Walking in the footsteps of Pilate …

Hey, what’s with the title of this blog post?! Aren’t Christians supposed to walk in the footsteps of JESUS, not Pilate?!

Yes.

They supposed to …

“For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps,” 1 Peter 2:21.

… but many of us walk in the footsteps of Pilate.

How do we do that?

By practicing the moral and spiritual cowardice and deviousness that was at the heart of the man who sentenced Jesus to be crucified. Instead of doing what he knew was right — proclaiming Jesus innocent — Pilate was too much of a coward to go against the crowd; and having made up his mind to be against Jesus, he tried to deviously transfer his guilt from himself onto others …

“Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!’” Matthew 27:24.

We follow in the footsteps of Pilate when we choose sin, then practice deviousness in trying to make it look like someone other than ourselves are responsible for what really are our sinful actions.

We do this all the time.

Whether in our minds, or publicly to others (usually both), we rationalize why what someone else said or did justifies our sinful behavior. That attempt to justify our own sin on the backs of the behavior of others is the equivalent of calling for a bowl of water and proclaiming our innocence in the midst of our own sinful act.

Such devious-mindedness is a part of our culture that we seldom notice, but routinely practice. It’s as much a mainstay of our culture as the culture told about in a story from a sermon by William D. Brown …

In 1962, missionaries named Don and Carol Richardson went to New Guinea to bring the Good News of Christ to a group of people known as the Sawi. The Sawi was a headhunting, cannibalistic tribe who used the skulls of their victims as pillows. He wrote a book about his experience called Peace Child. He began his work among the Sawi by reading through the Gospel of Matthew. But to his consternation when he got to the part of Judas betraying Christ, everyone cheered. He did not realize that their culture was one built around treachery. The one who was the most devious was the one who had the most respect in their tribe.

The missionary searched for every possible means to explain the greatness of God’s gift of truth and pure love to a people whose values were based on deceit. Then one day, he witnessed a solemn ceremony between two warring tribes. One of the chiefs walked over to the other and handed him a child. In fact, it was the chief’s own son. Their custom had been that peace could come between two tribes only if the chief of one of the tribes would give his son over to the people of the other tribe. He was called the “peace child.” The chief would place his own son in the hands of a people who hated him and had been his enemies. It was the only way to bring peace between them. Richardson saw in this act the perfect bridge to help these people understand what God had done.

God had given his “peace child” into the hands of a hostile world in order to bring the hostility between us to an end.

What the devious of mind and spiritual cowards won’t admit is this powerful truth: Sin is not transferable to anyone else other than Jesus!

It is impossible to choose sin and place the blame for it on another human being.

However, Jesus is more than willing to take our sins upon Himself, with all the responsibility for them! BUT, if we turn to Him for that, we cannot continue to follow in the steps of Pilate but are commanded to do this …

“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me,'” Luke 9:23.

In who’s footsteps are you following?

Scotty