Devotion - Tuesday, February 9

John 18 contains the story of Jesus' arrest and his being condemned to die by Pilate.  Caiaphas (the high priest) and the other religious leaders have themselves condemned Jesus to die; now they take him to Pilate for Pilate's pronunciation of the death penalty.  They are taking Jesus to Pilate so that he can be killed.

Verse 28 notes "They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover."  The irony of this confounds me.  You won't enter the headquarters of the government builidng because that will make you un-clean; but you can bring another person there in order to demand their death.

It is easy to identify and critique the absurd behaviors of others.  Surely, we commit such odd actions ourselves.  But the absurdity of the events in John 18:28 astound me.  You can remain un-defiled by avoiding entering the praetorium; but you can be outside the praetorium in order to insist on the death of another person.

What are the odd behaviors and practices we (both you and I) have embraced without reflection?  What are the gnats we have strained from our soup while swallowing a whole camel?  

The group of us meeting on Monday mornings are studying the 10 Commandments.  We are being reminded of the instruction for positive living contained in those 10 words.  God is as concerned with the good and positive we do as God is worried about the evil we may perpetuate.  

Tomorrow we begin the season of Lent.  It is the perfect time to go searching for the odd practices we have taken up, perhaps at the expense of things are might of greater importance.  Do we (in a figurative way) avoid entering the praetorium, while insisting on the murder of another?