Special Saturday Edition
Ethan Barton, Pastoral Resident, Tallowood Baptist Church
The Sanhedrin was Israel’s high council of religious and legal leaders that decided how the Law of God was to be enforced, and here Paul is, standing before them, accused of blasphemous action against God. Yet he didn’t seem worried in the slightest, and this was because his conscience was utterly clear. He could reflect back on all the ways he had ministered, all the things he had said, and all the people he had made angry and still know with utter certainty, without having to twist the facts, that he had done it all according to Jesus’ will.
That’s not to say he was perfect—in fact his very next outburst was maybe a little unwise, even though it was true. Yet because his conscience was clear, he quickly confessed his mistake. There was no effort to convince people that it wasn’t a mistake, or that he was actually a good guy, because he had nothing to fear from being honest. He had no shame or guilt to hide! What need was there to convince people he was a good follower of Jesus considering he was actually faithfully following Jesus?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the same room, those who were supposed to be the religious leaders of Israel were making things worse and worse for themselves. They had become more focused on their own political ideology than on following Jesus (thank God none of us are guilty of that), and so they desperately tried to save face—but in doing so they violated the Law themselves and found themselves with more guilt to try to cover up. It's a hideous downward spiral. Just like David trying to cover up his sin with Bathsheba, these council members were acting apart from God and kept compiling more and more sin to try to fix it.
I know my typical tendency is to get stuck in that same downward spiral, and I’m sure many of you can relate. Like the Sanhedrin members, we find ourselves so far down a path of sin that apologizing seems agonizing, and so we try to convince ourselves and others that we’re not doing anything wrong—which only makes things worse. What if we lived like Paul instead, freely and with a clear conscience? Well, here’s the first step: we actually need to faithfully follow Jesus. And yes, to do that, we all have a lot to repent of. But that repentance brings freedom, because then we have no need to justify ourselves and no cause for fear! Let us all live in such a way that we may have clear consciences before our Lord.
