Hatred Kills

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

HATRED KILLS

Matt 27:1-2

27:1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

NIV

We have been in this scene with Jesus at the house of the high priest Caiaphas but Matthew took a pause to give us the picture of Peter denying Jesus those three times and then the rooster crowing and Peter realizing what he had done went out and wept bitterly. We are going to see another response next with Judas and how he reacted to his betrayal of Jesus, but for now, we are still in the house of Caiaphas. They had already brought all the false witnesses and asked Jesus directly whether he was the Son of God. When Jesus admitted that he was and told them what would happen to them because of his coming in the clouds and judging all men, they were so upset that spit in his face, slapped him, slugged him, and Caiaphas tore his clothes. Now they finally come to the full conviction of their hatred toward him and decided he must be put to death. How were they able to put God to death? Yes, Jesus is God, but he came in the flesh and therefore this fleshly form could die and must die for the forgiveness of our sins. How interesting how God used the hatred of men to accomplish his plan. He has done this before with the hardened hearted, hate-filled heart of Pharoah to demonstrate His power over every false god the Egyptians worshipped. It is also interesting the darkness of the heart of men causes hatred. We have thought before the reason the Jews, the chief priests, the elders, the teachers of the law, and the Pharisees hated Jesus so much was that he threatened their power over the people. Their hatred for Jesus was all about their own self-preservation. Is that not the same today, when we consider the hearts of men? Before, when we were all about ourselves and our desires, we did not want anything to do with Jesus, in essence, we hated the idea of God because we were so involved with preserving our "self". Yet, as the Spirit broke through that barrier, our “self” gave way and we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The hatred toward God was replaced with love. These Jews could not give way and their hatred was so intense they decided they had to put Jesus to death, but they could not do it themselves, so handed him over to the Romans. The lesson is without question, hatred kills, and love gives life.