And as soon as he knew that He belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. Luke 23:7
On a Friday the 13th in 1982, a woman named Anne Moeller in Clio, Michigan, failed to wake up at her regular time, because her alarm clock didn’t to go off. Because she overslept, she was late for all of her appointments that day. Instead of admitting that she had failed to set the alarm, she spent the day finding ways to blame everybody else for what was her own goof. In fact, she invented what has become known as ‘Blame Someone Else Day’, which apparently falls on the first Friday the 13th of every year. Passing the buck has become an all too common practice in our world. People who feel the need to avoid making crucial decisions need to find someone else to foist their responsibilities onto. Sometimes it works. But in the most important case of passing the buck in the history of the world, it didn’t work.
Pontius Pilate had to make a decision. He already knew what the right decision should be. He had declared Jesus innocent. And an innocent man, under Roman law and under every other law, must be released. But there were political considerations. The Jews insisted that this Man was a danger to Rome if He were allowed to go free. Pilate had seldom seen the Jews so worked up about anything, and he knew their anger and opposition would become the more fierce if he were to release Jesus. So, when he heard that Jesus was of Herod’s jurisdiction, he saw a way of escaping his dilemma. Or he thought he did. We know what happened; Jesus was quickly sent back from Herod’s court. And Pilate had to make his awful decision. He could not pass the buck. People around us are just like Pilate. They sluff matters of their soul and eternity off onto their religious leaders. They blame everybody but themselves – their parents, society, economic conditions, whatever – for their sinful behaviour. Tragically, they will find that the buck does indeed stop at themselves, regardless of how hard they try to pass it.
Some Christians also try to pass the buck. If they disobey the Word of God, they blame those preachers or elders who failed to teach them the Word of God. Where is their personal responsibility to read the Word of God for themselves? Others also blame the Assembly for failing to provide their children with the knowledge they need to be a Christian witness among their friends. Where is the family’s responsibility to provide a perpetual environment of instruction and care based on the Word of God? It is as easy for a Christian as it is for anyone else to pass the buck when we need to make decisions and set standards. But we need to admit that the responsibility for these things is always our own. The buck always stops at ourselves.
Sending Jesus off to Herod didn’t work for Pilate; and it won’t work for us. – Jim MacIntosh