Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required (Luke 23:20-24)
Here Pilate’s humanity is caught in the vortex of Divine will. When we arrive at this scene, make no mistake about it, Christ must die!
The choice that appears is not there. Yes we will acquiesce that our sin demands Jesus’ death, and yet fail to see that our righteousness is just as demanding.
Jesus’ death is not at Pilate’s will. Jesus’ death is not at the people’s will. He stated it, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down."
Pilate must have wondered that day “How did this man end up in my court?” He talked to his wife; she tried to help. And maybe his hand washing was an attempt to apply her advice. However, Pilate is a Politician. The root of the word “politics” is “pole.” The politician hopes that he can make all the people happy. If this is impossible, then the majority rules. Rarely is a politician a leader and rarely is a leader a politician. People like politicians; they don’t like leaders.
Pilate believed in and advocated for Jesus’ innocence. Then as a last resort he attempted to mediate a compromise. Yet neither would avail; because, Jesus is not dying because He is guilty, but because He is innocent; Jesus is not dying because the crowd is angry, but because they are sinful; Jesus is not dying because of man's will but because of God's will. And what can change God’s will: a declaration, a vote, a compromise?
Pilate selfishly served Caesar. Pilate selfishly served the people? Likewise Pilate believed he could selfishly serve Christ. However, one can never do God’s will without great cost to himself. A man must back up on his own life, put it down, lose his life, deny himself, forsake it.
The only proper answer for any man at the crucifixion is to die with Jesus. Die to one’s old agenda… Die to one’s prestige and popularity… Die to the crowd’s acceptance… Die to positions of power… Die to the prosperity of this world…
On that day there were two voices calling for Jesus’ death, both God and the crowd. Which voice will you hear concerning His death? If you hear the crowd you will try to save Jesus, but if you hear God, you will desire to die with Jesus.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
That Which is Born of the Spirit is Spirit
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6
Although Luke makes it clear that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, one can’t help but notice that his coming is rather pretentious; there is some superficial sense of daylight in his own mind, reverently raving of Jesus as a teacher, yet irreverently considering himself as Jesus’ colleague.
He approaches the master as an emissary, speaking not only for himself, but on behalf of a committee who has made observation and consideration of this strange itinerate rabbi from the country side. Nicodemus stated what he could not know: “We know that thou art a teacher come from God.” Yet in the presence of Christ all his nobility, wisdom and status is brought to naught. Nicodemus’ plan of qualifying and inducting Jesus into the elite Pharisaical club results in the reduction of his own pompous suitability to an unqualified leader and an ill-equipped teacher.
Nicodemus had been taught all his life that we, the Jews, are it and they, the gentiles, are not. He believed that being in the physical lineage of Abraham was innate spirituality, inborn status and instant salvation. Jesus wrecked his world by telling him, Nicodemus the old birth will not do; there must be a new one, not of earth, but of heaven, not of men, but of God, not of the first Adam but of the second Adam, not of the old creation but of a new creation.
And there is that human tendency to postulate that God’s agenda does not differ from our own, that God finds a high degree of pleasure in the person that we are, and that our associations are good and godly. Few do not regard their lineage, ethnicity, and/or societal status as having some innate degree of virtue. Yet these things are inconsequential before God. One must possess something altogether differently than has been supply by the natural birth. This requires a new birth, sonship to a new father, kinship into a new family, and citizenship in a new nation.
Although Luke makes it clear that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, one can’t help but notice that his coming is rather pretentious; there is some superficial sense of daylight in his own mind, reverently raving of Jesus as a teacher, yet irreverently considering himself as Jesus’ colleague.
He approaches the master as an emissary, speaking not only for himself, but on behalf of a committee who has made observation and consideration of this strange itinerate rabbi from the country side. Nicodemus stated what he could not know: “We know that thou art a teacher come from God.” Yet in the presence of Christ all his nobility, wisdom and status is brought to naught. Nicodemus’ plan of qualifying and inducting Jesus into the elite Pharisaical club results in the reduction of his own pompous suitability to an unqualified leader and an ill-equipped teacher.
Nicodemus had been taught all his life that we, the Jews, are it and they, the gentiles, are not. He believed that being in the physical lineage of Abraham was innate spirituality, inborn status and instant salvation. Jesus wrecked his world by telling him, Nicodemus the old birth will not do; there must be a new one, not of earth, but of heaven, not of men, but of God, not of the first Adam but of the second Adam, not of the old creation but of a new creation.
And there is that human tendency to postulate that God’s agenda does not differ from our own, that God finds a high degree of pleasure in the person that we are, and that our associations are good and godly. Few do not regard their lineage, ethnicity, and/or societal status as having some innate degree of virtue. Yet these things are inconsequential before God. One must possess something altogether differently than has been supply by the natural birth. This requires a new birth, sonship to a new father, kinship into a new family, and citizenship in a new nation.
Monday, October 6, 2008
A Safe Position in a Dangerous Time
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Hab 3:17-18)
Habakkuk lived in a time of cultural corruption and degradation from the leadership to the laity. The economy was unstable and the future was bleak.
He prayed, asking God for deliverance. God paradoxically promises spiritual deliverance through physical bondage to Babylon. Therein is how God deals with his people; if you desire to be like them, then I will hand you over to them.
Yet in the mist of this certain decline and fall of the nation, Habakkuk has found for himself a safe position: a place of joy. That joy is found in the salvation that God has provided. Not a salvation, according to a man’s dictates and desires, not a salvation that could or would be contrived by men, not a salvation that would be accepted as such by the carnal heart, but a salvation that can only be embraced by one who loves, submits, and relies on God.
Can you trust God when your humanity is screaming in fear and dread? Can you trust God when He informs you of certain degradation and devastation and tells you to be silent? Can you trust God when the answer to your prayers seems to take things in the same downward direction? Will you believe that the nation’s economy is not your economy? Will you believe that God can find a needle in a haystack and their suffering is not your suffering? Will you believe that danger for others is deliverance for you?
Habakkuk lived in a time of cultural corruption and degradation from the leadership to the laity. The economy was unstable and the future was bleak.
He prayed, asking God for deliverance. God paradoxically promises spiritual deliverance through physical bondage to Babylon. Therein is how God deals with his people; if you desire to be like them, then I will hand you over to them.
Yet in the mist of this certain decline and fall of the nation, Habakkuk has found for himself a safe position: a place of joy. That joy is found in the salvation that God has provided. Not a salvation, according to a man’s dictates and desires, not a salvation that could or would be contrived by men, not a salvation that would be accepted as such by the carnal heart, but a salvation that can only be embraced by one who loves, submits, and relies on God.
Can you trust God when your humanity is screaming in fear and dread? Can you trust God when He informs you of certain degradation and devastation and tells you to be silent? Can you trust God when the answer to your prayers seems to take things in the same downward direction? Will you believe that the nation’s economy is not your economy? Will you believe that God can find a needle in a haystack and their suffering is not your suffering? Will you believe that danger for others is deliverance for you?
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