After the Sanhedrin delivered Jesus over to Pilate, the Roman governor found himself in a dilemma.   It was his custom to release a prisoner during the Passover feast (Matthew 27:15).  Believing Jesus to be innocent, and, because his wife had just been warned in a dream of the innocence of Jesus (ver. 19),  Pilate gave the Jews the chance to have Jesus released to them, as opposed to another prisoner by the name of Barabbas, who was an insurrectionist and murderer (ver. 17).  Pilate was probably confident that they would choose to have Jesus released.  Unfortunately, the Jews hated Jesus so much that they did not hesitate to request the release of Barabbas (vers. 20-21).

Perplexed by their insistence to have the murderer released and the innocent man crucified, Pilate asked them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus…” (ver. 22).  They, of course, demanded again to have Him crucified.

While Pilate’s desire to have Jesus released was more self-serving than anything else, his question was a great one.  It is, in fact, a question that we should all ask ourselves.  What shall we do with Jesus?

First, if you have never accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life by obeying the gospel, that is what you should do with Him, and you should do it as soon as possible—even tonight!  This Jesus under consideration is the Son of God, and He alone has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).  Peter and John told the Jewish Sanhedrin, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). 

Jesus is your only hope of eternal life.  There is no other way to the Father except by Him (John 14:6).  If you have not already done so, will you accept Jesus as Lord and Christ by believing in Him and being baptized into his body (Mark 16:16)?  The fact is, He is Lord, whether you accept Him as such or not (Acts 2:36), but the salvation of your soul depends on your acceptance of Him.

Most of you reading this blog are already Christians.  As Christians, we, too, should ask ourselves about Jesus, but our question should be, not what will we do with Him, but what are we doing with Him.  Our answer should be that we are loving Him the way He has loved us.  He loved us by laying down His life for us, making Him our greatest friend.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  What kind of friend are you to Jesus?  Are you willing to sacrifice and suffer for Him?  Paul was.  He once said that the life of Jesus was manifested in his mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:11), meaning he bore the marks of our Lord’s death in his own body by suffering.

There is one sure sign that we truly love Jesus—our unconditional obedience to His commands.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15).

What should we be doing with Jesus?  We should be renouncing partial obedience by obeying Him in all things, and thereby showing Him, and telling the world, that we love Him unconditionally.  Pilate did the wrong thing with Jesus because he wanted to please man more than do what was right.  What about us?  What will we do with Him?     

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.