Luke 23:13-17
“Pilate then called together the
chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me
this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before
you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.
Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death
has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.”
Did you read those
verses? That sounds like a leader, a man
of integrity a principled man. But you
must ask the question how does this fit into the will of God? If Jesus only receives contempt and
humiliation and is punished by Pilate’s soldiers and there is no cross, no
death, no resurrection, can there be a High Priest sitting at the right-hand of
the Father making intersession for your sins and mine?
Shall we look a
little deeper into Pilates motives, he was not a nice man, he was a puppet of
Rome, and he was not all that excited that the chief priest and the elders were
trying to con him into removing competition or Jesus from the landscape. Now the Jewish leaders were aware of his
character and knew that an uprising or bad press getting back to Rome about the
way Pilate handled a matter could get him removed from his office as prefect, (or governor). Pilate’s job was the
commanded Roman military units, authorized construction projects, arranged for
the collection of imperial taxes, and decided civil and criminal
cases. (Homepage of
the Trials of Jesus)
Pilate is middle
management, and I’ve spent 40 years in Corp. life and this is my observation;
it was rare to find a person in this role that was not a yes man, who would do
just about anything to move to the next level.
A question is needed at this point; “Was this part of God’s plan,” for
God saw Pilate before he was and this is made clear in Psalm 139:13, “For you formed my inward
parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Now the high priest
and the elders knew something that God knew, Pilate really enjoyed being
governor, the job came with some great perks, and all he needed was to keep the
peace and collect the imperial taxes.
If only Pilate had studied the Proverb
29:25, he would have seen what the fear of men bring into ones life; “The fear of man
lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”
The
end game of religion and fear takes one to this decision, the Jewish leaders
who were very religious feared Jesus was going to mess-up their place of
authority, and Pilate feared loosing his job, and this is the rest of this part
of the account. “But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and
release to us Barabbas”—a man who had been thrown into prison for an
insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once
more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify
him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have
found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release
him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified.
And their voices prevailed.
So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who
had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked,
but he delivered Jesus over to their will.” (Luke 23:18-25 ESV)
I have to add that in our culture today we have loud voices
in a small part of society and their voices are prevailing, because Christians,
as a whole, have remained silent. And
often when Christians speak it sounds like the voice of the world and not the
voice of Jesus.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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