As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”. But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for charge against him. John 19:6
We have all been accused of things that we haven’t done. Whether it was someone in our family, a friend or someone we don’t know. Jesus was the prime example for being punished (to the death) of a crime that He never committed. He knew that it the whole purpose of His life, to die for our sins. He was made captive, so that we could be free. He was killed, so that we could live. He was tortured, so that we could be healed. If anyone could relate to being accused of no crime, it was Jesus. I certainly have been accused of things on many occasions and have been hurt, sometimes by the people closest to me. I am guilty of wallowing in self-pity when that happens and sometimes it creates me being unproductive in that day because I just get stuck in my mind. But Jesus, He was betrayed by people who were really close to Him and accused of things He didn’t do or say, He remained focused on His Father and mission. He didn’t stray, or stop His calling, He kept going.
I love that we have the perfect model to follow. Jesus did not have a selfish bone in His body, He never thought about Himself, only His Father. Yet, He was human and endured the same temptations that we go through. Can you imagine if He wallowed in any self-pity or strayed from His calling because of a hurt or wound? The entire gospel would not exist and we would live hopeless with no purpose to life and just die in our sins.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2
This is one of my favorite scriptures because it is both challenging and in it there is so much freedom in these words when we obey them. Being a mom, when one of my kids says something hurtful, or a family member, or even a Christian friend, sometimes I don’t right away forgive and forget. Satan keeps me bound in hurt, when we were never supposed to live that way. If they choose to see it or not, it’s not our job. Our job is to forgive and pray for them. Bitterness is a dangerous sin to live in and unfortunately many, including myself struggle with it. There are also scriptures where it talks about a crushed spirit causes dry bones (Proverbs 17:22). My husband and I have witnessed people forgive in their hearts, and then they were healed of a physical ailment.
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Hebrews 12:15
Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.
Deuteronomy 29:18
Can you imagine if these roots just kept spreading throughout the forest? Symbolically, it would cause so much damage to the poison in the roots that it spreads. The sins that are hidden in our heart can be so dangerous and affect those around us. They can go deep beneath the surface, without anyone seeing them on the outside, but like a cancer that spreads within.
Let’s follow the example of Christ, and forgive those who have hurt us, or make false accusations, because forgiveness is for us, not them, and we do not want to bear poisonous and bitter fruit!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12: 1-3
