“And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”” Mark 15:12-13 ESV
Reflection: what was the last time you were envious of someone or something?
I was looking at an advertisement for a house the other day, just out of curiosity. It looked like a very nice house from the pictures, in what seemed like a great neighborhood and a great location. But there was a word used in the description of the neighborhood by the realtor that really struck me. They called it a “coveted” neighborhood. Why in the world would they use this word “covet”? As if you buy this house, others will “covet” what you have? Isn’t this almost an encouragement of breaking the 10th commandment. ““You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”” Exodus 20:17 ESV. God needed to call this out, and looking at just this advertisement, it is clearly a problem for us. To covet. To be envious of what others have.
But what does that really mean, to envy?
According to the Webster dictionary, the definition of “envy” is “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. Wow. Let that sink in for a moment! Many of the religious leaders had plotted and planned for months, perhaps years, how they could trap Jesus somehow, to ultimately get rid of Him. We see that from the very beginning of Jesus ministry. In principle, the religious leaders should have been the first to bow down and worship the Messiah. But they were far away from God. They knew not God, nor did they want to get to know Him. In fact, John states this perhaps the most clear in John chapter 1 that, while Jesus came to His own, they “rejected” Him. They rejected God. What they were teaching in their synagogues, was not God, which is why Jesus called them out. But even when they stood face to face with God in the form of Jesus, and He told them who He was, the Messiah they supposedly had been waiting for, they could not stand Him.
Pilate was perhaps a bit blindsided by the entire Council knocking on his door, bringing a prisoner to him. But after some conversation with these religious leaders, he figured it out. Mark writes “For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.” Mark 15:10 ESV. Isn’t it very interesting that even Pilate perceived the religious leaders were “envious” of Jesus, who they had in their captivity? Who they already had abused all night, struck and whipped. All of this was
out of their envy.
Which tells us that, even from a secular perspective, they knew Jesus was who He said He was. Can you image? They were envious of the Messiah, of God, to a point that they wanted to get rid of Him. Talk about evil run amok! As we looked at the definition of envy, it describes in a way the heart of the devil. The envy of Satan who wanted to be God; even above God, in a “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. It is exactly what caused the rebellion in heaven, that we see reflected in these religious leaders. They were envious of God; as their father, which Jesus calls out “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” John 8:44-45 ESV
It is very difficult to read, and to understand how they could be that blinded by their hateful envy. But, there is an important lesson here to consider for all of us. To understand where “envy” and “covet” come from, and how powerful of a driver it can be by our sinful flesh. It is the heart of the devil, and can lead to being envious of people, and even of God. And, if we carefully look around us even today, we can see that some people, even some churches, preachers and priests, put themselves above God, in the lie of “you can be like God”. Very scary.
Let us all humble ourselves before the Lord God our maker.
