Guilty of What

TITLE: Guilty of What
DATE:  November 10 2019

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

TEXT :Luke 23: 1-3 – ESV - Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” 3 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Nothing in life is certain...other than death and taxes.

Well,  that’s not completely correct. To that short list you probably could add...”and if there is a need, somebody will do something, build something, invent something , to take care of that need.”

One of the best examples I have ever seen of that truth is the “Disposable Guilt Bag."

No, really, the Disposable Guilt Bag is a real product. They appeared on the store shelves a number of years ago. The Disposable Guilt Bag was nothing more than a paper bag on which these instructions had been printed:

Place the bag securely over your mouth,
Take a deep breath and blow all your guilt out,
Then dispose of the bag immediately."

Silly? Of course it is silly.

Even so, thousands of kits sold at $2.50. Which means the bag’s inventors may have understood that many people have need for such a bag. Or maybe he just understood all of us are guilty of having done something wrong. 

Except Jesus. Oh, it’s true. Jesus was guilty of having done many things. For example:

He was guilty of loving us. He was guilty of loving us enough to die.

He was guilty of trying to save our souls from damnation.

But Jesus was not guilty of the accusations against Him made by the Devil whom Scripture calls ‘the Father of Lies’. For example, He was guilty of offering Himself to win our forgiveness and salvation, but He most certainly was innocent of the things for which He was charged in the trial before Pilate.

There was no time he had encouraged the withholding of taxes to Rome.

Jesus never tried to raise an army to overthrow Roman oppression.

Why would He do such a thing?

His kingdom was not of this world. It never had been shaped on earth. No, His loyalty was to His Father and the mission of love which would reconcile God and man. Yes, Jesus might have been guilty of many things, but not the charges brought against Him.

Just for the record, Jesus has warned us that His followers will also be found guilty. Yes, they will be found guilty because they are sinners. But they are sinners who will be be forgiven by Jesus' blood, and not by blowing into a paper bag.

Yes we will be found guilty... but hopefully we will never be found guilt of not living our life I n thanksgiving to the Savior.

THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for standing there when they made false charges against You. May I always be found 'guilty' of being Your child and doing that which glorifies You. This I ask in Your Name. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html