Day 37 – He is God

Jesus is taken to Caiaphas the High Priest and is questioned. He would endure all the many forms of their brute force. The greatest being His own people turning on Him. They squirmed in their minds and hearts over the things that He taught. The could not bear the thought of someone other than current leadership for the Jewish people. It was unthinkable. They could not stand for it. As Annas questioned Him, Jesus spoke the truth. One of the officers smacked Him in the face reacting to perceived disrespectful behavior toward authority. Little did he know that he had just slapped God in the face. They couldn’t see that God in the flesh stood before them. Jesus would be delivered over to Pilate. These men who brought Jesus before Pilate refused to step into the place where Pilate was, so that, they would not be defiled for the Passover. Pilate comes out to question Jesus and finds no fault in Him. Yet the Jewish leadership pushes for something to be done with this man. They will not relent. Nor will they get their hands dirty. They want the Romans to crucify Him. He is God and He would be given over to be brutally executed while the very people He came to save asked for a robber named Barabbas to be released.

John 18:38-40  But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”⁴⁰ They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

These men, who were considered holy and revered of that time, took it upon themselves in their pride to rid the world of a good man, ignoring the hardness of their hearts. Position and status meant more to them than God’s ways or laws. The very fact that they wouldn’t walk into a gentile dwelling lest they be defiled for the Passover but they would conspire to condemn a man to death is the ultimate form of abuse of power. What they looked like to the crowds was more important than righteousness. This is the picture of human depravity. Still to this day men and women alike strike others down to keep their positions. They choose wickedness over righteousness. The heart is desperately wicked who can know it? Jesus knew it. We were lost and captive to the flagrancy of sinful hearts until Jesus willingly laid His life down to set us free. His scandalous grace broke every chain and gave us eyes to see God again. – Tweet That! 

PRAYER: Jesus, thank You for the cost You paid for me. You endured so much to ensure that I could be with You for all eternity. Help me to lean into that grace today and not take it for granted.

Have you been slapped in the face? Have you been wrongly accused? Maybe you have done the slapping? The accusing? His sacrifice made it possible for all of us to come near and see God. He is for us and never against us. His death proved that! Lean in today.

Thanks for Listening,

Starla