So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Mark 15:15 (ESV)
“Wishing to satisfy the crowd.” O how this phrase should strike me to the core of my being and pierce my soul. It is a phrase that should cause me to tremble as I am reminded of the many times throughout my life that it has been proven true in my words and actions. There have been immeasurable times throughout my life where I have wished to satisfy the crowd. Times where I have “released Barabbas” and “scourged Jesus”. Times when I have desired to stop swimming upstream against the flow of this world and to just be carried along by the current of the crowd. Times when it was easier and safer to be seen as “just like everyone else”. I easily remember moments when I too was just like Pilate in this passage. Moments where I knew the right thing to do or the right words to say, yet I chose to harden my heart to the truth and go along with the voices of the crowd for the sake of comfort and ease. Yes, this passage strikes my heart as it points to my own hypocrisy and hardness of heart.
The interesting thing about this passage is how Pilate moves from a place where he is seen as trying to do the right thing by releasing an innocent man, to apathetic hand washing to give the crowd what it desired. Pilate had within his power the right to stop the whole process and release Jesus on his authority. He didn’t need the approval of the crowd to do the right thing. He could have simply done the right thing but he chose to placate the crowd and secure his position and authority without the hardship of offending. This is the point for me during my reflection.
It is easy to sit back and review in hindsight the actions of a man 2,000 years ago and shake my head in disappointment but am I also reviewing my heart and actions for this same tendency? I am not necessarily thinking about times I have gone along with the crowd of this world in a cultural aspect. To be sure there are times when I have stayed silent before unbelievers when the truth of the gospel needed to be proclaimed. There are also times when I have actively joined in the chants of the crowd working against the truth of God in this world. What I am thinking of now are the times in the church, among my fellow believers, where I have kept silent and allowed the crowd of believers to trample the truth of the gospel.
Over the past few years, I have become acutely aware of the need for grace and mercy in my life. God has been slowly pulling back the veil from my eyes and allowing me to see a portion of the depth of sin in my heart and alternatively the vastness of his love and forgiveness for me. Where I am finding myself like Pilate in this passage is when I don’t take this same understanding and revelation that God has given to me and allow others to have this same freedom. I am too quick to pass judgment instead of extending mercy. I am too quick to draw hard lines where soft lines are needed. I find myself not extending to everyone else the very grace and love that I so desperately need in my life.
God wants me to be just like Jesus. He wants me to have a heart filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He wants me to stand firm in the gospel and be humble. He wants me to see fellow travelers on this journey who are weary and tired. He wants me to bring the healing power of the gospel to every person. Not just the ones I like or can identify with but everyone. To be like Jesus means that I am to be uncomfortable at times. It means that I will be unpopular at times. It means that people will think I am wrong, even the people in my church. Yet, Jesus is calling me to a radical life. A life that truly understands the need for humility. A life that is content to be dependent upon the Father for anything and everything. And in that freedom… to love God and to love others. To have the compassion of Christ flowing from my heart into the lives of those around me.