Based on John 18:28-40 (King James Version)
“Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this Man?’ They answered and said to him, ‘If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.’ Then Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and judge Him according to your law.’ Therefore the Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,’ that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ Then they all cried again, saying, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.”
Have you ever heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it?” There may be many of you that may want that to be true. But in reality, is it a good thing to get what we want? Let’s see through this passage the different characters and if it is true that we do get what we want.
The first one we see is Caiaphas. Caiaphas not only envied the Lord because of the miracles He performed and because the people marveled with His teachings, but through that envy and anger, he was the one that also planned the death of Jesus (although we are all responsible for the death of the Lord, if we desire for His sacrifice to wash away our sins). Caiaphas did not want to lose his importance, his fame, the admiration of the people, and well, maybe even other things that he would get as a result of his position. Nonetheless, Caiaphas got what he wanted: to take the Lord out of his way and remain as the spiritual leader of the Jewish people. And what did he gain? Well, he kept his position with the fame that brings, and everything he wanted on this earth. But I ask myself, where is Caiaphas now? It is very possible that he is in a place where he never imagined he would be, in hell’s eternal flames.
The second one we see is Pilate. Even though he tried not to condemn the Lord to death, he didn’t do what he could have done. He represented Rome’s authority. The Jews could not command him, nor did they exercise any authority over him. But, the real issue Pilate was trying to avoid was the danger of a revolt. He was trying to maintain the peace of the province he governed. He didn’t want any big problems. And despite him washing his hands of the blood of the Lord, God was not really going to let that pass. He carried the guilt of the Lord’s death because freeing him was within his grasp. So then, what did Pilate gain? Yes, things calmed down. He was able to please the Jewish leaders. And he maybe even scored some points with the people by freeing Barabbas. But, where is he now? He may quite possibly be keeping Caiaphas company, regretting deeply his cowardly action.
And what about the people that shouted to have Barabbas freed, and Barabbas himself? Did they gain anything by having Barabbas freed? Was Barabbas able to do anything for them? History does not tell us that they were able to free themselves from the Romans, neither through Barabbas, nor through anyone else in that era. They didn’t gain anything. And even more so, if there was no kind of repentance for their actions, after the way they betrayed the Lord (because I am quite sure that many of them saw the Lord’s miracles, and that many of them received good things from Jesus, and maybe even experienced miracles in their own lives, done by the Messiah Himself); I am very certain that they are not doing so well right now either. Nothing good came out of getting what they wanted, because they received exactly what they desired; nothing more, nothing less.
The Bible teaches us that if we ask, if we seek, or if we knock, sooner or later, we will receive, for it is written: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8. It also teaches us that we will give an account for everything we say, for it is also written: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:35-37. And finally, the Bible teaches us that the Lord searches even deeper than the words we say, for it is written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10.
So then, if all of this is true (which of course it is because it’s the Word of God, and it is fulfilled in every kind of way), we have to try to understand what we truly desire, within our hearts; and we have to think and meditate on where our desires will take us. We have seen clearly that if we only desire what is earthly, we will only gain earthly things, and if we desire what is spiritual, then we will sow spiritual things, but everything has its own set of natural consequences. I’m not going to lie to you. If we desire what is spiritual, it is more than possible that we will have much difficulty here on earth, because what is spiritual is cultivated in a different way, as we see in the Lord’s example. The Lord went through great horror, and unjustly, because He paid for wrongs He didn’t commit. Nonetheless, even though He was the Eternal God, by going through and doing everything He did, He sowed even more incredible things where He attained greater glories and was also able to give the gift of eternal life to all mankind. But, if He wouldn’t have died for us, none of those possibilities would exist today. So then, what do you mostly desire within the depths of your heart? Because you may get exactly what you desire; nothing more, and nothing less. Lord bless! John