Daily Devotional for Thursday 18th July
Unjust systems
In the world we live in, there are many unjust things happening in the world around us. Within our own minds, we know what is right, by the law in which we follow, and the morals in which we uphold.
The law is black and white, if these are broken, a punishment of some kind will occur. However, every person has different morals to different levels and this is where things can start to get a bit messy.
Within these verses we see a number of times the chief priests’ legal and moral followings are very questionable. These men who were seen in high regard to uphold God’s laws were seen to be using them for their own personal gain, not that of God.
Because the Roman’s had removed the Jew’s right to capital punishment, the chief priests couldn’t sentence Jesus to death, so they decided to hand Him over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. However, Pilate wouldn’t be interested in persecuting Jesus for blasphemy, so the chief priests’ made-up charges that would cause this type of persecution of execution on a cross.
We then see that at the festival, it was a common practice for a prisoner to be freed – the other prisoner in question was Barabbas. He had been imprisoned for murder. He was a revolutionary, which at the time meant standing up to the Romans. Even though he had murdered, he would’ve probably been seen as a hero to the Jews, however this wouldn’t have excused his crime in the eye of the law.
Pilate knew what the chief priests were up to and their hatred for Jesus so he asked the crowd who they thought should be freed. Pilate made a show out of sparing a life. He asks the crowd who they wish to be saved. The chief priests jeered the crowd up so that Pilate freed Barabbas. Knowing the crime Barabbas had committed, the chief priests were happy to allow somebody who had broken the law to be freed in order to convict an innocent man.
The same crowd that had greeted Jesus by shouting “Praise God in the highest heaven” were now the people who were yelling “Crucify Him” talk about being easily led to decisions!
In the final verse of today we read “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them”
So many incidents occurred through these few passages that show us how human behaviour is so easily influenced.
Time to reflect…
1. Are we as individuals easily influenced by other peoples’ voices and actions without understanding the truth first ourselves?
Pause to pray…
Heavenly Father,
We pray today for the leaders and people around the world who have power and authority in their words and actions. We pray for them to be filled with Your love and Holy Spirit so that the decisions they make are fair and just to others.
In Your name we pray - Amen.
