Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
(Mark 15:1, NIV)
The decision was made. Jesus was to die.
It was the worst, most unfair decision in history. They had decided that Jesus was trash to be thrown away.
Has anyone ever made a decision about you, in your life? Has anyone ever tried to shut you out of life?
It happened to the Son of God.
Jesus was condemned–and He didn’t even deserve it. It wasn’t a matter of whether or not it is politically correct to condemn someone; He was innocent. He had never done anything wrong. Can we even imagine it? We usually get angry when someone condemns us for something we really did do, but Jesus had done nothing wrong and yet, rather than fury, He showed forgiveness.
But the decision was made. The verdict was death.
Before you take anyone’s word for it that your life is nothing but a sad mistake in history, take a good look at the road of the cross. It is a long, dusty road over bloodsoaked ground. It is a road of suffering, judgment, condemnation, and death. It is the road after a decision was made by those who were seen as the controllers, the puppeteers.
But it was the wrong decision. Jesus wasn’t guilty. He wasn’t worthless. Little did they know it, but His life was worth more than the lives of everyone who has ever walked this earth. He was infinite in love and power. He lived His life with integrity and grace. There was no fault to be found.
We can’t say the same thing for our lives. We resist condemnation we know we deserve.
Jesus had not even one slip into sin. He had a perfect record. Imagine it–He was guilt-free. We have never a day in our lives been guilt-free. We are selfish from the moment we are born. But Jesus–Jesus was different. He loved. He cared. And it was real.
And the decision was made to murder Him.
But what no one on earth knew was that another decision had already been made. A decision by Jesus Himself.
A decision to pay for our regrets by walking the long road of the cross.
A decision that ended, once and for all, the finality of any decision anyone else could make about your life. God says so. One day Jesus, and only Jesus, will be our Judge. And no decision anyone on earth made about you will matter if Jesus disagrees with them.
Jesus made His decision to free us. What decision will we make? Will we follow people who try to make decisions of death for us, or will we follow Jesus who, at the cost of the cross, made His decision to offer eternal life to us?
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