Day 36 - Getting our own way

Reading: John 18:28-19:16

The account of Jesus’ arrest and show trial may be very familiar to us. Reading this account can be tough because we know what Jesus went through, suffering a fate we all deserved. But through it all we can see Jesus is in control, focussed on fulfilling God’s plan and not flinching from it in spite of what lay ahead.

In our passage today we see the Jewish religious leaders trying to get Pilate to do their dirty work for them and convict Jesus of a crime – any crime – for which the death penalty was prescribed. Over a number of hearings Pilate finds Jesus has not committed any crime, never mind one deserving of the death penalty. But despite being the top Roman official in Judea he fails to exert his authority and eventually hands Jesus over to be crucified.

We may well shake our heads in disbelief at the scheming of the Jewish leaders, seeking to have Jesus convicted of a crime, and culminating in the chief priests saying, “We have no king but Caesar”! Clearly this degree of cruelty is not something we can relate to. And yet the Jewish leaders did not get up that day and decide to have Jesus killed. Their actions had been brewing for many months. I am reminded of the words James writes about temptation and sin: “After desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:16). I suspect we can all relate to those words to some degree. Are we ever tempted to dress up something we want as something God wants to give us – a better paid job? An expensive new gadget maybe? Or anything that makes us look more important to other people? We all try to get our own way at times, in spite of knowing where that can lead. We know God’s way is far better and we know what it cost Jesus to open that way for us. May his Holy Spirit help us to live God’s way.

Response

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Chris