Pointing the Finger

Luke 22:52–53

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as though I were a rebel? 

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness!”

Luke 23:18–25

Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” 

But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

A finger points. Charges are spoken.
A cross is commissioned.
Some violence is loud. Some is orderly.                        
Some is written into systems.
Some is simply “the way things are.”
The chief priests insist. Pilate hesitates.
The crowd shifts. And a cross is built.

Reflect

•       Where do I feel powerless in the face of larger forces?
•       Where do I quietly benefit from what I did not create?
•       Where do I look away because the cost of seeing feels too high?

Not all are called to the same work.
Not all are called to visible action.
But all are called to let faith shape more than Sunday morning.
If discomfort rises —if there is something you wish were different in yourself —let the stone absorb that too.
You do not need to fix it now.

Simply be honest. Breathe. Then move on.