Daily Devotional For Sunday, June 16, 2024

Good morning and it’s Sunday — the Lord’s Day as we say. We are looking at questions that have been asked in the Bible for people and by God. Today, we come to one of the most famous questions ever asked. It was asked by Pilate in Matthew 27:22, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (ESV). This was Pilate’s question to the crowd gathered at Jesus’ trial. Their answer: “Crucify Him!” Their shout a few days earlier had been different: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9). It has always amazed me how fickle people are. They can change their opinion faster than the tides. On Palm Sunday, Jesus was the Christ, one deserving of praise and worship. On Good Friday, He was a criminal, one deserving death by crucifixion.,

 Pilate’s question is one we all must answer personally for ourselves. What will we do with this Jesus? It all comes down to first, who is Jesus to you and second, what are you going to do with Him? Probably no figure in history has been so polarizing, admired, revered, questioned, caused suspicion, doubted and written about in books, magazines, and etc. Pilate didn’t know what to do with Jesus. As a politician, he knew who fickle people can be and how crowds can turn in a heartbeat, as they had with Jesus.

Pilate was no different. He was fickle. Look at Luke 23:4, “Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, `I find no guilt in this man (Jesus)’” (ESV). Then later Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. Pilate was not a man of integrity nor a man of courage. He had been warned by Rome that he could not mess up again. If he did, he would be removed from office. He was an opportunist. He married Claudia Proculla, the granddaughter of Caesar Augustus, the same Caesar that ordered a census when Jesus was born.

 His marriage was a double-edged sword. He got into the family of Caesar which gave him huge influence but it also was his achilles heel — if he messed up, Caesar would not tolerate being embarrassed. He would soon be that embarrassment. First, as governor, all previous governors had their soldiers remove their gold standards of the reigning Caesar when they came to Jerusalem. Pilate wanting to prove he was boss did not. A riot resulted and he said he would murder all of the Jews revolting over this. They called his bluff and he backed down.

 Second blunder was he wanted to appease the Jews in Jerusalem by building an aqueduct to bring needed water to Jerusalem. The Jews were thrilled until he raided the Temple treasury for the money to pay for the aqueduct. The Jews rioted and this time when these Jews called Pilate’s threat he would massacre them, he did. Word was sent to Caesar and he was warned a second time. Pilate’s third blunder came when he had gold shields with Caesar's image, Tiberius, hung in his mansion in Jerusalem. The Jews asked him to remove them and he refused. They appealed to Tiberius and he ordered Pilate to remove them and was warned any more problems and he would be toast. 

 Under pressure and wanting to keep his position, his power and his prestige, Pilate caved and ordered the crucifixion of Jesus and Jesus’ death. Everyday people encounter Jesus and some reject Him and some accept Him. Who is Jesus to you and what are you going to do with Him? Was He some great, moral teacher only? Was He a con artist? Was He insane, delusional by some kind of Messiah Complex? Again, I ask you what Pilate asked the religious leaders and people in Matthew 27:22, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (ESV). Read below former atheist and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis’ words about Jesus:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the devil of Hell!

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, God: or else a madman or something worse. . . You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to do that” (Source: C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 40-41).

 C.S. Lewis says we can’t call Jesus a great moral teacher because no great moral teacher claims to be God in human flesh. So, either Jesus is a liar, or a lunatic or He is the Lord He claims to be. If you believe He is Lord, then fall at His feet and worship Him and call Him Lord.

Questions To Consider

1. What are you going to do with Jesus? If He is the Lord He claimed, then everything He taught and said is truth. Believing this is not enough because even the demons believe this and they are not going to heaven (see James 2:19). Calling Jesus, Lord is not enough either based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-22. There is a big difference between calling Jesus, Lord and making Jesus the Lord of your life. What is that difference and does it define you? Why or why not?
2. When it comes to your faith, does it change with the wind? Does it change based on who you are with and around in life?
3.  If you gave your life to Christ, why did you do it? Was it for selfish reasons? — you didn’t want to go to hell? Was it to have a community? — friends to be there for you? Was it truly out of gratitude and love for what Jesus did for you?

 Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 7:21-22, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (ESV).

 Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I want to be all there for You each and every day. I do not want to be fickle or concerned about what others think. I will never understand such love and sacrifice by You for me. Thank You. To prove this, I recommit my life to You with no strings attached. I am all in for You. I pray that Your kingdom comes in my life and Your will be done in my life. I ask all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

 I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly