It’s not easy to hear but the fact is that we’ve all played the role of Pontius Pilate.
We’ve all had times when we threw Jesus under the bus.
I’m talking about those times when the fork in the road had “Right” on one side and “Wrong” on the other.
Incredibly, we chose the path of fear and flesh over the path of faith and integrity.
You’ll recall that Pilate had the choice to free Jesus since he was the Roman governor and had authority over all legal decisions involving execution.
And you also know that Pilate didn’t care about what the god of the Jews thought since he seemingly didn’t even believe in the god of the Jews.
But even Pilate had feet of clay in the face of bloodthirsty Jesus-haters.
“Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15:15)
The back story of this moment is that Jewish bigshots had made it clear to Pilate that letting Jesus go would probably cost him his job because they would tattle to Caesar in Rome about the freeing of a self-proclaimed king, albeit a spiritual one.
The job was more important than doing what was right, in Pilate’s mind.
Simply put, wrong was preferred over right.
That’s often what happens when we want to satisfy the crowd.
We’re caving in.
We’re choosing wrong over right.
We’re throwing Jesus under the bus.
When we gossip because others are gossiping.
When we get booze-buzzed because others are getting booze-buzzed.
When we steal things or unproductive hourly pay from work just because others are doing so.
When we lust at a nightclub or rented videos because others are lusting at nightclubs or rented videos.
When we refuse to forgive because others haven’t forgiven us.
There’s really only one crowd that really matters when it comes to satisfying them — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If our choices please them, we’ll know we’re taking the right turns through life and Pilate’s story will remain in the pages of the Bible rather in shameful, public view in our lives.
And we’ll let Jesus drive the bus rather than throwing Him under it.
As always, I love you
Martin
