URC Daily Devotion 16 April 2025

St Luke 23: 13 – 25

Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.’

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.

Reflection

A man is found to be innocent, but mob rule leads to him being crucified. That event is at the heart of our whole faith story. Yet it is still utterly shocking. 
 
Even more shockingly, in many different ways, we see it echoed time and again through history and around the world today. The power of the mob – whether as a physical presence, such as we saw in the riots in Britain last summer, or as a swell of comments on social media, as we have seen all too often leading eventually to the death of a young person – develops a momentum of its own. Mob force can be very hard to challenge, and surprisingly easy to get caught up in. 
 
I will never forget the summer a friend and I were meandering home from CWM Swanwick and decided to make a short stop in Coventry. In the ruins of the old cathedral we discovered that there, that evening, there was to be a performance of the Coventry Mystery Plays. There were two tickets left. We bought them, found ourselves a B&B, had a meal, and returned to the cathedral precinct. The drama moved around the ruins, actors interspersed with audience. My most powerful memory is of the scene in today’s reading. Dotted through the crowd, actors began to shout, ‘Crucify him!’. Others caught on and shouted too. Suddenly I heard my own voice, ‘Crucify him!’. 
 
I was shocked at my own culpability. Yet this has also served as a cautionary tale. It is incredibly easy to get caught up in the moment, the mood, the mob, and in so doing turn on Christ again and again. 
 
Prayer
 
How could they?
How could I?
Jesus, I am sorry 
for the times I have become 
caught up in the mood 
and in so doing turned on you.
Your words, 
engraved by the charred Coventry cross, 
pray ‘Father forgive’.
Father, forgive me.
And, O Christ, 
help me stay true to you, 
even against the flow.
Amen