THEIR VOICES PREVAILED!

THEIR VOICES PREVAILED!

Luke 23:20-23

20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.

21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.

23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

           The religious leaders could stomach no more of Jesus! They knew that the Romans cared noting for Jewish law so they presented a political indictment against Jesus with three charges: he perverted the nation, he refused to pay the poll tax, and he claimed to be a king.

           Pilate privately interrogated Jesus and determined he had committed no crime. This began a period of bargaining with the Jews and the volume of their voices elevated. Pilate decided to pass Jesus to another jurisdiction and sent him unto Herod but even Herod found Jesus to be harmless and returned him to Pilate.

           Jesus had been exonerated by two courts and yet the voices of the religious rose to a furious height. The exasperated Pilate finally succumbed to the voices!

           Be careful of those things about which you are passionate. Use great caution when your position grows weak and must be bolstered by loud voices. You may discover you are on the wrong side of the argument.

James 3:16-17

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Dear Lord, when my passion causes me to shout let me give careful study to the strength of my position. I would rather be quietly right than loudly wrong. AMEN