Luke 23:13-25 We live in a society that champions individual achievements. We love independence and freedom of thought and the accomplishments we can brag about on our own. My granddaughter like to say: “I do it”. We grow up on an individualistic society and want to prove to ourselves that we can do it. We applaud those who accomplish something by the power of their own will and look down on those who are lazy, unaccomplished, poor in a society that promotes ingenuity. As wonderful as industriousness and hard work are good virtues to possess, these values, with the wrong mind set, can be detrimental to us.
In Luke 19:37-39 Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph with the crowd shouting praises: Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the Name of the Lord; Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest (like the angels at the birth of Jesus) – but the Pharisees ask him to rebuke his disciples!
They have been with him along this journey to Jerusalem and have continually grown in fear of the people and despair at their loss of respect, power, and authority. Fast forward 5 days, after Judas agrees to betray Jesus and the leaders see their opportunity arise:
Now Jesus has been condemned by the religious leaders due to false testimony and brought before Pilate – who sends him to Herod who also finds no fault in him. He returns and passes judgement 3 times: Jesus is innocent at every turn, except in the minds of the Jewish leaders: Each declaration becomes more general: First he is declared innocent of the charges brought by the Jews. Second, he is innocent of leading people astray. Third, he is innocent of any wrongdoing worthy of death. The final question is: Why, what evil has he done? There is no answer to that question, because he has done no evil and they all know it. The only way to deal with this is to incite a riot. In the midst of this, a man who is guilty of inciting a riot and murder, is released and Jesus is handed over to their will!!! Barabbas, the guilty one, goes free – while the innocent one is not punished for his sins, but is a sacrifice for the sins of others.
I propose that we often think of God as a God of judgement, who is just looking for an opportunity to cast us into the fires of hell. I for one do not believe that, but I do believe and if God did not spare his own son, how will he not with him freely give us all things! A God of Love is not nit picking on our sins but wants above all to save us. Save us from what? Here is the answer: Our own Will!
The worst thing God can do to us, is to let us have our own way and do our own thing. We see that as freedom, but God sees that as real bondage. And here is the condemnation of Jesus we can see it clearly.
First let us look at the leaders who are the protagonists of this dastardly deed:
Their pride is hurt.
Their authority is diminished.
Their purpose is questioned.
The only way they can see to regain their place of prominence among the people is to rid themselves of the one who is undermining them. Their very existence is in their religion. They don’t care about Rome, or Herod or Egypt, they are the inheritors of the greatest religion. They are to safeguard their traditions and their understanding of the forefathers experiences and they see themselves as the gatekeepers of God’s Kingdom, and Jesus is threatening them and all that they stand for. History is repeating itself since they have always killed the prophets and have done so in Jerusalem. And now with the short window of time they have to get it done before sunset so as not to blemish their high feast of Passover.
Look what happens in their judgement: When they get their will:
They look to get their pride, traditions, authority and power back, but the result is very different:
When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. Job 8:4
13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Acts. 3:13-15: Ignorance listed in 17 as their cause. They very thing they accused Jesus of, they were guilty of!!!! Why because they wanted their will and not God’s will in their lives. They were blind to the will of God and paid for it.
See Romans 11:8
as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
The same is true when they came out of Egypt - Psalm 81:11-14
11“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. 12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. 13“If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, 14how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!
When we place our trust in God and in his will, what might look like servanthood, is actually the greatest freedom available. His will is for none of us to perish! His will is for us to prosper and be in health. His will is for us to overcome all of our enemies – through his strength, his presence and his power in our lives. When we harden our hearts against God and want to do our own thing, we are in the greatest danger, that God will actually let us do it. And the results could be that we actually get what we ask for.