November 17, 2023

Luke 19: 47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and leaders among the people were trying to kill him. (NIV)

People never do evil so thoroughly and happily as when they do it from moral conviction.*

There are a lot of people in this country who hate President Donald Trump to death. Of course, not everyone is going to like him. Some will find it hard to respect him. Many would prefer someone else as president. But what has he done to make their hate so personal and deadly?

I ask the same question about the chief priests, teachers of the law, and other leaders who were actively seeking the death of Jesus: What did he do to make them hate him so much? These were religious, law-abiding citizens who were out for blood. How could they justify murder? In regard to the former president, I will just leave the question out there for you to ponder. But as for Jesus’ ability to stir up such violent hatred, let’s speculate.

Perhaps the religious and civic leaders felt that Jesus was a threat to their authority. That was an unfounded fear – was there anything about Jesus’ ministry that would lead them to believe that he was power-hungry? Sure, he was accumulating quite a following but they weren’t marching in the streets, demanding the overthrow of the government or religious order. Indeed, most of his followers were among the least intimidating members of society.

I suspect many factors fueled the fire of hatred. Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. They couldn’t control him. Jealousy may have played a part; after all, the people hung on his words (verse 48). But above all, there was their fear of exposure. Jesus shined a light on their hypocrisy and suddenly they had to answer for how they treated others, their petty interpretations of the law, and their failure to measure up to God’s command to love him with all their heart, soul, and strength.

Then and now, Jesus makes demands on us. He shines his light on things we would rather not acknowledge – and that we don’t want to answer for. He has expectations and commands and we can’t just ignore the inconvenient ones. Jesus is an all-or-nothing God, and while that may not cause us to hate him to death, it can lead us to reject him to death. Our eternal death. 

This is not a Jesus in whose presence you can just casually stand around.*