Dear Luke,
That’s precisely what makes this
story so powerful! Jesus doesn’t run or
flee! Even though neither you nor I
could escape the unruly mob or the Roman soldiers, we would still try, or we
would beg and plead with Herod or Pilate that this crowd was crazy and we were
innocent. We might get flogged or
beaten, but not put to death—and that would be enough. Jesus, however, goes through it silently,
like a lamb before the butcher, not speaking up to save his own life because
his mission wasn’t to save himself—it was to save the rest of us.
I know you struggle to see this
story as any bigger than one man, but surely his silence has to make you
curious. You wonder why he doesn’t try
to save himself like any other man would, right? You wonder why he would be so willing to die
before the false accusations of his enemies, right? It seems crazy to us to let others condemn us
to death without at least trying to make our own defense. But this is exactly what Jesus does because
it’s the path that he knows is necessary.
He goes down the path that no mortal man could travel—the path to the
violent and public death of an innocent man, all for the sake of someone
else—for you and I and for everyone else.
This was the only way to erase the stain of sin upon the soul of humanity,
to make a path in the darkness that we have created by our selfishness. Jesus needed to die on the cross for us to
live beyond on our own death, to have hope in the face of despair, and so Jesus
was willing to go. Only a love greater
than we can imagine could compel a man to travel this route. So see Jesus’ silence not as a mark of
weakness or despair, but rather as a certainty that this would not be the end
of the story, as confidence in the power of a love greater than one you have
ever known. Let your curiosity of the
man drive you to an admiration of the Savior.
Jesus found himself before Pilate
once more. I cannot imagine that Pilate
was particularly pleased to see him. He
had probably thought himself so clever for dismissing this problem before, but
it has resurfaced, and he was determined to now put an end to this sudden
disruption. He did not, however, foresee
Jesus’ alleged crimes ending in death, and he gathered the religious leaders to
explain this to them. He told them that
his examination, as well as the examination of Herod, has not found Jesus
guilty of any crime that would result in the death penalty. As an offering to them, however, Pilate did
say that he would have Jesus flogged before he was released.
Thinking that his statement would
mollify the leaders, he must have been surprised at the passion with which they
responded. With indignation in their
voices they cried for Jesus to be sent away and Barabbas released. Barabbas had been previously jailed for both
murder as well as taking place in an insurrection earlier, and the Jewish
leaders were willing to tolerate such a man if his release was the price to pay
for the death of this enemy.
Pilate did not have the heart to
condemn Jesus and wanted to release him, but over his objections to their anger
he only heard the response of the crowd, a unified voice crying out for the
crucifixion of Jesus.
Pilate, not to be deterred, cried
over their voices, asking them what evil Jesus had committed that might justify
the death sentence. He once more stated
that Jesus would be flogged and then released, but the loud and boisterous
voices of the crowd eventually swelled to such a crescendo that Pilate gave up
his resistance in the face of their bloodlust.
Barabbas was released as the leaders had demanded, and Jesus was granted
the guilty verdict that he did not deserve, condemned to a painful and
torturous death on a cross, and handed over so that the verdict might be
fulfilled.
Luke, I cannot describe the feeling
that sits in the pit of my stomach as I recount these details. It is beyond awful, and while the physical
pain of crucifixion gives me pause, the real seat of my horror is the passion
of the religious leaders in demanding this fate for Jesus. He opposed them throughout his ministry, and
when it all came to a head they were willing to trample over him so that they
might rid themselves of this nuisance.
He had become a source of grief to them, and so they used every tactic
they knew to release themselves of his presence.
In all of this, he stood silently
by, letting the events run their course, knowing that death was his fate. It had to be this way, Luke—in order to atone
for sin, a blood sacrifice had to be made, and it could no longer be just an
animal sacrifice. That might atone for
the sins of one man, but in order to offer salvation to all mankind, it had to
be the Lamb of God, the perfect Son of God, the sinless Savior who came to
earth to die so that we might live. I
ask myself a thousand times why he had to die, but in my heart I know that only
sacrifice could take away the sins of the world. There was no other way, and so I give thanks
that Jesus walked this path, even though it makes every part of my soul ache to
picture him standing there, silent, while the leaders cry out with vehemence
for his death. He died so that we might
live, Luke, and I hope that my life is a worthy offering of gratitude.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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