145. Thursday after Third Sunday in Lent.
Clothe us, Lord, in thy righteousness and purity. Amen.
Matthew 27, 23-25. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
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“Let him be crucified.” This was the cry in answer to the question of the governor demanding to know what evil Jesus had done. He has done no evil; but “let him be crucified.” This was the sole argument; and it became the sentence. Before God, who has made the Sinless One to be sin for us, the judgment was as just, as it was outrageously unjust on the part of the mob and its leaders and on the part of Pilate. It was necessary that he be without sin, in order that he might atone for our sin; and as one without sin he was to be condemned to death, that we might believe in him. At the very time of his death his innocence was fairly to dazzle the eyes of angels and devils and men in order that we, who are guilty, may have courage in the midst of death, that the evil spirits may get themselves behind us, and that the angels may serve us. The testimony to his innocence is, therefore, unanimous. Caiaphas and the council can lay nothing to his charge save that he is the Son of God. Pilate declares again and again: “I find no fault in this man.” The wife of Pilate calls Jesus a just man; and the mob have no argument against him save the cry: “Crucify him!”
Pilate washes his hands. We, however, will confess: I am guilty of the blood of this just man. Then shall this blood cleanse our heart. It is a terrible thing to see Pilate in the act of washing his hands, while at the same time he confesses that he is shedding innocent blood: but it is more terrible still to hear the people of Israel cry: “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Let all unjust judges and false witnesses take warning, and ponder the fate of Pilate and the Jews. Yet the people seemed to have no doubt as to the guilt of Jesus. The deceitfulness of the human heart is something terrible; and popular opinion may be a dreadful thing. Thus the devil deceives us when we seek our glory in that which is of the earth. These persons who now ask that his blood may be on them, are the ones who but five days ago hailed him with loud Hosannas. For such as these the Lord is willing to lay down his life! I know not what cries out most loudly, the injustice of Pilate, or the rage of the priests, or the shouts of the rabble, or the love of Christ. Yes, after all, I do know; and so do you who read this.
Thy righteousness and love, my Jesus, are high as the heavens and deep as the pit, and have power to do away with all our sins. Help us by thy Holy Spirit to know this, to believe it, to give thee thanks, and to live of thy grace. Amen.
Still let thy love point out my way;
What wondrous things thy love hath wrought!
Direct my word, inspire my thought;
And if I fall, soon may I hear
Thy voice, and know that love is near.