Daily Devotions
And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”… But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the Man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” Mark 15:9, 11-13
There had been an election scandal in rural Nebraska.
A man who owned a small farm was questioned about certain observed irregularities. The investigator asked, “Did you sell your vote?”
“No sir, not me,” the farmer testily replied. “I voted for that fella ’cause I liked him.”
The investigator looked shocked. “Come on, now,” he said, “I have rock-solid evidence the candidate gave you $50 if you would vote for him.”
The farmer didn’t blink when he replied, “Well, now, it’s plain common sense that if a stranger comes up out of the blue and hands you a fifty-dollar bill, you’re gonna like that fella.”
There’s no evidence the chief priests bribed the crowd to shout for the release of Barabbas, and not Jesus. On the other hand, Scripture does say the priests did or said something that made the mob call for the release of the murderer rather than the Savior.
The yeast of sin corrupted that day and age, even as it has our own.
In our generation, we have seen the crowd calling for abortion rather than life. The crowd has yelled for the rights of criminals rather than victims. The crowd has spoken up for immorality rather than the family. Indeed, when the crowd shouts nowadays, we can almost always be sure it’s for some Barabbas’ type of cause.
As Jesus stood before the Jerusalem mob, how His heart must have ached for those sheep who were following false shepherds. How He must have desired to gather those misled sinners to Himself and forgive them.
Similarly today, as Jesus sits in heaven how He must be saddened, as He sees so many wrong decisions being made. There are millions of mistaken souls who are making decisions contrary to God’s will and the eternal welfare of their souls. Sometimes those decisions are made because they don’t know any better.
This means we have the opportunity to share with them the wonderful things Jesus has done for them. Now Christians cannot always shout louder or longer than the world, but we can love harder.
We can tell of the forgiveness that was won for us by Jesus.
Patiently, passionately, we can move through the crowds of people that are in our lives and urge them to cast their vote for the Savior.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, if we vote for the One who has loved us the most and given us His best, You win hands down. By the Holy Spirit’s power, may our words and our actions show we regard You as Friend and Savior. In Your Name I ask it. Amen.