“Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.” (John 18:28)
Sometimes people get so caught up in the details and the check lists that they miss the point. Religious people are the worst at this and the Scripture above is the epitome of this kind of attitude. The religious folks have spent the night drumming up false witnesses to condemn an innocent man because of their insecurities. They have already humiliated Him, beaten Him, and sentenced Him before they had gotten to the official palace. Now it is the edge of the morning.
As day breaks these “religious” people, who know the rules and regulations well, do not enter the palace because it would be unclean to do so. Can you imagine? The people who had just spent the night spitting on the Son of God and torturing an innocent man are now concerned with ceremonial purity. They wanted to be kept pure? I’m sorry, but I think that ship already sailed. The hypocrisy is sickening! How could someone live out a life of violence and hatred one moment and go to church on Sunday and be a “good” Christian? How low can a person stoop?
Maybe the question should be…how low can we stoop? How many of us find ourselves living in two different worlds? We love the church and want to live lives pleasing to God and yet, during the week we find ourselves violating the very principles that we committed ourselves to on Sunday. Sometimes we live contrary to the call of God in the name of doing “right” much like these Jews that fateful morning. What adds insult to injury is that they were concerned about being able to eat the Passover meal that night. Jesus was the very fulfillment of everything Passover represented and pointed to. He was the Passover Lamb! He was the one giving His life so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life. They were so focused on the arrow pointing to the Messiah that they missed the Messiah it was pointing to.
That is still the temptation before the church today. Getting so caught up in doing church that we stop being the church.
Friends, we should never read through these events leading to the cross without seeing ourselves in that crowd. It is you and I that are often hypocrites. It is you and I that get caught up in religious checks and balances and forget to love one another. Jesus died for those “religious” people who stood outside the palace in self righteous pride. He died for all of us who sometimes rely on our Sunday behavior to carry us through a week of living life the way we want.
Today, repent. Come before Him and humble yourself. Confess your sins and your inability to live the life God has set before you. Then, ask Him to fill you with His power and His presence. Now live this day in His name and for His glory.
Blessings.