Posted on by Abe Austin

Loving Your Enemy vs Renouncing Evil- Deferring to the Mob

John 19:8-11:

8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;

9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

We see in the final days of Jesus’s life how he submitted himself to the power of strange leaders and violent mobs. When Pilate gave Jesus an opportunity defend himself from false accusations, Jesus gave no reply, permitting the lies of his accusers to stand alone.

However, when Pilate asserted his power over Jesus, Jesus was quick to shoot that down, pointedly reminding Pilate of the transience of his station, while Christ stood on much surer ground. Jesus had averred just a few days ago that he could command legions of angels to save him, but he chose not to, instead allowing the campaign of evil to achieve its ends.

But it wasn’t always so. The example of Jesus is not strictly one of deference to the mob. There was a time before when an angry horde sought to throw him off a cliff, but he calmly suppressed their efforts. Luke 4:28-30:

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

Christ rebuked this mob’s designs because it wasn’t yet his time. Later he did not resist because it was his time. So, are we, as Christians, required to patiently suffer injustices and abuse from others? Yes, absolutely. But are we required to do so in each and every situation? Absolutely not!

Like our leader, Christ, we are to be ready to endure all things, but also to be ready to rebuke all things. We are to meekly suffer, but also to boldly defy. We are to resist, and also to acquiesce. And all of this, not according to our own will and judgment, but God’s. It is His place, not ours, to decide when it is time for which response. If we depend only upon our own views, we can be both wrongly meek and wrongly bold. It is too simple to say that we should just be humble or should just be defiant, we must be rightly both.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 39:9-10, 12

9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Before moving on, I wanted to review the three techniques I found in the past couple days for how Joseph maintained his purity in the face of temptation.

  1. Joseph’s desire to be pure was based in his relationship with God. He had evidently made a solemn determination to live according to God’s commandments. There are many of us who “say” that we have given our lives to God, but it is another thing to actually live as such. Joseph really meant it. He loved his God, and he would not betray Him.
  2. Joseph took the steps necessary to keep himself away from temptation. He had his personal resolve, but he wasn’t going to put himself unnecessarily in the firing line. He kept his distance from Potiphar’s wife, and when she did speak to him, he did not linger on her words.
  3. When all else failed, he ran from evil. He did not debate with it, or reason with it. Argument and reason are not enough to keep a man or woman pure; they have to develop the habit of impulsively and immediately following their conscience, abandoning any situation that is trying to compromise it.

By these three methods Joseph prevailed. He is about to be slandered by Potiphar’s wife and punished for it, but make no mistake about it, Joseph won. No matter where he was cast away to, Joseph would go there with his conscience preserved.