That Pathetic Crowd

 

Mark 15:1-15, CEB - At daybreak, the chief priests—with the elders, legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin—formed a plan. They bound Jesus, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate.  Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “That’s what you say.”  The chief priests were accusing him of many things.

Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? What about all these accusations?”  But Jesus gave no more answers, so that Pilate marveled.

During the festival, Pilate released one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.  A man named Barabbas was locked up with the rebels who had committed murder during an uprising.  The crowd pushed forward and asked Pilate to release someone, as he regularly did.  Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”  He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.  Pilate replied, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?”

They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done?”

They shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.

 

                The detail in this scene that always disturbs me the most is how the crowd turns on Jesus.  This is the crowd that only a couple of days ago cheered Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. They marveled at His teaching in the Temple and His putting of the religious leaders in their place.  Now, stirred by those same religious leaders and under the watchful eye of Pilate, they cry out for Jesus’s crucifixion.  They willingly participate in the greatest miscarriage of justice that this world has ever seen – the crucifixion of the Son of God.

I’m actually more disappointed with the crowd than I am Pilate or the religious leaders.  Pilate at least makes an attempt at avoiding punishing someone who is obviously guilty of nothing.  The religious leaders have convinced themselves that they are doing the right thing by getting rid of Jesus.  To be sure, as Mark notes, their treachery also speaks to their burning jealousy of Jesus.  They are protecting what’s theirs from this interloper.  I can understand that in a way while condemning it at the same time.  The crowd however, is so easily swayed toward this betrayal even though Jesus is no threat.  They aren’t intimidated by the Roman Governor to go along with this out of fear.  The crowd knows that Pilate has no interest in killing Jesus.  It just seems all too easy that the religious leaders can convince a crowd to condemn an innocent man. 

I’d like to think that I’d have been different if I had been in the crowd that day – that I would shout “injustice” and protest vehemently.  I’d like to think that, at the very least, I would have remained silent or even walked away so as not to give any sign that I support this travesty.   But the truth is, I will never know what I would do in this situation.  What I do know about myself is that I am capable of behavior that is at least as shameful as that of this crowd.  I know this because I have committed such behavior.  There have been times when I have been even more shocked and surprised at my own behavior than I have ever been with this fickle crowd.  I don’t like to admit that, but not admitting that doesn’t make it any less true. 

I believe that is why Mark and the other gospel writers recall this sad event.  I believe they want us all to see ourselves as participants in this injustice.  If we were all perfectly fine, the crucifixion would not necessary.  It we all truly understood the import of the gospel, than the gospel would not have to include God dying on a cross.  If we all practiced love so well, than Jesus would not have had to demonstrate what love shown to the fullest extent looks like.  We are all part of “the crowd.”  Jesus knew that the crowd would let Him down; Jesus knew that we would let  Him down. 

 

Question:  In what ways has your capacity to not do the right thing ever surprised you?

 

Prayer:  Have mercy on us Jesus.  Despite our best intentions, we too often disappoint You and even ourselves.  Help us see our need for you.  May we respond to Your sacrifice and accept the redemption You offer.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time today in confession to God about the areas of your life where you are aware of a need to do better.

 

Song:  Nailed to the Cross - Rend Collective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFLk6v7US3I

Even After He’s Dead. . .

 

Even After He’s Dead. . .

 

Mathew 27:62-66, NIV - The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.  “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”  So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

 

One thing that good writers do is they try to anticipate the concerns of potential readers as the story is being told.  The writer tries to ask themselves, what are the problems that different kinds of readers will have buying into the story being told.  One of those problems Matthew’s readers will have with buying into the resurrection of Jesus is that it sounds like fiction.  After all, how many resurrections have you personally witnessed? 

For this chasm of skepticism to be bridged, Matthew addresses as least one potential story that could be proposed when readers are confronted with reports of the resurrection; Jesus’s body was stolen and the rest was fabricated.  Ironically, this is the very pretext the religious leaders give for Pilate assigning a guard to the tomb.  They make it impossible to steal Christ’s body by posting Roman guards.  Further, the Roman seal placed on the tomb makes anyone who attempts such a theft an enemy of the state.   I love that the last thing the religious leaders (and Pilate) do in the gospel is to make sure that the account of the resurrection is more believable. Imagine Matthew’s joy in including these seemingly insignificant details in his gospel account.

