Mary’s Lent Diary (Day 44)
Things are going from bad to worse, that sword piercing my heart is working overtime now. Early this morning, the chief priests and elders announced that Jesus had been stirring up a rebellion against them and that they had decided to put Jesus to death! So they tied him up and led him away to Pilate, the Roman governor for the area.
When Judas saw that Jesus had been condemned, he went to the chief priests and basically said that he wanted to drop the charges, because Jesus is innocent….but they didn’t care. They wanted Jesus out of the way regardless. So Judas went away and hanged himself. I was so mad at him for what he did, but now I feel sorry for him.
I followed Jesus and stood amongst the crowd, watching Jesus being brought before Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus if Jesus is the king of the Jews….and Jesus said ‘Yes’. Then the chief priests and elders started throwing accusations at Jesus, but Jesus did not answer them. He did not say another word. Pilate couldn’t believe it! But Jesus kept silent.
That’s done it, I thought, the leaders won’t like that one bit. They will have Jesus killed! My boy, my boy…what will I do? But then I saw another prisoner being brought out – Barabbas. I breathed again. Barabbas is notorious for stirring up rebellion. The Jews like him for it, but the Romans hate him. And Barabbas is a known murderer. According to tradition, Pilate has to release one prisoner during the feast so it looks as though Jesus will be ok after all. Pilate is hardly going to release a murderer!
How wrong could I be?! The leaders started going around the crowd, getting them to shout for Barabbas. I shouted ‘Jesus’ at the top of my voice, but no one heard. I looked towards Pilate in panic. Don’t condemn my son, I urged him silently. And he didn’t! He asked the crowd why they wanted to kill Jesus over a murderer? Jesus, who has done nothing wrong? But the crowd just yelled ‘kill Jesus! Crucify him!’ It was awful. I put my hands over my ears but nothing could block out the yelling ‘crucify’
In the end, Pilate gave in to the pressure and agreed to have Jesus crucified.
He let Barabbas go, had Jesus flogged – flogged – and then handed Jesus over to be crucified.
The soldiers took Jesus and they mocked him. Already bleeding and weak from the flogging, they stripped him, put a red robe on him and a crown of thorns on his head. Then they bowed in mock worship to ‘the king of the Jews.’ They hit him and spat on him then led him away to be crucified. I could hardly watch. My Jesus, my son, my heart…
Fish swimming against the tide. Image credit: Dreamstime
Jesus told Pilate the truth.
‘Are you King of the Jews?’
Yes.
Or “You have said it.” (Luke 23:3)
Would you like to echo Pilate’s ‘are you’ question?
What do you want to know about Jesus right now?
What would you like to ask Him?
Are You ….?
People were stirred up by the leaders.
And they followed.
“Crucify!”
Perhaps some of them didn’t know why they were shouting that,
they just followed the crowd.
The leaders had influence.
People looked to them.
Who do you have influence over?
How do you use that influence?
If people look to you, what do they see?
If you look to you, what do you see?
Those that shouted for Jesus, not Barabbas,
were few and far between.
Perhaps they had been among that crowd on Palm Sunday,
everyone shouting for Jesus.
And now, in shouting for Jesus,
they found themselves going against the crowd.
When we follow Jesus at church, or house group, or with other Christians,
we are among a crowd shouting for Him.
And then maybe when we go home, or to work, or school - into our week -
we are lone voices for Jesus.
In word or action or both.
Do you feel like a lone word-or-action voice at times?
[Jesus said] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:18
An orphan is someone - particularly a child - whose parents are dead, or missing.
What would tend to be their main source of support is gone.
Jesus says, “I won’t leave you like that”.
When we feel that we are lone voices, let’s remember Jesus’ promise:
I won’t leave you.
However alone we feel in life, we are never without support.
In 2 Timothy, Paul wrote that everyone had deserted him.
Everyone but….
But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength.
2 Timothy 4:17
Everyone but Jesus.
May we know Him standing at our sides,
giving us strength,
making us not be lone voices in our situations.
The soldiers made a mockery of worshipping Jesus.
Their treatment of Him was insincere.
They pretended.
The way they acted was inconsistent with their hearts.
They went through the motions.
And they ended up killing Him.
How do you treat Jesus?
How will you treat Him this Easter-time?
May our worship and remembrance of Him
be beyond going through the motions.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Lord Jesus,
Thank You for standing with me.
Help me, in word and action, to live for You.
If the ‘Crucify Crowd’ threatens to sweep me along,
may I stand firmly with You.
Amen
Mary’s Memo Jesus Will Never Leave Me
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