November 5 | Pilate’s Decision

Today’s Reading:

Read Matthew 27:1-31; Mark 15:1-20; Luke 23:1-25; John 18:28-19:16

Have you ever been blamed for something that you did not do? Parents, if you can, share about a time when you have been held responsible for something that you weren’t responsible for. How did you respond? Ask your kids to think about how they might respond if someone accused them of doing something wrong that they had not done.

In our reading today, Jesus was brought before Pilate. Pilate was a Roman Official. He didn’t live in Jerusalem. He was in Jerusalem to oversee the Passover Celebration. However, while He was in Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus and determined that He was guilty, even though He wasn’t. The Jewish leaders did not like that Jesus was teaching that He was sent by God to be the Messiah. They wanted Jesus to be stopped.

Pilate asked Jesus to defend himself against the accusations that the Jews were making against Him. Jesus did not. Jesus accepted the blame for crimes He did not commit. As a result, Pilate felt that he had no choice but to give in to the demands of the Jewish leaders and to sentence Jesus to be crucified.

Application/Prayer:

Read Isaiah 53:7.

“He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth…”

Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Messiah was fulfilled when Jesus did not defend himself with Pilate. Jesus accepted the punishment for a crime He did not commit and he “did not open his mouth.” Thank God for Jesus’ obedience today! Because Jesus obeyed and took the penalty of dying for us, we don’t have to be separated from God.

November Memory Verse:

“The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”

Isaiah 40:8

Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:

Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.