Playing with a Pair of Kings

Over and over in the Passion story at the end of Matthew, there are these comparisons between two people.  Today, in Matthew 27:11-26, it's the tale of two Kings; Jesus and Pilate.  Jesus is falsely accused in court, again.  It's the second time He has had a false trial against Him in one day.  And again, He doesn't defend Himself against the lies and accusations.  Why?  I think part of it is that He is on a mission, and the lies are necessary to get Him where He is going.  If He is going to die on the cross, it will take lies and hatred to get Him to it.  Nothing else can kill the Son of God.  Truth never could.  So, He embraces the lying and hatred as part of the process to get to where God wants Him to be.  This ability to embrace the hurt, the ugliness, the pain in life so that you can get to your goal is seen in virtually every great leader on the planet.  Jesus is the supreme example of it, on a scale never seen before this story, or after it. 

Then there is Pilate.  A territorial governor desperate to hold on to his little plot of power.  He is impressed with Jesus, and knows He is innocent.  By law, He must be let go.  But to maintain favor with the power brokers around him, he can't let Jesus go.  Pilate is stuck in a swamp of indecision.  His wife tries to point him in the right direction, as most wives do.  He ignores her, and later pays dearly for it, as most husbands do.  He tries so feebly to ride the fence, with a non-decision.  That blows up in his face.  Now he has to sentence an innocent man of incredible character and worth to death, and he has to release an enemy of the state who is out to bring down Pilate's kingdom.  Double fail.  Trying to walk your own path to get to your own good at all costs will always bring this level of destruction.  Pilate had been governing this way for a long time.  He was hated by everyone, because he tried to keep everyone happy.  It never works long term.

Obviously, we are not kings, ruling over kingdoms.  But, we are all people with choices and great influence on others.  Today, tomorrow, this week and month, we will each be faced with choices.  We can pursue our own gain, which will lead to us kissing up to people we don't like to win friends we don't want, or we can pursue God's plans.  When we follow God, He promises to give us strength to face anything, peace to withstand any storm, and wisdom to work through any problem.  But it will require embracing some level of pain.

So, whatever pain you are facing, it is a crossroads for you today.  You can turn towards God's plans, and embrace it all as part of the process to get to the goal.  The way to heaven always has a cross on the path.  Or you can try and ride the fence, and avoid the pain.  But that direction is just a savings account for pain.  You can deposit it today, and get rid of it.  But soon, it will come back on you with interest.  Never a good option.

Which way will you go today?

In The Name of Love, One More In the ...

Reading today, Jesus continues through His crucifixion stages. Peter denies Him for the second time in John 18:25-27. This time, it was probably in fear of His life. After all, the guy asking was there when he cut the soldiers ear off.

Then Jesus is taken to Pilate, the Roman governor. A couple of details hit me today reading this. One, the Jewish leaders won't take Jesus into Pilate's palace. If they did, they would be "unclean" for going into a Gentile's house. There were ceremonies they would have to go through to become "clean" again. The ceremonies would need to be done before the start of the Sabbath, which was that evening, and they didn't have time to get it done, what with the trying to kill Jesus stuff on their "to do" list. So they wouldn't go in. The interesting note is because that Sabbath was Passover, a celebration when the Jews remembered God saving their first born sons from death. The irony is too deep to handle in that. They want to party, thanking God for saving their first born sons. They are so concerned about being a part of this celebration that they are conducting an illegal trial to kill God's firstborn (and only) son. Does that confuse anyone else but me?

Secondly, when the people cry for Barabbas release instead of Jesus, it says that he had taken part in a revolution. He was part of a group trying to overthrow the Roman government. This is exactly what the people had hoped Jesus would do. But when He didn't, and went down the whole "my kingdom is not of this world" path, they ditched Him and moved on. They wanted a king, but they wanted one on their terms. Maybe Barabbas could be that. He definitely was a better shot at it than Jesus had turned out to be!

But then, as always, as I'm dumbfounded at the thickheadedness and stupidity of the Jews, God reminds me of my tendency to do the exact same things. (Sign) I really don't like it when He does, but then I remember how much He loves me. Anyway, how often do we get so caught up in our ideas of religion and power and influence and marketing and "the way things SHOULD be around here" that we ignore what Jesus is doing all together. We might even ignore Him in His name. I do.

What's His response? He speaks truth, and then lays down His life for me.

I won't even go into the part where He calls us to do the same thing for other people around us. That'll be another day.