To Be a Faithful Follower

Scripture – Mark 15:1-5: ¹Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. ²“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. ³The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” ⁵But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Reflection: Two things stand out to me here. First, the Jewish leaders reached a decision to hand Jesus over to Pilate. I can only wonder what went into that discussion. Sometimes in doing church business it’s easy to lose sight of God’s presence and begin following so-called “common sense.” It looks like these leaders had a problem that needed to be solved. So their solution was to turn to the secular, civil law of their day, thereby avoiding direct responsibility themselves.

The second thing of note is the silence of Jesus. He made no move to defend Himself. He embraced this path as the fulfillment of God’s will for His life. That’s hard to accept. Sometimes God leads me down unpleasant and painful roads. It takes great faith to follow Him there.

Guide me today, Lord Jesus. Keep my eyes on you. Give me what I need to follow faithfully wherever you go this day.