3The chief priests accused him of many things. 4So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
5But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
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3 comments:
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
The chief priest definitely did not have either of these traits. How sad is it not to recognize the very messiah you've been longing for but condemn him.
This passage really illustrated for me why Jesus tells us that mercy matters more than sacrifice. And again, I'm not sure whether I feel angry with or sorry for the crowd. But either way, I hold the chief priests responsible in this situation because I believe they must be held to a higher standard in their position of authority and spiritual role models. Which is why I feel it's worthwhile to constantly examine how Christian leaders choose to conduct their work (but not necessarily their personal affairs) -- not because I get my kicks from seeing someone fall, but because I care about what kinds of messages the "crowds" are internalizing and acting on.
I actually feel sorry for Pontius Pilate. I know he's usually vilified for being the one to give the order to crucify Jesus - yet from what I can see, he wasn't given much choice.
You can see that Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He kept trying to get Jesus to defend himself. He also offered the mob an obvious choice of freeing Jesus rather than the murderous Barabbas. All to no avail. Once Jesus was labeled as a political threat to the Roman empire, Pilate had no choice to but to do what he did.
It seems to me that Pilate was caught in the swelling tide of history. Jesus was fated to be crucified. No man can stop the will of God. Does it matter that the man who gave the order did so regretfully rather than joyously?
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