The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-03-13
The Judges Question

The Judges Question
Jesus trial before Plate is the
supreme example of such ar up
side-down trial. If any one had
asked the governor that evening
how he thought history would rank
him and his young prisoner Of that
morning, he would have smiled his
grim Roman smile and perhaps
said. "Hmph. History will not be
interested. But if history wants to
know, it's on the record I had the
ma executed That settles it,
doesn't IL =" PLATE could not have
known that his own sole claim to
fame would he the fact that every
seven days. all Owe the world, in
hundreds OF languages. men and
women would repeat the words al
most like a curse ... land in Jesus
Christ his only Son our Lord. who
$50. suffered under Pontius Plate"
In the course Of that wicked
farce of a trial, Plate asked a
question which has more echoes
than he guessed: Then what shall
I do with Jesus?" That is the
question by which the participants
in that trial were Judged: It II tho
question that judges us today.
What will You do with Jeyusf
The Mob's Answer
PLATE asked the wrong people
what to do with Jesus. He was the
Judge, he had the responsibility.
He never would have thought Of
asking a Jewish mob for advice
on craftsmanship or anything else.
Yet he goes through the bitter
farce of asking a mob, a brainless
bloodthirsty mob, what to do with
this innocent prisoner. Tho crowd
thought they were passing sen
tence; but they e only passing
sentence on themselves. The voice
Of the people is not the verdict Of
history. it is not the voice Of truth
nor the voice Of God. Sometimes
it is; but not there and then, not in
Jerusalem. Mobs have voices, they
have wills, they may have weap-
ons; the one thing they do not
have is brains, judgment, wisdom.
The verdict of history, verdict OF
God, Is seldom in favor Of the mob.
The Fset.Fiadsvs
OF course, even a mob's voice has
some brains behind it. In this case
it was that digniied combination
Of chief priests and elders and
scribes. These were Pilates fact
finders. Plate was a typical
Roman; he cared less than nothing
for local customs. superstitions,
notions. He did not pretend to I'M
derstand why this Jesus should Be
the object of 50 much hate. When
PLATE said, 'What evil has he
done?" It is very possible that he
was not "stalhng for time" but
really was puzzled to know. The
scrihas and the elders and the chief
priests were his fact-inders, his
research team when cases anne up
out of their courts NV and such
occasions were rare. If some in
quiring reporter has asked some
of those chief priests, the after
noon Of Good Friday. what part
they had in the trial. they would
perhaps have said with pride. I'VE
We're there. We Influenced the re-
suit. We were consulted. We gave
the advice that changed the gov
ernor's mind. That Jesus might
have been at large this minute, II
it had not been for us"
But is was murder all the same.
For these fact-finders had no facts.
All they had was prejudice, emo
ton, name-calling. They influenced
the result, but not with truth. Can
we say we are never guilty of their
cr1me7
Based a. Outlines enry.,Fhted =,
the Division II Christian Education.
NsAtcnA Council OF the Churches Of
Christ = the Us, 4. Released BY