What Will You Do with Jesus?
Apr 22, 2025 by Caitlyn Crissone
Last week was Holy Week, the week in history when everything changed.
We celebrated the events leading to Easter—the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday, the Paschal Triduum on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday.
Easter Sunday.
Many have never experienced the true meaning of Easter. They may very well know of Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross, but they won't decide to accept Him as their Savior.
Today, I want to talk about someone who played a prominent role in the crucifixion story. He spoke with Jesus directly, he evaluated Him personally, and yet couldn't bring himself to decide what to do with Christ.
His name was Pontius Pilate, and Matthew 27:11-25 tells us a lot about this Roman Governor who oversaw the trial of Jesus Christ.
Verse 22: "Pilate said to them, 'What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" They said to him, "Let him be crucified!"
We see three major things that Pilate did.
First, He rejected Jesus' confession of exactly who He was- the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, the Christ. Pilate asked the question and heard the truth straight from Jesus' mouth, yet he did nothing with it.
Secondly, Pilate straight up rejected clear evidence that Christ was innocent. Pilate investigated Jesus and concluded that He was, in fact, an innocent man. Pilate found that he had committed no crime. He seems to have realized that the only reason Jesus was on trial was the jealousy and hatred of the other religious leaders, but Pilate still rejected the truth.
Lastly, we see that Pilate gave in to pressure. The pressure of the religious leaders. The pressure of Rome and its government.
Even though he heard the claims of Christ and knew He had done no wrong, Pilate was pressured to sentence a very innocent man to death, simply because of the influence of the crowd.
Pilate has an important decision to make. In his heart, I believe, He knew the truth. But he would not take a stand one way or the other. Instead, he asked the question many are asking today:
"What then shall I do with Jesus?"
Many of us are like a bunch of little Pontius Pilates running around, wondering what we could do with Christ. Many of us refuse to accept Jesus as Lord. We have heard the truth time and time again, and yet we reject it. Then, like Pilate, we worry too much about what the crowd thinks. We reject God's Son because we are afriad of what our friends might think about Him.
Pilate made the decision to go with the crowd and crucify Jesus. In verse 24, we read,
"He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this innocent person..."
Although he washed his hands, we can be certain that the guilt remained.
You see, we must take responsibility for the decisions we make- whether good or bad.
Despite what we think, indecision is still a decision.
Making no decision for Christ is making a decision about Christ.
We have two choices. You can reject Him. Or you can accept Him. But we cannot do both.
We can be for Christ, or we can be against Him, but not both.
As Easter approaches, I would like to ask that if you have not made a decision for Christ, that you would right now. I do not believe anyone has ever regretted deciding to follow Christ, our risen Savior.
So...
What will you do with Jesus?
We celebrated the events leading to Easter—the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday, the Paschal Triduum on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday.
Easter Sunday.
Many have never experienced the true meaning of Easter. They may very well know of Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross, but they won't decide to accept Him as their Savior.
Today, I want to talk about someone who played a prominent role in the crucifixion story. He spoke with Jesus directly, he evaluated Him personally, and yet couldn't bring himself to decide what to do with Christ.
His name was Pontius Pilate, and Matthew 27:11-25 tells us a lot about this Roman Governor who oversaw the trial of Jesus Christ.
Verse 22: "Pilate said to them, 'What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" They said to him, "Let him be crucified!"
We see three major things that Pilate did.
First, He rejected Jesus' confession of exactly who He was- the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, the Christ. Pilate asked the question and heard the truth straight from Jesus' mouth, yet he did nothing with it.
Secondly, Pilate straight up rejected clear evidence that Christ was innocent. Pilate investigated Jesus and concluded that He was, in fact, an innocent man. Pilate found that he had committed no crime. He seems to have realized that the only reason Jesus was on trial was the jealousy and hatred of the other religious leaders, but Pilate still rejected the truth.
Lastly, we see that Pilate gave in to pressure. The pressure of the religious leaders. The pressure of Rome and its government.
Even though he heard the claims of Christ and knew He had done no wrong, Pilate was pressured to sentence a very innocent man to death, simply because of the influence of the crowd.
Pilate has an important decision to make. In his heart, I believe, He knew the truth. But he would not take a stand one way or the other. Instead, he asked the question many are asking today:
"What then shall I do with Jesus?"
Many of us are like a bunch of little Pontius Pilates running around, wondering what we could do with Christ. Many of us refuse to accept Jesus as Lord. We have heard the truth time and time again, and yet we reject it. Then, like Pilate, we worry too much about what the crowd thinks. We reject God's Son because we are afriad of what our friends might think about Him.
Pilate made the decision to go with the crowd and crucify Jesus. In verse 24, we read,
"He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this innocent person..."
Although he washed his hands, we can be certain that the guilt remained.
You see, we must take responsibility for the decisions we make- whether good or bad.
Despite what we think, indecision is still a decision.
Making no decision for Christ is making a decision about Christ.
We have two choices. You can reject Him. Or you can accept Him. But we cannot do both.
We can be for Christ, or we can be against Him, but not both.
As Easter approaches, I would like to ask that if you have not made a decision for Christ, that you would right now. I do not believe anyone has ever regretted deciding to follow Christ, our risen Savior.
So...
What will you do with Jesus?
