Envy

1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 "Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
"You have said so," Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the Festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
13 "Crucify him!" they shouted.
14 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Mark 15:1-15


Envious of His love; envious of His following; envious of His radical words and actions that would change the way that the world would interact with God, forever, they crucified Him. If they only knew who they were crucifying and why He had come; if they only knew that they were envious of the very person that could give them so much more than the self fulfilling pride that caused them to treat the only one who really loved them the way that they did. In the end, the joke was on them, as we who follow him know, all of this had to happen in order for you and I to be restored and to be forgiven as He took our place on the cross. Jesus took our place and suffered all of this pain and rejection and humility and shame in order that we could once again live in the ever so sweet relationship with our Heavenly Father whose love is unimaginable and never ending. How could we not want to serve Him today; how could we not want to give Him our hearts and let His love shine through us as we journey together to know and love Him more. Be thankful today for all that God has done for you and for all of the blessings in your life, stay clear of the sin of envy as you see how it can blind the eyes and the hearts of all who give in to it’s deceiving lure. Don’t make the same mistake that the Chief Priests made so many years ago, give your life away for the King and He will give you everything in return.