LOOKING BEFORE LEAPING

Jesus, help me "look before I leap!" Amen.

Jesus was arrested and brought to Pilate, the governor, but Pilate saw that Jesus had done nothing wrong. He wanted to let Jesus go, but those who hated Jesus said, "No! Let someone else go!" So Pilate ruled that Jesus would be killed. The crowd took Jesus away and crucified Him. Later that day, He died, and the whole earth shook. The people watching said, "This man was the son of God."

"Look before you leap," a lot of adults say. They mean you should think about what you're doing before you do it, because what you decide makes a difference.

If you don't get up on time for school, for example, you end up having to hurry. Hurrying might make you forget your lunch money; then you have to borrow money or ask your parents to bring it to you, and they get crabby. Crabby parents are not a good thing!

This week's Gospel (Matthew 27:11-54) is a really serious example of not "looking before you leap." Jesus has been arrested, and even though Pilate can see Jesus isn't a criminal, he lets the crowd push him into sentencing Jesus to death.

When you "look before you leap," you're thinking about what might happen if you make a bad decision. Looking ahead like that helps you to make better decisions: You'll probably drag yourself out of bed on time instead of oversleeping, for example.

If Pilate had really thought about the decision he was making, he probably would have made a different one. Jesus, an innocent person, died on the cross because Pilate didn't "look before he leaped."

(03/13/08)