The crowd answered, “We’ll take the blame, we and our children after us.” Matthew 27:25

I don’t know why it is that some of our most haunting results come from choices made flippantly without thought. We don’t understand why our children avoid a corner of the back yard until one day, in conversation with them, we discover that a babysitter we had hired in the past convinced them that there was a child-eating monster who lived there. We make a joking remark to a friend about their tight clothes and then wonder why they are now purchasing clothes too large for them and avoiding our company.

This scripture comes when Jesus is brought before Pilate after being arrested. Pilate questions Jesus but doesn’t find him guilty of an act justifying crucifixion. Pilate offers to release Jesus, but the religious leaders have been busy developing strategies to incite the crowd to demand that Jesus be crucified. Finally Pilate washes his hands, literally leaving it up to the crowd to decide. The crowd, which has now become a mindless mob, cries out for Jesus to be crucified, accepting any possible blame for themselves and their children.

Leadership is a heavy burden. Many people – including some leaders – see it as a place of power and authority, without realizing the responsibility that goes with it. Some people look at the big cars, the security details that follow the leaders around, the social events attended by all the “beautiful people” and don’t see the damage that may be done to numberless people.

Many of the scribes and pharisees were used to holding power among the Jewish people and they didn’t want to lose this status. They twisted the truth or reconstructed the truth to fit their agenda of the moment. They got together in secret meetings to decide how to present their side of the story in the best possible light while ignoring or falsifying the truths on the other side.

The sad thing is that these leaders achieved their goal – but at what cost to the Jewish nation. Down through the ages, “Christ killer” is only one of the many names hurled at the Jewish nation even though most of the Jews had nothing to do with the death of Jesus.

If we’re going to speak for others, we’d better make sure what we’re saying. It would be wise to say only those things that we think – not something that we’ve been told to think. This country wasn’t founded by people who followed blindly for very long. We’ve always had someone who was brave enough to stand up and say, “why?”

Lately, there seems to be some concern that people aren’t thinking any more. There’s a fear that the mob may rule in some areas. Mobs aren’t known for being deep thinkers. They tend to follow blindly. The good thing is that there are some who have started to stand up and question the information that is coming down the pike. Taking a deep breath before agreeing to anything might be a good idea.

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.