The Sphere of Greatest Danger
‘‘He that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.’”’ — Jon xix. 11.
THESE words are spoken by Christ to Pilate.
He tells Pilate that his part in the crucifixion is not so bad as the part taken by Caiaphas, “He that delivered Me unto you is a greater sinner than you, although you have the fmal blow to strike and the final act to play.” This is a most remarkable judgment on the part of Jesus. To all outward seeming Pilate’s was the murderer’s hand. It was he who gave the sentence, it was he who ordained the cross. But our Lord virtually says that at a certain stage of wickedness things cannot be retrieved by man — the seed of badness must develop into the tree. Pilate happened to be wnder the tree. He had become heir to the bad deeds of others
who had preceded him. It was no longer possible for him to arrest the development of a national sin — it would have required a miracle. It could have been arrested at the beginning. But at the beginning it had been fostered. Caiaphas had planted it — Caiaphas was the deeper culprit; Pilate was more a victim than an agent. That is what Christ means, and it seems to me a thought suggestive for all time. Is it not true that the final and fatal act is often the least culpable act. If a man allows his passion to get habitual power over his reason, he may come at last to commit a great crime. And yet at this last hour he may be less to blame than in his morning. He may have come to a stage when he is helpless, hopeless, a mere puppet in the hands of that law of development which he has outraged and whose shadow cannot be sent back ten degrees. It is the morning that is the crucial time, the responsible time. It is the beginnings that are big with hope or fear. It is the streams of the river that make glad, or sorry, the city of our God. It is the evil done in the dawn that makes the blackest cloud in the day.
My brother, take heed that you make the outgoings of the morning to praise Him! It is only the outgoings of the morning that are wholly yours. When the afternoon comes, you will not be your own master; Caiaphas will have become Pilate. Take heed to your beginnings — your initial acts! As the day advances, a temptation may pass beyond your power of government; watch its beginnings! Caiaphas did less outward harm than Pilate, yet his was the greater sin; it was the laying of the train underground. Beware of the train laid underground — of the seed sown in spring-time! Men look to the effects of autumn; to God, the tragedy lies in the spring. Men behold a harvest of evil and say, “This is the climax of the man’s wickedness”; but God says, “His greatest wickedness was in the spring, when the surface was undisturbed and the corruption was all below.” My brother, the trifles of earth are the great events of heaven; watch the trifles! Dress the small gardens; water the tiny flowers! Tremble at the first breach of truth! Avoid the beginnings of avarice! Move from the threshold of meanness! Fly from the brink of folly! Impugn the thought of impurity! Suffer not the jest about solemn things! Dismiss deceit from the door! Greet not with levity the grovelling of your spirit! These are the temptations of your morning — the temptations of Caiaphas; in these is fought the battle of your soul,