Shouting Match
In case you haven’t noticed lately, this old world has become one giant shouting match. The “Left” shouts at the “Right” and the “Right” shouts back at the “Left”…and NO ONE is listening to the other! If one is looking for justice it is certainly not served in such an arena. With all the noise being produced, whatever “righteous cause” has been presented has been drowned out and lost. And, neither side can claim any wisdom in such an environment, for wisdom is not bred in such confusion.
Turn your attention to a scene that played out almost 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. Jesus was delivered to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, to be found guilty of sedition. Although the Jews wanted Him executed because they believed that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy, they knew that Rome didn’t care about their religious beliefs or turmoil. Because of that, they charged Him with sedition, which they knew Rome would likely pay attention to: “misleading our nation,” “forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar,” “claiming to be Christ, a king.” (all references found in Luke 23).
Pilate had thoroughly questioned Jesus and found none of the charges brought against Him to be true. He tried to placate the crowd, but it soon became painfully obvious that wouldn’t settle things down. Luke 23:23 records what happened next, “But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed."
To whom do we listen? Which voices in our life prevail? Do we listen to the one who shouts the loudest? Are we swayed from our beliefs because someone is yelling in our ear? In these chaotic times we must be careful and make sure that our faith is rooted in Christ. HE is our rock, our solid foundation! We must also be cautious in how we present Him to others.
We have no need to shout someone else down. We certainly must stand our ground against the evil that is so pervasive and against error and false teaching that has crept into the church, but the Gospel does not need a bullhorn. The Gospel of Jesus just needs to be lovingly shared with a hurting world — a world that is shouting for attention.
