Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
In the above passage we see the leader, Pilate, being pressured by the religious leaders and the people to crucify Jesus. This is a typical example of mob mentality and a leader bending to the crowds. We might think that what we see today is a first of this type of behavior. But this is not so. When we read these types of moments we might think that power flows up. This might be true to our natural eye. If tomorrow all kids and parents decided not to attend school and/or work, the leadership would change something. There is power of the people. This can be used for good and for bad. In the above narrative we read that the religious leaders were so bent on crucifying Jesus they stirred up the mob to demand that a man guilty of real crimes should be released and Jesus crucified instead. Pilate tried to resist this call for Jesus’ death. But Pilate is a political beast and bent to the pressure. Despite bing a leader with battalions of Roman soldiers and despite being the surrogate of Caesar, himself, Pilate gave into a mob of angry Jews. That in and of itself shows how God was orchestrating this moment. God had to have Jesus crucified as that is the reason Jesus came to the earth. God used the weakness of a leader, the power of a religious group, and the foolishness of a mob to accomplish His sovereign will. Never think that God is not in control. If you saw this scene from the outside you might think God has abandoned His mission in Jesus. But God uses the elements of this world to tip it in the direction of His will. Every little event in life is to accomplish the bigger purpose of God’s plan for the ages. Power does flow up when it is being used by God to accomplish His will. God uses the elements within the culture to tip the culture the way He needs it tipped to accomplish His sovereign will.
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