During my women’s retreat this past fall, I picked up a new devotional book, According to Your Word, by Stephen F. Olford. It has really been an interesting little book. The author has you read a chapter a day out of the New Testament and then he has a short commentary about it. Today I read Mark 15 about Jesus’ death. I’ve read and heard the gospels so many times, especially the parts about Jesus death, that it is easy to just gloss over it, like, “Yeah, I know that already.”
But today I guess the Holy Spirit was helping me pay attention! lol It struck me at how unfair the trial was. This was when the Romans ruled and employed somewhat of a democratic system. They did put Jesus on trial and they allowed him to defend himself. They even allowed his peers to have a say. But you can just see evil influencing everything that happened. First, its like the Jewish religious leaders had lost their senses and just became obsessed with killing Jesus. They couldn’t hear his message or believe anything other than that he was evil…or maybe more the bigger issue was that he could challenge their authority.
You can see the evil at the trial when Pilate asked if the people wanted Jesus released. The Bible says that Pilate knew that “it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.” So he thought the people who seemed to love Jesus in the past would free Him, and that would absolve Pilate from angering the religious leadership or having to kill an innocent man. But the people had been persuaded by the chief priests and chosen to free another man. Then Pilate asks what should be done about Jesus, and they shouted, “Crucify Him!” Wow, the religious leaders had really gotten to them! Then Pilate asked, “Why?” But they had no answer and didn’t care. They had become a frenzied mob with no sense or reasoning. They just shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And Pilate gave in.
So pretty much, all human government and so-called democracy failed Jesus. The justice system failed. If something like this had happened today to someone we know, like our son or daughter, we would be outraged! It is unfair, unjustified, undeserved, unjust! But that is just the story that we’ve become accustomed to reading over and over till it loses it’s outrage in us.
After that they took Jesus away and basically humiliated Him. They made fun of Him and hit Him. Its awful what humans can descend to. And then even after Jesus was hung on the cross, the people and religious leaders continued to make fun of Jesus. I mean, really, isn’t it enough that the poor guy is nailed to the cross and suffering to death? Do we really need to make fun of Him too? Isn’t that just cruel? What kind of people get off on humiliating another who is already in the lowest position he could be in? Only after he died, one centurion said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
I can see how evil had its day and was controlling most of what went on there, making people unjust, unfair, even irrational and crazy. The whole thing didn’t even make any sense, that is from an earthly point of view. But ultimately this was God’s plan from the very beginning to save us. Jesus was accused of all sorts of sins and humiliated and finally killed. But none of it was true. He was completely innocent and sinless, totally unworthy to experience any of that. But He did it for us. Really it was us that deserved to be up on that cross. He took our humiliation and our sin on Himself. He suffered the disgrace from the people, governments, religious leaders, and even God Himself. He took on our sin and humiliation as if it were His own, so that we could take His righteousness and holiness. So while it was the unfair trial of the millenia, it was God’s will to save us. And so we are eternally grateful that God, the Father, was willing to send His precious Son to die in our place. And that His Son, Jesus, was willing to experience the unfairness of it all for us. Because He wanted us! Both of them wanted us! And so the unfair trial was for us, and we are forever grateful, dear God.
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21
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