“So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.”

A few lessons…

1) “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17)

Pilate seeks to clear himself of injustice with words and a symbolic washing. But his indecisiveness was a decision for injustice itself. He knew why the leaders had come. He realized that Jesus was innocent. But he gave way to the crowd. He protected his own temporal status and in turn, lost his soul. And, no doubt, his temporal position was soon to give way as well. For anytime you seek to maintain power by appeasing the crowd, you inevitably face a day when the crowd can no longer be appeased.

2) Let us beware of speaking for our children.

The Jewish people present at the ‘trial’ of Jesus cry out, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So sure were they are their righteous stance, that they put the lives of their children on the altar of injustice and sin. Let us beware. For in 70 A.D. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. And anyone who believes the Scriptures cannot doubt that such a judgment came from the hand of the Lord. The legacy of those who crucified Jesus did not end well.

I have read this account numerous times, but every time I do, I find that there is something within me that wants Jesus to act just a bit different than he really did. In particular, I would like Him to switch things up a bit after He was spit and struck in the face and challenged to prophesy to the leaders, and to tell them who it was who struck Him.

Every time I read such words, I want to hear Jesus cry out, “Listen here and listen well, religious leaders, the first one who struck me was ‘John’, son of whoever, from the town of whatever, who grew up and did this and that at the age of nine, and who just did this or that yesterday, and who is thinking this right this moment.”

Interestingly enough, I imagine Jesus saying all this and the religious leaders stopping for a moment or maybe even bowing down before Him. But the fact is, this is not what would have taken place. And, more importantly, if Jesus had uttered such words, His glory would not have been more fully revealed. In fact, He greatness is more revealed by His silence than if He has chosen to speak…at least at this time.

If He had said the words I offered above, the fact is that the religious leaders would have probably said He was demon-possessed. Their hearts were too hard. They were much too concerned about their own position of authority and privilege to allow the truth to get in the way. They were the ones who had succumb to darkness. For they were the ones who could not keep their wicked mouths shut.

But then there is Jesus, who “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:22-24).

Jesus endured His suffering on His terms. Amazingly enough, He was in full control in the midst of the greatest injustice the world has ever seen. Where I would have let lose on the foolish and wicked Pharisees, Jesus opened not His mouth. Or at least He opened His mouth exactly as was best, for the glory of God and the good of His people.

May such simple silence in the fact of such great injustice make us marvel at our Savior as we ought. And may it also help us learn when it is wise for us to speak and when it is wise for us to keep our mouths shut.

After being sent into the land of Canaan to survey the land and its people, the Israelite spies return with a report (and some good fruit). The majority give a report full of unbelief, while Caleb and Joshua give a report full of faith.

Caleb said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

The majority said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

Notice: faith speaks with a confidence that we can overcome, because of the One who is with us and fights for us. Unbelief, on the other hand, focuses only on the strength of the obstacle and forgets the power of God.

This is true not simple for the Israelites, but for all of us, all the time. We are either viewing things in faith or unbelief. One or the other is winning out. The key seems to be to continually keep in view the power and promises of God. To make sure that your entire understanding of things is clouded, as it were, with His presence and His power. For the moment you lose sight of Him, all you can see is the greatness of the obstacle that stands in your way.

Right now, the Lord may have a ‘promised land’ for you, some sort of dream or desire of your heart. Is unbelief standing in your way? Do you see only the obstacles that keep you from that land? Or, while noting the strength of the obstacles, do you remember and rejoice in the power of Almighty God? Do you believe it can be yours? Or are you like the majority who forget God and therefore, lack faith?

No matter which side you may be on right now, there is still only one thing to do: fuel the fires of faith. Think only and continually of the power and promises of God. Seek Him until you believe. Then seek Him all the more.