“Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again;  but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!”  A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.”  But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed.  So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.  He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.”

 Luke 23:20-25

I read this and become so angry. I am angry at the injustice. I am angry at the weakness of the government officials. I am angry at the ignorant crowd. And I am very angry at the religious leaders. How could all these people allow an innocent man to be tortured to death? It is disturbing.

However, we must also remember that it was necessary. As twisted and hate-filled as it was, it was God’s plan to reconcile US back to Him. That’s right friends, this most horrible event was allowed to happen so that you and I could one day live in paradise.

So, if I am to be disturbed, I should be disturbed by my own sinful nature. If I am to be angry, I should be angry that an innocent man had to die in my place. Because, certainly, if there had been any other way to save my soul, God would have found it. But there was none. There was no other way to secure my salvation because my depravity is too deep. My nature is to love myself above others, and my heart is not fully surrendered to God.

So Jesus chose to come and die for my sake. And it doesn’t really matter who pronounced judgment or who hammered the nails.  He did it to save me.

What am I to do with that reality? How am I to respond to such a gift that I cannot completely comprehend it? What should my life, which was bought with someone else’s blood and agony, produce in this world?

I hope you are meditating on these questions today my friends. For they are the heart of what today is all about. And the answers to these questions are the foundation of our relationship with Jesus. They deserve as much prayer and deliberation as we can give them. For today, we have been redeemed.

Grace to you.