One of the moist important encounters in the life of Christ came on
the day of His death. Jesus stood before a man of earthly power to
be judged. Pilate was a man of good intentions but weak character.
The apostle John describes this fateful meeting in his gospel, John
18 and 19.
Pilate was the man with the opportunity of a lifetime. He would
judge the God-man Jesus. He came face to face with Truth. He had
Jesus’ full attention. He experienced fear in hearing that the Son of
God stood before him. He made a decision with eternal
consequences. He was a man of good intentions. He confessed
that he could not find fault in this Man. He knew He was innocent,
and he tried to free Him.
But he was a man of weak character. The same man that wanted to
release Him was the man who preferred to please people rather
than stand for truth, justice and innocence. He also feared for his
earthly position, putting it before his position before God. Pilate,
the man who sold out Jesus allowed His scourging and even His
crucifixion. He tried to escape the consequence of his decision by
publicly washing his hands of the matter. But once one has
neglected to make the decision for Christ one has made a choice
against Him by rejecting Him. This was the most important event of
his lifetime and he blew it badly.
The conclusion and the lesson for us is that one can come face to
face with the truth of the gospel, even having warm thoughts of
Jesus, and still be guilty of rejecting Him. There is no possibility of
escaping a decision. A non-decision is a decision against Him. We
stand up for Jesus or participate in His crucifixion. Many today
sacrifice integrity for political correctness, power and people
pleasing. The result has eternal consequences.
