Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

It’s frosty this morning…and clear. Becki and I did our walk/jog excursion. Thano has gone to a work shift at Safeway. I’ve already checked out some truck graphics on a rig in Colton. And my fingers are still kind of cold and not doing very well trying to operate this keyboard.

I’ve already formulated a big list…and I’d better keep moving. You probably should too. Let’s move well…being moved by what moves the hand and heart of our Lord.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Pilate is forced to examine Jesus for himself. (And everyone is, you know.) So he puts to Jesus a question that seems appropriate to him at the time, with an attitude of arrogance, assuming that Jesus is just another “crackpot.” “Are you the king of the Jews?” I believe Jesus’ answer is highly significant. “’Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’” In other words, “Are you thinking for yourself, Pilate, or are you just a puppet in the control of those around you?” The big implication here, as I see it, is that God expects you to make independent use of your gift of human intelligence—and not permit it to be under the control and supervision of popular opinion. Let me venture a bit further and add something else I believe—without being absolute or overly dogmatic about it. It seems we can always come up with unique situations and exceptions. But here is a general conclusion that I draw: THE PROPER USE OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE WILL LEAD A PERSON, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, TO THE GOD OF THE BIBLE.

The angry Jewish mob is a great example of the improper use of human intelligence. Their brain waves are so goofed up and congested with anger and bias that they can’t come close to thinking straight. Notice the irony as revealed in this brief window of the account. “By now it was early morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover” (8:28). Did you catch that? While being bound by their religious ceremony and formalism surrounding the Passover, they reject THE PASSOVER right in front of them!—and refuse to enter the palace for fear of defilement. Good grief! Irony of ironies! But THE PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD is ushered right into the palace to meet with Pilate.

Nor was Pilate using his head properly. It says, “From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.’ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out…”—and you know how it goes. Notice how easily Pilate was manipulated and controlled by the crowd’s bias and rhetoric. He was definitely not functioning as a free moral agent—he was a bound immoral agent.

May I suggest that you use your own HEART AFTER GOD (Spirit-inspired human intelligence) to seek out for yourself some devotional nutrition from this portion of the Word. And remember the words of Jesus to Pilate when He declared, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (18:37).