Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
In Mark 15, the Passover didn’t pass over Jesus, it targeted him. Here’s what happened.
The religious leaders had a problem with Jesus and wanted him dead. Since only the Roman occupiers could execute prisoners, they took Jesus and their complaints about him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you king of the Jews?”
Jesus says, “If that’s what you want to call me, feel free.”
Then the religious leaders pile on with their complaints and accusations. But Jesus doesn’t defend himself. Pilate exclaims, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Jesus didn’t.
Pilate wasn’t keen to execute Jesus. He was leery of the religious rivalry and endless tribal arguments among the Jews. So he said, “Hey, every year I set a prisoner free to help you celebrate Passover. How about Jesus this year?”
“Whoa, not him!” the religious leaders said. “How about Barabbas the murderer?”
“Okay, if that’s what you want,” said Pilate. “But what about the king of the Jews?”
“Crucify him!” they demanded.
Some comments.
1. Jesus didn’t look like a commanding king of the Jews. His followers abandoned him, the religious movement he started failed him, he sat silently through false accusations and unjust sentencing.
2. Passover holiday celebrated the first passover, where God’s angel of death targeted Egyptian firstborn, and spared the Israelites. At Jesus’ New Testament Passover, Pilate is the angel of life and death. He offered to pass over Jesus.
But the religious leaders desperately wanted Jesus out of the picture, so they convinced the angel of death to pass over Barabbas and target Jesus. It was a real Passover weekend for Barabbas. Not so for Jesus.
3. The world Pilate and the religious leaders inhabited sounds like the world we live in. Corrupt religion making alliances with politics. Power protecting the powerful, and ignoring the weak. We see truth and human life sacrificed for religious and political outcomes.
Let’s pray.
O Jesus, you were hated by religious leaders and abandoned by friends.
The Jewish religion that nurtured you turned its back on you.
You were targeted and imprisoned during a celebration of freedom.
You were silent before your accusers.
You were a puppet in the religious leaders’ machinations and a pawn in Pilate’s game.
You were wrongly convicted and harshly sentenced.
But somehow in the disaster, you were king. King of the Jews, ruler of creation, savior of the church, judge of the world.
Help us not to be like the religious leaders. May your strong name demolish our narrow ideologies, our questionable religious views, our corrupt political systems.
Help us see the truth, and speak the truth, and worship you who are the way, the truth, and the life.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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