Religious Leaders Still Mock Jesus — Even From The Pulpit

Yesterday, I excitedly discovered beautiful wooden hanging wall scrolls with the Bible verse Hebrews 11:1 printed on them. This Bible verse summarizes all the Bible points, Bible verses, and Bibles stories of "Sky" VBS. You are not going to believe this, but I found them in a dollar store for $2 each. I bought twenty of them. I will give them out as prizes to the children. Here is a picture of one:

The Bible story for Day 4 of "Sky" VBS is found in Matthew 27:32-28:20 and it tells how Jesus died and then came back to life again. I am pleased that the children will be told this story — the most important story in the Bible — because many of them will not come from Christian homes or be regular Church goers. And the death and resurrection of Jesus is what our salvation is based on.

As I studied particularly the death of Jesus, I was shocked to discover how many times the Bible stated that Jesus was mocked and insulted by others prior to His crucifixion. Jesus was not only brutally tormented physically before His death, He was venomously tormented emotionally.

"Then they knelt in front of Him and mocked Him."

Matthew 27:29 (NIV)

"They spit on Him."

Matthew 27:30 (NIV)

"Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads."

Matthew 27:39 (NIV)

"In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him."

Matthew 27:41 (NIV)

"In the same way the rebels who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him."

Matthew 27:44 (NIV)

And yet not one of His disciples, or the many thousands of people whose lives He touched, stood up for Him as He was being mocked and insulted.

I am disturbed to see that Jesus is still, even today, being insulted by comments that come from the mouths of religious leaders as they stand at their pulpits. I call them religious leaders, not pastors, because when someone plans ahead of time to include lust-filled jokes into his/her sermon, or makes ungodly references to sexually immoral TV shows and movies, and yet feels no conviction to not do so, he/she is no different than the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders who mocked Jesus before He took His last breath on the Cross. The pulpit in God's house is being defiled regularly, and yet is anyone speaking up? If someone is, he/she is obviously being ignored or condemned, which only further proves how deeply this same religious spirit — the same spirit that mocked and condemned Jesus — is infiltrating into our churches today.