Read Mark 15:6-15
Facts Don’t Matter.
As Jesus stood before Pilate and the crowds of people during his trial, it was custom during the festival for Pilate to let a prisoner go free. He would let the crowds of people choose. There was a man named Barabbas, a murderer and insurrectionist, and there was Jesus. Pilate asked the crowd who they wanted to release. However, the chief priests stirred up the crowd to demand he release Barabbas.
Pilate asked, “What shall I do with Jesus?” They responded, “Crucify Him!” When Pilate realized he could not change their minds, he released Barabbas, had Jesus flogged, and handed Jesus over to be crucified.
What blows me away is the religious leaders were swaying the crowd to hate Jesus so he would be killed / crucified. It shows me just how easy people can be swayed into sin and that facts don’t matter.
1. It didn’t matter that Jesus was a righteous man.
2. It didn’t matter that Jesus did Miracles after Miracles after Miracles out of love for people.
3. It didn’t matter that Jesus truly loved people.
4. It didn’t matter that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, The Chosen One.
5. It didn’t matter that he healed people.
6. It didn’t matter he preached salvation to people.
These facts didn’t matter. The crowd went with what everybody else was doing.
We know today that Jesus took our punishment upon himself. We know that Jesus shed his blood for us so we could have new life in him. We know that, and we know all the things mentioned above as well. But we still are willing to ignore all these facts so we can follow the demands of those around us.
I would love to see God raise up kids, teens, and adults who are willing to look at the facts of who Jesus is and pray for God’s vision for their lives even if it goes against our culture. I would love to see Christians come together, as a minority, and establish a new way of living. That facts do matter and because of what Jesus did for us, he is asking of us our whole lives committed to the cause of Christ, sharing it with others. I would love to see students praying together in school, confronting bullying, confronting disrespect to teachers, and encouraging the students who are struggling in school. I would love to see Christian students join together with a cause so that they are perceived as no longer the minority, but as the way to truly live one’s life.
Imagine adults standing in the power of God establishing a new way of living at their workplace. I took God’s challenge of standing up for Jesus at the Lumber Yard when no one else supported me. God’s Holy Spirit empowered me to stand up for Christ and used me to break down walls and share his light of Truth to a dark and hurting people.
Children, teens, and adults: I’m telling you, God wants to raise up people who care about the facts of Jesus and surrender their lives to the cause of Christ, and be used to impact the lives of others. Will you be one of them?
