When You Are A Leader You Can Never Do This

Matt. 27:24 - When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd,…  NASU 
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• Wash Your Hands From Responsibility 

What was Pilate trying to say by washing his hands in front of this crowd?
 
He was trying to say, "I am washing my hands from my responsibility."
 
Pilate was the Governor of Judea at this time. Jesus was brought to Pilate by the Jewish elders and all the chief priests (Matt.27:1-2) because they wanted Pilate to be the one to hand down the death sentence against Jesus. 

• Pilate Tried To Pass The Buck 

"Passing the buck" is an idiom that dates back to the late 19th Century. What it means is to pass the responsibility on to another. The phrase originally came from playing cards.
 
When a new person became the dealer a knife was passed to him and this showed it was his responsibility to deal.

The knife handles in those days were made from deer antlers, hence the name "buck" was derived. When the "buck knife" stopped in front of you it was your responsibility to deal out the cards.  

The word "knife" was later dropped and it simply became "passing the buck".
 
Pilate tried desperately to escape from this enormous responsibility. He learned Jesus had taught in Galilee so he had Jesus sent to Herod because Herod was in charge of this area (Luke 23:6).
 
Pilate was "passing the buck" on to Herod, but Herod wanted nothing to do with condemning Jesus to death so he sends him back to Pilate. 

• Pilate Tries To Free Himself From This Responsibility 

There is one more thing he can try. There is a tradition where the Governor releases one of the prisoners during the Passover Feast.

When Pilate gives them a choice between Barabbas and Jesus the people gathered had been instructed by the elders and chief priests to ask for Barabbas and that is what they did.
 
Pilate receives a message from his wife and it says this: "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him."
 
Oh, Pilate is going to be in so much trouble. He is not able to free himself from this horrible situation, the condemning of an innocent man, Jesus, and putting to death the Son of God, also Jesus. 

• What Should Leaders Do? 

If you are a leader then you need to accept the fact you have responsibility entrusted to you and it is your duty to make decisions from time to time even when they are not popular.

President Harry S. Truman made famous the slogan "the buck stops here". In other words, what he was saying is "I am the President, and I am the one responsible for making the final decisions."
 
If you are a leader then you are the one responsible to make the final decisions. Accept your responsibility and please do not try and "pass the buck".
 
Think About These:
 
Responsibility makes just as many cowards out of men as it does successes.
 
Those who shrink from responsibilities keep on shrinking in other ways too.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago 

Minister of God's Word