Condemned to Death

Scripture: Matthew 27:1-2 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

1 Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to discuss how to persuade the Roman government to sentence Jesus to death. 2 Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. (Matthew 27:1–2 NLT)

The “leading priests and the elders of the people” were so careful about their religious practices, the way they dressed, the activities they permitted and didn’t permit themselves and others to perform. They wouldn’t in their wildest imaginations think of eating a shrimp salad or having bacon with their eggs. They wouldn’t walk a mile or cook a meal or wash the dishes on the Sabbath because it was a no-work day.

But they hated Jesus for his freedom to heal and do good, to care for the stranger-Samaritans, to show mercy and friendship to prostitutes and night-club owners and fast-talking used-car salesmen. And they feared Jesus for the disruption he might cause to their sometimes fragile relationship with the puppet-King Herod and the Roman military governor. And they were jealous of the love the “common people” had for Jesus. It seems incredible the lengths to which the most law-oriented and morality-focused people will go when motivated by fear, envy, and greed.

The Jews didn’t have the authority to impose capital punishment. So they met together to find a way to accuse Jesus of something potentially threatening to Roman rule and “…to discuss how to persuade the Roman government to sentence Jesus to death.”  Once they had their plan, they cuffed him and took him to Pilate.

This makes me so angry! But it also makes me think about Christians in the US and about me in my little world. How close do we come to doing the same thing today that they did then? How much of our morality, our humanity, our commitment to “Love God with all our hearts and love others as we love ourselves” might we, will we, compromise due to fear, to prejudice, to envy, to the desire to be served rather than to serve?

Prayer:

Father, As we’ve journeyed through Matthew, this whole “Pharisees, priests, and teachers of the law” thing has been a cautionary tale to me. Don’t let me blame them and excuse myself. Show my friends and me the seeds of this same attitude in our own hearts. Please forgive us for our sins and protect us from ourselves. In Jesus’ name!