APRIL 5 READING…LUKE 23
Jesus stands before two fallible human authorities to be tried. It is so sad that these men had no idea that one day they would stand before this very same Jesus and be tried infallibly. In our readings we have the Gentile authority in that region representing Caesar, Pilate…and we have the Jewish authority, and illegitimate king named Herod. Pilate is blindsided by the Jewish religious leaders and finally concludes that he, “finds no fault in this man”. He even tries to think of a way to release Jesus, by bringing out the criminal Barabbas…but the crowd incited by the religious leader’s pressure Pilate to have Jesus crucified. Herod on the other hand used this occasion to hope that Jesus would perform for him…when Jesus would not, Herod and his leaders mocked Jesus, put Him in a robe, and sent Jesus back to Pilate. The King of the universe, Jesus the holy One, being judged by sinful men…it breaks my heart. No man stands in himself right before God…we are all guilty and deserving of condemnation and death. But Jesus, because of His great love for us took our place as the “guilty One” …so that we might have His righteousness.
Luke records for us that Jesus after His two “trials” before these earthly leaders was condemned and crucified. Jesus, who by one word could have stopped all this from happening, did not open His mouth in protest, or to beg for mercy. When a person was crucified in that day, it was common for the person to lose all control of their emotions and even their bodily functions. The Romans were expert and torturing a person to death…it needs to be understood that crucifixion always resulted in death, and the most horrible death imaginable. But Jesus’ death on the cross was different from any other man to die on a Roman cross. You see Jesus not only suffered at the hands of mankind, He also had the wrath of His Father poured out on Him as a punishment for sin. Not His sin, but my sin and your sin. Sin had to be paid for, and Jesus came to go to the cross and pay for our sin. Without His sacrifice and death on the cross, we would still be in our sin…we would still need to face the punishment we deserve because of our sin. Jesus took our place, because He was perfect He qualified to pay for the sin that we are guilty of. Jesus died, and a man named Joseph took His body and wrapped it in linen and placed it in his own tomb. Some great is about to happen…Praise God! Join me tomorrow to find out what is about to happen.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…LUKE 24
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