Pressure: “attempt to persuade or coerce (someone) into doing something.”
Pressure is something that none of us can escape. It's something every single one of us faces daily. Pressures from work, friends, and even family. Pressure to do make decisions on the fly, or to make a hard decision in a short amount of time. Long story short, no one likes it. We see in today's scripture reading that Pilate faced a large amount of pressure. It was a custom that during Passover the Roman governor would release one prisoner. Pilate asked if the people wanted him to release Jesus, and they yelled back they wanted Barabbas.
“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
“Crucify him!” they shouted.
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
John Macarthur states in his commentary the following “Assuming that the people would ask for their king (whom they had so acknowledged earlier in the week) to be freed, Pilate undoubtedly saw this annual custom as the way out of his dilemma regarding Jesus”
The people had the last choice, but they continued to follow their flesh. For Pilate, he didn’t want to make the hard decision. Instead, he followed what the crowd wanted, to avoid an uproar, and released Barabbas. Let us use this as a warning for ourselves when we have a hard choice to make –especially when it involves standing up for the Gospel. Be willing to make the right choice. Jesus followed the Father’s will to the end, and we are thankful, and we give him the praise for being our redeemer. Let us not follow the crowd, let us stand for truth, in love. The timing is coming where Christians are going to need to stand up and make choices, let's make the right one!
Pressure is something that none of us can escape. It's something every single one of us faces daily. Pressures from work, friends, and even family. Pressure to do make decisions on the fly, or to make a hard decision in a short amount of time. Long story short, no one likes it. We see in today's scripture reading that Pilate faced a large amount of pressure. It was a custom that during Passover the Roman governor would release one prisoner. Pilate asked if the people wanted him to release Jesus, and they yelled back they wanted Barabbas.
“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
“Crucify him!” they shouted.
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
John Macarthur states in his commentary the following “Assuming that the people would ask for their king (whom they had so acknowledged earlier in the week) to be freed, Pilate undoubtedly saw this annual custom as the way out of his dilemma regarding Jesus”
The people had the last choice, but they continued to follow their flesh. For Pilate, he didn’t want to make the hard decision. Instead, he followed what the crowd wanted, to avoid an uproar, and released Barabbas. Let us use this as a warning for ourselves when we have a hard choice to make –especially when it involves standing up for the Gospel. Be willing to make the right choice. Jesus followed the Father’s will to the end, and we are thankful, and we give him the praise for being our redeemer. Let us not follow the crowd, let us stand for truth, in love. The timing is coming where Christians are going to need to stand up and make choices, let's make the right one!