Accusations

Scripture: Matthew 27:11-14 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

11 Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him. Jesus replied, “You have said it.” 12 But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. 13 “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. 14 But Jesus made no response to any of the charges, much to the governor’s surprise. (Matthew 27:11–14 NLT)

Jesus didn’t respond to the accusations the leading priests and elders were making against him. Jesus knew the accusations were lies. The priests and elders knew the accusations were lies. Pilate knew the accusations were lies. And Jesus remained silent—he didn’t play their game.

Here’s a big lesson for me. It’s so hard not to confront lies! It’s hard not to correct error. It’s hard not to defend ourselves when we’re accused. It’s hard not to go on the attack against our accusers. It’s hard not to win the argument. Those things are hard because we want to defend ourselves. We want to stand up for our rights. We want to win the argument. We want to put our accusers or detractors “in their place.”  Jesus wanted to do all those things, too. But Jesus was strong in faith, his character was solid, he had a purpose bigger than defending himself, being right, putting his accusers in their place, winning the argument. 

Friends, we’ve got a bigger purpose than being right, winning the argument, and defending ourselves! We’re Kingdom Ambassadors in real time, right where we are! We don’t have to be sucked into the fray of accusations and slander and character assassination and bitterness. We’re here to love God with all our hearts and to love others as we love ourselves. We’re here to speak the truth, not argue with the lies. We’re here to love others, not win arguments. We’re here to make intercession, not accusations. By God’s grace, we can honorably represent our Master!

Prayer:

Father, Please help us to stay above the fray! May we care more about loving than about winning the argument. May we be more concerned with serving others than demanding our rights. May we care more about justice than “just us!” May we be more like Jesus!