I finished reading this early this morning and began to pray. I prayed about what the day would bring, I prayed for people who popped into my head, and I prayed about what I might write. Just then I had a crazy thought, it was almost scary that I even thought it…
I thought to myself “what relevance to my life today does this passage have?” I don’t mean “today” as in “the current age” I mean today, Tuesday the 14th of November (although I should have done this devotion yesterday). What does this passage have to do with my life Today?
I don’t even know if that’s a fair question to ask of any biblical text, because God doesn’t always reveal to us why the lesson is significant until later. To say that a different way: sometimes what God is showing us today has meaning for next week, or next year…not today. So can I even ask that question? And why did it come up so forcefully while I was praying about that very thing?
So here’s what I think I will do as I re-read today. I am going to scan back through what I have already read and see if there’s anything that I should “take away” that could help me today. Here we go…
Pilate seems to be an unwilling character in the drama that the Jewish rulers are putting together. The true resistance to Jesus isn’t coming from Pilate, he would have gladly let Jesus go free. No, Jesus is being persecuted by the Jews, His very own chosen people. The priests and rulers that He commissioned many hundreds of years ago have become so enthralled by their own authority they can’t be humble enough to accept Him. I suppose that any leader who becomes too caught up in their own success becomes less humble at the same time. The less humble we are, the less likely we are to listen to God, and that makes us more likely to fail. Not handling success correctly could become our biggest failure. But that’s not what’s happening here….these aren’t successful people, these are proud…maybe arrogant leaders who see Jesus as a threat to their way of life. That’s sad, because the way of life they had become accustomed to was little more than slavery. Jesus offered a chance to be free, but they were unwilling to take it, since that freedom would cost them their position of leadership. The best sort of leader is the one who will step aside and allow someone else better qualified lead…if that’s what’s best for the congregation. To make that applicable to “today” I think that there are people who are better qualified to make decisions in particular ministry areas than I am. Our worship leader, our children’s ministry leader and others are actually better at their jobs than I could be at their jobs. They don’t need me to reinforce my authority over them…they need to be equipped and encouraged to excel. Perhaps if I were to make decisions for them in their ministry area, I would be “getting in the way of Jesus”. Huh….just a thought. Just thinking aloud here….just because I have an idea doesn’t necessarily make it the best idea. It doesn’t even mean that my ideas are “God inspired”….I think humility creates an atmosphere where God’s perfect will can be more readily determined. So today I pray that I will be humble. (that makes me wonder if someone is going to come in today and challenge me….)
Over the last two days I have been reminded of the “group mentality” or “gang mentality”. Have you heard of that? That’s when people will do something as part of a gang that they would never do individually. I doubt Pilate would have dressed Jesus in royal garb, punched Him and pretended to bow before Him if the rest of the gang weren’t there. Sometimes we get carried away by the crowd, don’t we? A couple of our friends will begin talking about something and the next thing you know we are saying and doing things that we would never approve of. I wonder how many people have been “driven out” of the church or made to feel unwelcome because of the crowd mentality? I wonder how many pastors have had the same experience? I wonder why my thoughts are so dark? By all accounts this is a wonderful church filled with godly, delightful people. None of what I am musing about seems to have any relevance here. Why would I even be thinking about it? Maybe “today” I will have the opportunity to stop “group think” before it has a chance to really get started. That would be great, because “group think” almost always ends badly. “Group think” led a man who believed Jesus was innocent to have Him beaten and put to death, and allowed a known murderer to go free. I wonder if Barrabbas murdered again? I wonder if a cult of followers began to trail behind him, and catch other weak minded people in it’s wake? Yup, group think never ends well.
Here’s the good news (finally). In the midst of all the negativity and false information that was being spread about Jesus there were several who saw Him clearly. The thief crucified alongside Him who recognized His innocence and His deity received forgiveness, even while all others were throwing insults and casting doubts on His authority. At the same time a Roman Centurion had a moment of clarity, where he acknowledged that Jesus was innocent….he didn’t go all the way to saying “Jesus was God”…but Jesus claimed to be God…the sign is hanging right over His head. And the soldier is seeing all that and saying “this man didn’t lie, He was innocent”. That begins to sound like belief in God to me.
Incredible! You couldn’t find a more negative atmosphere if you tried! All the leaders were talking about how Jesus wasn’t God, the crowd was jeering and booing and even the people being crucified were mocking….and there wasn’t a single disciple speaking up. In spite of all that, there were still people who became Christians that day. We place such a high premium on quality preaching and worship, and an inviting atmosphere….but God demonstrates here that what He said was true….when He is “lifted up” He will draw all men to Himself.
The only real task that we have to do..today or any day… is to “lift up Jesus”…not in the sense that we erect the cross upon which He hangs…but in the sense that we speak about His sacrifice, His perfect character and the possibility of being forgiven of sins because of what He did for us. Our real job is simply to “shine the light” on Jesus. Thinking about it, that would take humility…wouldn’t it?
God doesn’t need me to execute my day perfectly. He isn’t looking for perfect performance from me today….He’s looking for a humble person who will gladly share what they know about God’s goodness with others that he comes into contact with.
Hey……I can do that.
Faithfully,
PR