A new one...A perceptive but people pleasing Pilate in some pickles...Matthew 27:11-26

Below is the new addition to our family.  He is number 11 of the grands.  Stephanie had the pleasure of helping with family life when this little one came along.  When you get to a certain age, you start adding years ahead to calculate what you will be when he is....  It is such a joy to watch not only our grands grow up but also to witness the developments of families from our family.  We were 6 and now we are 21!  But this blog is primarily about another one that Jesus interacts with on the way to the cross.

Pilate is quite the character in the cross narrative to study.  You sense the tension he is under but he keeps taking advice and acting upon the information from the wrong people.  He is in many pickles with this situation.

One pickle is with the Sanhedrin who want him to do their bidding just because they say so.  He knows their motive of envy and struggles with the charges they bring until they finally say that Jesus said He was God.

Another pickle is with his boss, the Caesar.  His main job is to keep the peace so a riot on the streets of Jerusalem during a festival time would not look good.  

Another pickle is with the populace of Jerusalem and beyond.  The city has swelled from 600,000 to over 2 million during the Passover and they are crying out "Crucify Him" at the moment.  They are on the brink of a riot if he doesn't do their bidding.  Word could get back to his boss Caesar if he doesn't make the right move.

Another pickle is the information he gets from his wife while he is investigating this case.  She called Jesus a "just man" and has had dreams about this situation and advises him to wash his hands of this case in which he has been trying to.  He has declared Jesus not worthy of the death penalty.  He has handed Him off to King Herod but that was a "bad penny" returned.  He gave the option to the people to pick Jesus over the notorious Barabbas and they picked the bad guy.   He was trying....

The last pickle is probably within himself because of his conversations with Jesus.  He marvels at His silence in the face of false accusations.  He listens to His answers about His kingdom and also the gospel of why Jesus came.  He asserts his authority only to be shut down by Jesus saying that his authority is only possible because of a higher one.  He is conflicted with his own thoughts on this matter.

But in the end Pilate goes with the people's cry.  He washes his hands of the matter but gives the order for Jesus to be crucified.  Later, he will stand against the Sanhedrin when they object to what he had written to be put above Jesus' head on the cross, but that is after the fact.  Pilate had all these signs but still chose the one that would benefit him physically but not spiritually.  It would be a temporal fix for him but not an eternal one.

How many signs has God given you?  Who are you listening to?  Are we like Pilate at times in a pickle and the solution is right in front of us but we still search for another way?  

Adam