Friday 2 Apr 2021

April 2: John 19:16-22
 
Key Verse: John 19:19
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
 
Devotion:
Sometimes it is not nice to be the person in charge when things go terribly wrong. Sometimes the outcome is way out of your reach and the only thing you can feasibly do is to go with the flow – or at least that is how we see things. God does not see things like that, instead standing up for what is right and always telling the truth!
 
I’m pretty sure Pilate saw what the Chief Priests were up to but he was not in a position to argue against them. If he did, they would have revolted in some way and there would have been a time of unrest which is not what he would have wanted! So he did the human thing and gave ground to the crowd. We do things like that when the going gets tough because we see it as an easier way out that having to put up with an angry crowd.
 
Jesus knew He was going to get blamed for many things and He knew He would have to go to the cross and give up His life. I wonder what was going through His mind as He saw the Chief Priests doing what they were doing out of ignorance, pride and greed rather than out of wisdom! Jesus wept over the people when He saw they had turned toward sin instead of following Him. Now the priests themselves were turning away from Him.
 
Pilate’s words he had written on the sign which was fastened to the cross explained his personal feelings in a way. He saw Jesus as the example the others should have been looking up to and following. Instead, to keep the peace, he was having to give in to the ignorance, pride and greed of the people in charge of the Jews, so he wrote these words! And he stood by them when the Chief Priests came to complain about them...
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to peer pressure a lot?
 
Have you tried to ask Christ which way you should be going lately?