Daily Devotional July 31 - Truth

"Then saith Pilate unto Him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivereth me unto thee hath the greater sin." John 19:10-11

The men and women in power (government leadership) have a special duty to uphold the laws and to protect the people against those who would mistreat them or wrongfully use them and this is a great responsibility given to them by God. But that doesn't mean that they will provide justice,nor does it mean that they will make wise decisions. You can be given a great responsibility by God and misuse it or mishandle it. God instituted the position of leadership but mankind wields it. The case is here that Pilate made a wrong decision, but those who brought Jesus to trial had the greater sin, because they deceived Pilate.

I wish that our politicians today would ask themselves how they got to where they are at and bowed the knee to God for such a high and important responsibility. The same thing is happening today, special groups are soliciting for judgement to benefit their cause and at the peril of someone else. It seems like there is always someone behind the scenes pulling the strings to the marionette politicians. I also acknowledge that many politicians and those in powerful positions love the Lord and follow their conscience and make wise decisions.

Jesus was in no way letting Pilate off the hook for his crime of arrogance, ignorance and blatant disregard for the life of a Jew. He was simply pointing out that those who brought him there were more responsible than Pilate because they brought Jesus under false pretense. I think this is a good lesson for us as well. We must be careful to gather the facts before we throw someone under the bus. It is a greater sin to falsely accuse someone than for the judge to sentence them for something that they did not do.