When Jesus got Cancelled
I was reading in Luke today and I am near the end of the book so I was reading about the judgement of Jesus. This is after He had been taken off to the temple to be judged by the priests and the Pharisees. And in the part of the story I wanted to talk about today, He is now at the feet of Pilate being judged by him. Let’s look into some verses and see what we can learn.
Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”
Luke 23:13-16 NASB1995
So after Jesus had been questioned by both Pilate and Herod, Pilate comes before the people and pronounces that Jesus is not guilty of anything deserving of death. And because of that reason, Pilate tells the people that he is going to punish Jesus and then release Him. But this is what the people say back to him.
But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!”
Luke 23:18 NASB1995
Now, after hearing this verdict, the people become angry. They then begin to call out to Pilate that instead of Jesus being released, they would rather have a known murderer rather than the man that had performed miracles for them.
Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.
Luke 23:20-24 NASB1995
After the crowd began to get louder and louder, Pilate felt that pressure and caved into their demands. So because a crowd wanted blood, an innocent man was setup to be crucifed. While reading this, I saw the similarities between this story and part of our culture today. And what part of culture am I talking about? Cancel Culture. Most everyone knows about it by now but it has to do with a public outcry that ends up destroying someone’s lively hood. But Jesus faced the same thing. He faced the crowds as they called for His crucifixtion, though He was an innocent man. Now I am not here to say that everyone that has been ‘cancelled’ has been innocent. But I am here to say that ‘cancelling’ someone is wrong. This is because it creates a precedent for mob justice. I am saying this because if we as Christians are not careful, it will be used against us. If we as Christians are to live as Christ, then we too will be innocent as He is. So how can the world condemn us? Through mob justice. You can already see it today. If a public figure calls out the immorality of abortion, they get cancelled. If they talk about same-sex marriage or transgender issues in a negative light, they are cancelled. Though the law wouldn’t condemn you, twitter will. We need to stand up for our rights in this time and not bend the knee to the mob. Though it may not be up to us. There will always be weak men and women that try to appease the crowd by fulfilling their demands. And if you stand up for Jesus and the Word of God, you too may be cancelled like Jesus.
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