Easter's Over, Now What?

    There is so much hype for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, but what’s next? I wanted to take a different perspective this Easter and look at Pilate’s Good Friday all those years ago. When I did, a question stood out to me. Join me as I walk through that day and maybe it will help us decide…NOW WHAT?

    It’s early Friday morning and the Sanhedrin, who had just tried Jesus, presented him to Pilate. A little background here, Pilate was not well-liked by the Jews or his fellow Roman superiors. Herod and Ceaser both disliked him, so for him to be faced with making a decision on Jesus’ innocence put him in an awkward situation. The odds of him making someone unhappy were highly likely.

    Upon hearing the accusations from the elders of the Sanhedrin, Pilate declared Jesus was innocent and sent him to Herod hoping that Herod would take the sentencing of this innocent man into his hands and Pilate wouldn’t have to worry about upsetting the Jews, Herod, or Ceasar. Herod agreed with Pilate’s declaration and sent Jesus back to Pilate for him to make a final decision in this obvious religious spitefulness. 

    Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and to clear his conscience of condemning an innocent man he offered to have Jesus flogged and then release him. The leaders of the Jews would have nothing to do with that and wanted him dead. Pilate went back to interrogate Jesus and he did not deny that he was King of the Jews, nor did he deny that he was the Son of God. I’m sure this unnerved Pilate, and then Pilate’s wife told him to have nothing to do with the death of Jesus because of a dream she had. This probably rattled him a bit, and at this point, Pilate felt defeated, but he still had a decision to make. He could release Jesus and cause a riot, which would further the dislike of him by Caesar, or he could grant the Jews their demand for justice and crucify him. Pilate, thinking the Jews would surely free Jesus over a murderer, offered to release Jesus, but the elders stirred up the crowd and they all yelled, “Crucify HIM!”. Washing his hands in front of the crowd, indicating he had nothing to do with the innocent man's blood Pilate released the murderer, Barabas, and ordered Jesus to be crucified.

     As these events played out, I’m sure Pilate was dealing with internal conflicts. He had to decide which group he wanted to please. He knew Jesus was innocent, but did he choose Jesus’ life or his own safety/comfort? 

    Can you imagine what he was thinking Sunday when the word got out that Jesus was not in the tomb, and he was in fact ALIVE? 

Pilate probably thought…Now what? 

    During Pilate’s last interrogation of Jesus, he asked Jesus a very important question. A question that often gets overlooked, but is important for us to know the answer to. The answer to that question is what separates Christian beliefs from the rest of the world. 

The question: “What is truth?”

The answer: The Bible

    As we come down from the exhilaration of Jesus’ victory over the grave we must seek the truth daily. By seeking the truth daily, the excitement from this weekend can last. We will not only have the excitement of the resurrection, but we will also have the JOY of the Lord stored in our hearts. We can be like Pilate and make the decision to please the leaders, stay in our comfort zones, and not cause a riot or we can live like JESUS and start a revolution.

John 18:28-19:16