As our family has been reading about the trial and crucifixion
of Jesus in Matthew, we have been trying to understand the people who did
these terrible things. And not doing
very well.
The Jewish leaders – how dumb were
they! It seems to be that either 1)
Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God – in which case, pretty stupid to mess
with Him. Or 2) He was a fake. I would
think that the less said the better. Oh,
sure He’s popular now, but if He’s a fake, the people will probably get tired
of Him when He does not do all the wonderful miracles and things they hope
for. Oh, wait. He does.
Back to option 1). But we know that Jesus is the Christ. How well do we follow His counsel? If we don’t, aren’t we denying Him?
Pilot was Roman, so we don’t expect him to
be a believer or to know the scriptures. Yet he seems to almost at least wonder
a little, to sort of want to know, but to be a little afraid of what that would
mean. At the very least he knows that
Jesus does not deserve what is happening to him. And yet he goes along with it because he is
afraid of the people. Some conquering
ruler he is. How many times have I not
stood up for the right because I was afraid?
The soldiers. Ok, some of them are just following orders and
I understand the Roman army could be pretty strict. Still how can human beings torture anyone or anything?
– even under orders I don’t think I could.
I would like to think that I would rather be tortured that inflict
torture, although coward and wuss that I am, I don’t know what I would actually
do. But they not only obeyed orders,
they went beyond the whipping to the taunting.
To enjoying the pain, humiliation and suffering of another being. An innocent one at that. To torture and torment even a guilty person
is just not right. How can people do
that?
The
people. Really. What is with people? How could people so thirst for anyone’s
torturous death?! Let alone someone who
had only done good?! Were some of the
people the same ones who had cheered His entry into Jerusalem with waving
palms? Some of them probably were. People who were always looking to see what
interesting/exciting entertainment is going on.
People who want to be in on the action whatever it is. People who are
easily swayed by mob mentality. These people I don’t think were acting out of
fear of the populace like Pilot. They
gave their brains and emotions to the rabble rousers – they thought, did, said,
felt what the mob leaders wanted them to do.
They must be people who pretty much don’t THINK. I just really hope I would never be that kind
of person. Have I ever gone along with
the crowd when I should have stood up against them or at the very least walked
away? Have I bought into what someone
else was saying without finding out if it was right, true, or good?
My heart goes out to His disciples and
especially His mother and other special women.
He tried to prepare them. He told
them what was going to happen (perhaps not in gory detail). But how could anyone be ready for the
horrible reality? Did they doubt Him
when they saw Him like that? Did they
understand at all that this was His choice, that He was allowing this to happen?
How shaken was their faith? Not completely,
that’s for sure. They met together in
prayer while He was dead. They didn’t
chuck it all and go home saying, “Well, I was stupid. That was a wasted 3 years.” They still believed. They may not have
fully understood HOW it was all going to work out, but they believed. They
still loved Him. If they thought He had been lying to them, would the women
still have gone to the tomb to anoint His body?
They still loved Him and wanted to serve Him. Now THESE are role models. We want to be found with the other faithful,
praying and awaiting His word.
How great is our Lord and His selfless,
immeasurable redeeming love!
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