Sunday, April 9, 2017

Personal Daily Study

VILLAINS

"Oh, is He a Galilean?" Pilate asked. When they said that He was, Pilate sent Him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod's jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time." Luke 23:6-7

What do you do when you face a hard decision? It may be one at work that will impact the lives of your coworkers. It could be a decision to stand up to let a principle know exactly what is going on in their school. It could be that you know in your heart that God wants you to make a move somewhere new, but you are too scared to step out in faith. In all of our lives, we will face hard decisions, and we have to choose to lean in, pray, and then to take the step that God leads us to make.

One of the true marks of a villain is that they always look for the easy way out. When given the opportunity to make the hard decision they will easily pass that one off to someone else. This is how we first meet the villain Pontius Pilate. Pilate was a harsh man. He ruled over the Jewish people for ten years, which is impressive because the average governor only lasted about three years. Ancient historians Josephus and Philo described him as stubborn, inflexible, and cruel with no respect for the Jewish people. Pilate didn't want to be bothered with Jesus Christ, so when he hears that He is from the region of Galilee, he happily passes Him on to Herod. 

Pilate runs away from making this hard decision and, instead, hands Him over to Herod. Herod Antipas was just as villainous as Pilate. We know that he came from a long line of tyrants that were threatened by Jesus. Herod calls Jesus in hoping He will do a miracle or that He would speak like John the Baptist did, and in this instance, Jesus would not even honor Herod by speaking. He remains silent before Herod. Herod and the Jewish government officials mock Jesus and send Him back to Pilate. The twisted part of this whole story is that somehow through Pilate's honoring Herod by sending Jesus to him they become villain friends.

A villain always has a hard time making difficult decisions because they are consumed with what might happen if they make the wrong decision. To a villain, this world is all they have in this life. They have no God to trust in. They are doing life on their own.

The good news is as followers of Jesus is that God helps us when we make difficult decisions. We don't make hard choices alone; He walks with us and guides us. Where a villain does life alone, we have access to a God who loves us, cares for us, and helps us as we follow Him.

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