Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for
the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious
prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom
do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides,
while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have
nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him
today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to
ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of
the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate
said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all
said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But
they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”(Matthew 27:14-23)
Since that time, I have been amazed at how these three dimensions of life have worked together. I have seen positive things happen when people want freedom from self-protection so they can know and do the will of God with freedom in Jesus Christ their Lord. And I have seen what I was warned about where more people in churches are committed to self-protection than to knowing and doing the will of God and would prefer NOT having freedom in Christ to walk in the “obedience of faith”.
And today I stood
at the Scripture above absolutely gobsmacked (overwhelmed with wonder,
surprise, or shock: astounded ~ Miram Webster) that I was experiencing all three of those
ministries coming together like a blessing of God’s healing grace.
First, it was the
realization that I was witnessing people living out of “self-protection” in Jesus’
day exactly as I have experienced it in my lifetime. But I was also feeling the
“knowing and doing the will of God” part of meditating on Scripture because I
could see how God was leading me to meet him in what David called my “secret
heart” and experience him in a real and personal way. And I could see how this was
a freedom-experience because my tears told me that God was freeing me from
things people had done to me by showing me my Savior going through the same
things.
For a very long
time, I have attached to Jesus as what Isaiah called, “a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief”. I would never suggest I know this like he did, but
those words describe so many things I have gone through, and I have often found
comfort that this is the way God wanted us to think of his Son before he ever
came as our Messiah.
But today is the
first time I saw Jesus living out such a familiar scene in my life in his mock
trial. I have known he was my substitute for ages. And my recent journey
through a book of false teachings has made this front-and-center for me as the
author has tried to prove Jesus was not my substitute who propitiated God’s
wrath against my sin. But I have never seen it in this particular passage that Jesus
was going through things that so many of us could say, “I’ve been treated like
that!”
It is Sunday
morning, and I have time before home church to go for a prayer drive on a
lonely backroad. I am blessed beyond words to have this in my heart, and to
know it was and is my heavenly Father’s special gift of grace for me today.
So, self-protection
be gone! Experiencing God, here I come! Father, lead me to freedom in Christ
more than I have ever known it, I pray in Jesus’ name!
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
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