The Roman Trial (Matthew 27 - P 72)

The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus.  His crime?  Blasphemy.  That offense was enough to condemn him to death.  However, the Jews did not have the power or authority to pronounce a death sentence.  Therefore they had to get the Roman authority to weigh in - only Roman authority could carry out execution.  So Jesus is dragged before Pilate, the Roman governor of the region.

Read Matthew 27: 1 - 2, 11 - 31

The Jews knew very well that Pilate would pay no attention to the accusation of blasphemy.  Pilate had disdain for the Jews and what he considered their irrational and fanatical religious practices and beliefs.  If they had approached Pilate with a charge of blasphemy, he most likely would have sent them on their way and told them to settle their own religious disputes elsewhere.  

Matthew does not tell us what the charges brought against Jesus before Pilate were ... but Luke does.  From Luke (Luke 23: 1 - 2) we learn what was officially charged against Jesus.  They accused him first of being a revolutionary.  Second, they accused him of inciting people to not pay their taxes.  And third, they said he claimed to be king.  

Pilate knew it was made up stuff.  He was warned - by his own impressions of Jesus and then by the troubled dream of his wife.  He tried to cause the whole mess to go away.  Then he tried to wiggle out of responsibility.  But he could not/would not stand against the mob scene in front of him.  

Listen to Michael Wilkins as he writes about this scene:

Pilate's infamous act of ordering Jesus' execution was carried out in the political backwaters of  first-century Palestine.  His actions were conducted in relative obscurity, wit no thought that they would have historical and spiritual consequences for all of humanity for all time.  But Pilate is know forever as one whose political machinations perverted his integrity. ...  When the opportunity presents itself, each of us must contend for what we know to be right and for those for whom we are responsible, regardless of whether we think that the outcome will ever be known by others.

Remember the words from Proverbs 21:1 - 3

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord;  he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.  All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Is there a price tag on your integrity?  It is a question worthy of much consideration.  

I learn a couple of lessons in this reading that I never want to forget:

•  God's will WILL be done.  The question becomes what part will I play in the scene.  Will I stand for what is right and just?  Or is expediency and comfort more important to me?  
• It is impossible to abdicate responsibility for something that you are responsible for.  It can't be done. I may want to walk away from a responsibility that I feel ill equipped for or that I just don't want to carry the consequences for ... but it can't be done.  Mothers.  Fathers.  Teachers.  Workers.  Bosses.  

As we close today, plant the following sentence firmly in your mind and heart ... never forget it ...

I am responsible for the purity to my motives

and the integrity of my behavior.