by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director
The crowds gather as they had many times before. A personality is in town and folks seek him out. He appeared a short time before, but then it was different; then he was greeted with praise. Now he stands before a political leader, beaten and scorned, but innocent. The leader acknowledges his innocence and finds no fault in the man worthy of death. Even the governor’s wife is convinced of the goodness of this now bloody, falsely accused man.
But governors are influenced by people and are often more concerned with expedient peace and maintaining power, than true leadership. As a result, the governor offers the people a choice between a good man and a guilty man filled with evil. He hoped people would make the reasonable, rational choice and free the good man and convict the evil man, but they did not. Fueled by convincing but false rhetoric from opposing forces, the mob chooses to defy logic and reason. They seek to kill the good man and free the evil man.
The good man is taken and killed in the cruelest of fashion as the crowd mocked and watched him slowly die.
The mob was shortsighted. The governor was misguided. The opposition leaders were blinded to the truth, but wrong was declared right: An innocent man died and a guilty man was set free.
Truth was abandoned. Reason was surrendered. Even common sense and logic were dismissed as the momentum built toward an orchestrated end. Wrong was declared right and the people rejoiced, but not all of them. A small group of people believed in truth and the goodness of the man. They wondered what would happen next? How would life be different? How would they move forward? What would become of their movement? Would they survive?
They could not imagine what was in store for them. They were certain life as they knew it was over. Their dreams defeated; their lives forever altered.
Man might declare wrong to be right, but God always has a greater good to disclose – a good that would eclipse and redeem the wrong.
God did what only God could do: He raised not just a good man, but the God-man from the dead never to die again and the world would never be the same. Love did win, but not the love contrived by men. It was love grounded in Truth, real Truth, who had been at work since the beginning of time – a redeeming love that covered even the wrong declared right by people past, present, and future.
The Gospel is the story of wrong declared right. It is the Truth who covers all wrongs to declare those who would believe, right with God. Today that same Gospel is at work taking our broken and selfish lives and transforming them to beautifully declare the glories and the majesties of God. It won’t make sense to everyone, not even to most, but for those who have ears to hear…
Be encouraged. The Gospel has not changed. Christ has not changed. Truth will triumph. Redemption has and will come. Transforming love will win. The people of God will be gathered for the greatest marriage celebration: The Lamb and His bride.
In the meantime we will continue to declare Jesus and Him crucified, the hope of the world. We will continue to share the transformational power only found in Jesus. We will stand and we will continue to love with real love – love that returns good for evil, rejoices in difficulties, and lays down his life for others so they may find hope in the One who was incredibly wronged so we might be made right forever.