The world chooses the wrong man

John 18:38-40

38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

At the conclusion of Jesus’ interrogation by Pilate, Pilate seems to admit he could not “deal in truth”. In that day’s political climate, people were more concerned with getting their way than they were with complying with truth. Truth did not appear to be as important as what the mob wanted. Does this sound familiar? Wow!

Pilate then speaks the truth when he says, “I find no guilt in [Jesus].” He gave the crowd the chance to choose Jesus. He gave them a chance to have their miracle worker back. The crowd instead chose an obvious thief rather than Jesus. Friend, the crowd very often chooses the wrong man. We’ve seen this over and over for thousands of years.

Pray for truth to be more important than any person’s agenda in the lives of people who claim to follow Jesus. Pray for this idea to catch on with others even outside the church, but especially in the church.