Matthew 27:11-14

Matthew 27:11-14

And Jesus stood in the presence of the governor.  And the governor questioned Him while saying, “You are the king of the Jews?”  And Jesus was saying, “You say it.”  And in the accusation of Him by the chief priests and elders He did not answer.  At that time, Pilate says to Him, “Do you not hear how much they witness against you?”  And He did not answer Him about even one statement in order for the governor to be exceedingly astonished.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus has no desire to defend Himself.  He has no desire to even put the record straight!  Here is a man bent on God’s will.  Here is a man whose eyes are completely and totally on the eternal and not at all upon the temporal.  Jesus doesn’t need to set the record straight because He knows that the lies against Him can do nothing to harm His status with the Father.  No amount of lies can damage His place at the right hand of God.  In the end, Jesus knows that it is better to be righteous in the eyes of God than to be righteous in the eyes of mankind.

Have you ever gotten caught up in the opinions of the people around you?  Why do human beings occasionally struggle to keep their focus on God and instead place their focus on the temporal?

Second Thought:

Notice that although we don’t hear from the religious leaders in this passage, we do hear evidence of their presence and their continued pursuit of Jesus.  Pilate asks Jesus if He hears how much they say against Him.  The religious leaders have seemingly won the day.  They have arrested Jesus and handed Him over to be crucified.  Yet they continue their rabid pursuit of destroying Jesus.  They continue their fervent destruction of Jesus.  They are not content to win.  They seek the utter and complete destruction of the Son of God.

Why do you think the religious elite pursue Jesus so fervently?  Why do human beings often feel the need to not just win but to utterly and completely destroy those who oppose them?  How does this approach to life – or even an approach to dealing with conflict – oppose a lifestyle of mission and helping people find relationship with God?

Third Thought:

Finally, Pilate is astonished by Jesus’ behavior.  I’m sure that Pilate doesn’t know what to make of Jesus.  Here is a man who has seemingly done nothing wrong.  Here is a man who is not a known criminal and certainly not deserving to die from the Roman perspective.  Yet here is also a man who seems so willing to throw away His life because He will make no defense.  The truth is that often the ways of God and God’s people are confusing to the perspective of the world.  Having an eternal perspective often flabbergasts people who have a perspective on the world.  But this is not always a bad thing.  Challenge can come from these moments.  Change can come from these moments.  We do not know Pilate’s future for certain, but church tradition holds that some time after this moment that even Pilate himself converted to Christianity.  Assuming that to be true, I have to believe that Jesus’ actions here in this part of the story has much to do with Pilate’s decision.

Has it ever been hard for you to be in conflict with the perspective of the world?  Have you ever seen change come from your eternal perspective?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 27:15-23