When Pontius told the Jews that he found no fault in Jesus, he sought to release the Savior as a free man. Instead, the angry mob insisted that the murderer, Barabbas, be instead released. When asked what to do with the Lord and Savior, the crowd cried out that He should be crucified.
The Jewish people chose a man of the world over a man of God. When Pontius gave them a second chance, they cried out again for the convicted criminal rather than the man free of all sin. They embraced the world rather than the Lord.
Repeatedly through the scriptures, we are told that the Jewish leaders of the time often followed the letter of the law rather than the spirit. They obeyed the customs of their fathers rather than the commandments of their Lord. So their choice was predictable and obvious; they had been slowly moving in the direction of a full denial of the Christ all along their religious walk.
As we follow the path Christ has laid out for us, we, too, must be certain that we are keeping all aspects of the commandments, but especially the spiritual nature of them. We should check how we pay our tithes – do we pay the full 10% grudgingly or joyfully? If we are in a leadership position, are we watching the visiting and home teaching percentages in terms of numbers, or are we sincerely concerned about the people involved? Does sitting through sacrament meeting with small children make us throw our hands up in despair because we can’t give the attention we would like, or are we focusing on the positive things we do manage to hear?
And so on, and so forth. Our attitudes in interacting with the gospel are the best indicator of whether we follow the letter or the spirit of the law. Do we view the commandments as a list of rules that repress us, or a list of guidelines that bring us joy and contentment?
Of course, should we have to make the choice in the future, we would surely choose the Savior over a convicted felon. We would never intentionally choose the world over the Lord. But our actions and attitudes can be more telling than our actual desires. Even with the disciples, their temporal desires overcame their spiritual ones, and they fell asleep. Later, they abandoned the Savior and fled from those who arrested Him. We, too, may have moments of weakness. We must do all we can to fortify ourselves against them, and make sure we would never choose evil over good.
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