Luke 23:1–12
Be Still: Jesus, thank you that you are with me and that you have made your home in me. You couldn’t be any closer. And yet, I want to know you more. I want to understand who you are and your love at a deeper level today. Amen
Read: Luke 23:1–12
'We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” So Pilate asked Jesus, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 'You have said so,' Jesus replied. Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, 'I find no basis for a charge against this man.' But they insisted: 'He stirs up the people..' (vv1–5)
Encounter: I love two phrases in this passage: first, the assembly blaming Jesus for ‘subverting our nation'; second, their accusation 'he stirs up the people all over Judea.' The people trying to get Jesus killed were hacked off that he was reordering their world. But Jesus’ tendency to reorder things isn’t limited to a particular time and place. He’s been doing it again and again for the last two thousand years.
If you’re unsure why the people are so upset, try reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Jesus’ teaching stirs us and confronts us because it’s often uncomfortable — not because Jesus is being unnecessarily provocative, but because he wants to reorder us from the inside-out. He wants to reshape us into the God-reflecting people we were intended to be.
It's all too easy when Jesus’ teaching begins pressing on certain areas of our lives, to withdraw, or get cross or try arguing our way out of it. But Jesus wants our freedom even more than we do. He wants our wholeness and healing even more than we do. And the way to freedom, wholeness and healing is to follow Jesus. Easier said than done, right?
Apply: Where am I being resistant to Jesus’ teaching at the moment? Take a moment to invite the Lord to show you an area of your life where you are resisting his reordering work.
Devote: Lord, help me, by your Holy Spirit, to welcome you into that area of my life where I'm resisting you. Thank you, Lord, that I don’t need to grit my teeth and try harder to follow you because you give us your Spirit – the One who empowers us and equips us to follow you and live our lives for you. Lord, fill me again today.