they wanted. Every day you face a similar test: to act on Jesus’s behalf or sit back and hope for the best, to bear witness to his saving power or leave that duty to the preacher, to serve the Lord or serve yourself. Pilate made his choice, and is remembered for it still today. In your life, will you give the people what they want or will you give God what He deserves?

No comments:

Post a Comment