Just One Voice

Just One Voice
by Jim Schinnerer

It was an ordinary Wednesday night. I dropped the kids off at their classes while my wife made her way to the ladies' class. I walked into the auditorium class, not really because I wanted to, but because it was the only place for me to go until we were ready to leave. I wasn't expecting to get much out of the class, but God had other plans.I don't remember what we were studying, only that we looked at the text of Matthew 27 where Jesus is before Pilate.

I started daydreaming a little, and eventually found that God had placed me in a kind of third-party observer role to the events 2000 years ago. I was watching the Jews wanting to kill Jesus and thinking, "Don't you realize who he is? Can't you see?". I thought that surely they would have chosen Jesus over Barabbas to be released. Certainly, I would have chosen Jesus.I was shocked when the crowd shouted to Pilate to crucify Jesus. Wasn't this the same crowd, with the exception of the leaders, that had welcomed him a week earlier with palm branches, shouting "Hosanna", not "Crucify him"? How could they change their minds so quickly? I would have told Pilate that the flogging was sufficient. I could feel my anger starting to rise.When Pilate asked what crime he'd committed, I thought the people would realize that he was innocent and want him released. Instead, as they shouted "crucify him" even louder, my blood started to boil. How could they want to kill God's own son, the Messiah they'd been praying and waiting for so many years, the Lamb of God that we all need?Finally, all I could think was, "Stop! Be quiet!". The crowd kept shouting. "Shut up... Shut up... Shut up!!!", I wanted to scream. Slowly, one by one, the voices stopped as though they could hear my thoughts, until I could only hear one voice shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!".

I couldn't see the man's face, but as I listened closely, I shrank back in horror and in tears when I recognized that the single voice that continued to shout was my own.