This Man They Call Jesus

"He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrender Jesus to their will." Luke 23:25

I've never seen this before...I love seeing nuggets in God's Word that are new "to me." The concept behind this statement is completely relevant to me and you today!

"He released the man", the man who Pilate released was Barabbas and he was completely guilty according to the Roman law. But...the custom was to release one prisoner and the crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus. Pilate had nothing he could do but appease the people and have Jesus crucified.

Jesus was perfection, a healer, a messenger of hope...but the people of his day wouldn't hear it. Instead, it was their preference to follow their own plans for life...if they were to follow their own plans they would first have to do something with Jesus.

So...they "surrender Jesus to their will"...their will to go on with life without him.

Jesus gets in the way of many of OUR plans, hopes, and dreams. His message of perfection, healing, and hope requires us to surrender our plans for his. We have two options with this man they call Jesus...

 

We can surrender to His will...as He asks us to

We can surrender Him to our will...as they did in His day

 

What will you do with this man they call Jesus?

 

His Final Moments

While studying for messages for the month of April I'm catching onto a theme.  Here goes my attempt to explain what I'm seeing.

In Jesus' final moments of life on the cross He makes a few statements that are more than well known...

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."  Luke 23:34

"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."  Luke 23:43 

Either one of those ring a bell?  Well they are to say the least, among the greatest final words of any person (maybe not final words...but definitely among the group of what He spoke last).
There is a common theme that goes with these two statements that I had never seen. 

Jesus sees corruption through my unbelief not my actions

(large print for emphasis!)

Corruption of action is a given., we must all realize that we are sinners (Romans 3:10, 23).    Across the board, the whole world is hopeless unless God has steps in. Realizing the need for forgiveness, we approach Jesus with relevance to our life.  Now we can move on...

Jesus sought forgiveness for those who put Him on the cross because they had no comprehension of who He was or what was going on.  If they could believe they would have hope!  Then you see the two criminals on either side of Jesus and realize that though both were admittedly guilty of crimes, it is the unbelief of the mocker that sentenced him to eternal death...it was the belief of the pleading criminal that gave him a ticket to paradise!

One more example from Scripture...

"To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted."  Titus 1:15

Unbelief = Corruption in the eyes of Jesus.  Unbelief will distort what is in our minds and consciences.  Belief that Jesus is who He says and did what He claims...purifies all.

In His final moments, Jesus reinforced what those in His day and throughout all history have struggles to grasp...Salvation "is by grace...through faith...not from yourselves."