I have to say that, over the years, God has granted me some compassion for these leaders that seem obsessed with discrediting the Jesus movement.  Putting myself in their shoes, I feel just a bit of the misery and desperation they must have felt.  Thousands had followed this Jesus that criticized the these very religious leaders at every turn.  They were undermined by this rebel and their influence was eroded.  So discrediting Jesus would restore their rightful position and influence.  At least that’s how I imagine the thought process progressing.  What a terrible position to be in – having to tear down someone else in order to feel better about oneself.  I have compassion for these men because I have felt that very sentiment.  It is indeed misery. 

I wish I could say that I am beyond such misery, but I am not.  The impulse to make others smaller so that I, by comparison, feel larger is one that I still encounter often.  It can rob me of being happy for someone getting a promotion that I feel I deserve.   It can keep me from opening up to the possibility that I might be wrong about something because I would have to admit that “that other one” is right.  It can cause me to see someone who might otherwise be a potential friend or ally as a threat and treat them accordingly.  This impulse is so manipulative that it can lead me to believe that a big lie is actually the truth. 

Throughout our journey through Matthew’s gospel, I have encouraged us to adopt the habit of putting ourselves in the place of the “villains” instead of the “heroes.”  There is more potential for our transformation by the gospel when we do that.  If the religious leaders had done that, imagine what could have happened.  But more importantly, imagine what could happen if we did. 

 

Question:  When was the last time you were able to have authentic compassion for an “adversary?”

 

Prayer: Just between You and me God, I confess that I struggle to trust that you love me completely regardless of my position compared to others and whether I am right or wrong. Before you, I confess my unhelpful impulses and ask you to forgive me when I have pursued them.  Even more than that, I ask that you replace those dark impulses with compassion for others and for myself.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Perhaps a specific “adversary” has popped into your mind as you went through the devo today.  Pray for God to bless that person.

 

Song:  Pray for Me – Kirk Franklin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUBwZZSiUzM

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Matthew 27:1-10, NIV - Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.  That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel,  and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

 

It is striking the way Matthew draws comparisons and contrasts between the chief priests and Judas in their reaction to Jesus’s innocence.  Both Judas and the Priests are complicit in Jesus’s fate.  Both at least admit Jesus’s innocence.  And they both pronounce sentences.  The priests, of course, doubled-down on their complicity to kill Jesus and turn Him over to Pilate who is the only one with power to execute. And Judas, overwhelmed with guilt for his role in this tragic plot, pronounces conviction and death sentence on himself for betraying an innocent man.  These are the similarities.

Within those similarities, Matthew has highlighted some stark contrasts.  The judgement of the chief priests have nothing to do with justice; they are simply trying to eliminate what they believe to a threat to their power and position.  Judas suicide is an effort to mete out justice upon himself for his crimes.  Judas gives up the money he was paid for his betrayal because he wants no benefit for his duplicity.  The priests, even though they know it is blood money, use it for their own interests while skirting the regulations that govern the use of such currency. 

Both the priests and Judas were wrong in their actions.  The evil of the priests is more apparent for their self-interest and their blatant disregard for justice is obvious.   They absolve themselves of all responsibility for their treachery and they make schemes to get around the regulations governing them to accomplish their dark goals.  Judas takes the matters of judgement into his own hands, a power he has not been given by the law or by God.  Confessing his sin and trying to make amends (return the money) were the right things to do, but killing himself was not.  Both the priests and Judas left God out of the equation.  The priests made a mockery of God’s justice and Judas denies God’s mercy, forgiveness, redemption and love. 

But here is the most amazing thing about all of this; God’s providence is seen even in all the betrayals of God’s justice and redemption.  The priests unknowingly participate in the plan of God by their turning over of Jesus to Pilate.  Their use of the blood money unknowingly fulfills prophecy made hundreds of years before by God’s messenger Jeremiah.  The treachery of the priests is a tool in the hand of God for the redemption of all people.  And though Judas carries out capital punishment upon himself, there is even still, the possibility of his redemption in eternity by a God whose “yes” is stronger than any “no.”  Though God would never condone suicide, God’s love is capable of superceding it.  The priests and Judas cannot thwart the providence of the Almighty. 

Let us resolve to avoid the mistakes of the priests and of Judas.  Let us not take the justice of God into our own hands.  Let us not presume to know the limits of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.  Let us accept that God’s plan will prevail whether we cooperate with it or not.  Let us let God, and God alone, be God. 

 

Questions:  Have you ever acted as if you knew better than God what was necessary in a given situation?   Have you ever pronounced a sentence upon yourself with no thought God that somehow, God could bring redemption from even the worst of your mistakes?

 

Prayer:  Sovereign God, forgive us when we leave you out of the circumstances of our lives and relationships.  Help us to more fully trust your providence, justice, and love.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the souls and families of those who have taken their own lives.

 

Song:  Hand of Providence – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE2xpEl9XkI