March 3, 2016

Take Responsibility

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” -- Matthew 27:24

Pilate didn’t want to take responsibility for killing Jesus. It was what the crowd demanded, the Jews, the ones Jesus had come to save. It had to happen this way. We know that. Because Jesus would die, rise three days later, and save all of us who believe.

But on that day, Pilate wanted no part of what was happening. He was part of it. We all are. We all played a part in the death of Jesus. We still do. Every time we look the other way, every time we have something better to do, every time we put ourselves first, we kill Jesus all over.

Years ago I had a roommate who informed me one day that she just didn’t feel at home in the apartment we shared. The blame of course was mine. Except it wasn’t. I suggested she stop treating the apartment like a hotel and start cleaning it like a home. After she got over the shock, she did. See it was never going to feel like her home until she started taking responsibility for its upkeep. So long as she simply showed up to watch television with her boyfriend and to sleep, it was never going to feel like home.

We’re like that with church. We show up on Sundays and wonder why we don’t feel close to other church members. We don’t have time for classes or special events or programs. We want the church -- its members -- to be there for us when it’s convenient but we don’t want to be bothered when it’s not. We can’t develop close relationships, whether in church, family, neighborhood or work, without spending time cultivating those relationships. We have to take responsibility for making it happen and not wait for someone else to do it for us.

We’re always full of ideas for things other people should do. We want to fix everyone else but ourselves. We don’t want to take responsibility. It’s just so much easier to point the finger elsewhere, to wash our hands so to speak, of whatever we’re facing. Then we get angry when it doesn’t work out the way we wanted.

Pilate didn’t want to kill Jesus. He knew Jesus was innocent. But the crowd, well, the crowd was determined. Pilate washed his hands and refused to take responsibility but he could never erase his own guilt. Neither can we. Whether you accept responsibility or not, it still belongs to you.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Stand Firm Before Jesus

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. -- Luke 23:23-25

A few years ago Toyota, a car company that had been respected by so many, took a public beating. It seemed that the company could do no right. There was recall after recall. And many, many complaints of cars getting away from their drivers.

The company was in a horrible possible. The only way to defend itself was to basically call its customers liars. And that’s certainly no way to do business.

Things finally came to a head when a man called the California Highway Patrol to report his leased Prius was speeding down the interstate and he couldn’t stop it. Well, it finally did get stopped. Panic and outrage against Toyota was the rage. The National Highway Transportation Board said it was sending representatives to check out the car. Toyota said it would do the same. And then they let slip a little known fact: the car had a black box similar to those on planes that would reveal exactly what had happened in that car.

Oops! Because the car was never out of control. The driver was facing financial ruin -- even about to lose the Prius -- and he saw a way out. He planned to play to the crowd mentality of the time, unaware that Toyota could disprove him with technology.

A hush prevailed. All those who had rushed to report problems quietly filed away. Oh, Toyota had done some things wrong and its public image was damaged. But so had the crowd that had joined a bandwagon headed in the wrong direction.

The Bible tells us that those who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion beat their breasts and walked away. They knew they’d been wrong. They knew they’d urged Pilate to kill an innocent man. They understood, somewhat at least, what they’d done.

They were probably full of excuses, of course. We always have excuses when we do wrong. We always have a reason when we go along with the crowd, doing what it says is right, even when we know it’s wrong.

On this side of the cross we understand that it had to happen for we believers to live. It doesn’t lesson the horror of what Jesus endured. Perhaps that makes us more thankful. More aware of what He did. Less likely to follow a crowd that still condemns and criticizes Him and more determined to stand firm before Jesus in love and faith.

Friday, April 22, 2011

God Never Leaves Us

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” -- which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” -- Matthew 27:46

Have you ever felt that God has abandoned you? Have you ever looked up at the sky and begged God to see you and hear you and help you? Jesus knows how you feel. His words as He neared death on the cross clearly reveal that.

Jesus suffered an unimaginable agony as He hung on that cross. Six hours just on the cross. And before that a flogging. All because He healed the sick and give hope to the poor. Because He dared to teach God’s Word as God intended it. Jesus was the only truly blameless person to ever live and yet He died in shame, in humiliation, in pain. Punishment that belonged to you and me.

Yeah, He felt abandoned. Did God turn away as some folks speculate? I don’t think so. God doesn’t turn away from us when we sin so why would He turn away from His Son while that Son paid for my sins and yours? I believe God felt Jesus’ pain, just like He feels our pain.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” -- Psalm 22:1

David wrote those words hundreds of years before Jesus cried out on the cross. A man after God’s own heart felt abandoned by God too. So maybe feeling abandoned isn’t such a rare thing. Maybe we can take comfort in those words.

The thing is God doesn’t abandon us. Ever. He never leaves us. We leave Him. We probably don’t mean to. At least, not at first. But we go out on our own trying to live our lives as we see fit. We try to solve our own problems. We try to handle things by ourselves. And we get in really deep water, we panic and, then, we start looking for the rock. We feel lost and alone. Abandoned. But we aren’t. He’s right there. Where He’s always been.