The sin-warped, human ego is capable of the dumbest things imaginable.
The word for it is hubris (a great or foolish amount of pride or self-confidence). You pronounce it as you would if you had a friend name Hue and his last name was Briss. If you listen closely you can hear hubris in the backdrop of many of our conversations, our philosophies, and our opinions. For instance, who among us has not declared, “I know exactly what will fix America!” And then we proceed to give a simplistic solution to the complex challenges of poverty, social injustice, political pressures, existing laws, natural disasters, etc., etc., etc. Poverty – “Just get a job.” Social injustice – “Just treat everybody fairly.” Political pressures – “Just agree with me.” Military challenges – “Just nuke ‘em all”….or… “Just talk to them, because talking and doing nothing fixes everything.” Hubris, hubris, hubris.
Perhaps one of the clearest moments of hubris run amok is found in Matthew 27:24-25. With Jesus standing on trial, both Pilate and the mob crying for blood make what might be the dumbest pronouncements that humanity has ever made. Pilate, washes his hands and declares himself innocent. How convenient is that? He is the self-anointed authority, declaring himself capable of not only putting himself on trial, but also being the judge, jury, and prosecutor at the same time. Quite an accomplishment. Does anyone doubt the outcome and verdict of such a trial? Hubris, hubris, hubris.
Not to be outdone, the mob rises up and assumes the authority to assign guilt to themselves. “We’ll decide if we’ve done something wrong or not.” They declare themselves the only ones able to determine right/wrong, guilt/innocence. Yet to claim the ability to determine guilt is not the same things as having the ability, much less the authority, to determine guilt. Humanity has a tendency to make similarly audacious claims. But reality shows these claims to be false, hollow, and impotent. The irony of this scenario is that it all revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ…King of Kings…Lord of Lords…Eternal Judge. He who is truth, righteousness, purity, and guiltless exhibits infinite restraint as these characters attempt to elevate themselves above God and His authority to assign guilt and declare innocence. Hubris, hubris, hubris.
Before we make any grand assumptions about ourselves in light of Pilate and the mob, we need to stop and do some hubris-free self-examination (if that is even possible). How often do we assume innocence in a personal conflict? Oh, maybe not complete innocence, but innocence enough to feel that ‘our’ guilt isn’t as bad as ‘their’s.” How often do we burden ourselves with guilt that is not ours to assign? Even when we have genuine guilt, we have no business pushing Jesus off the judgement bench in order to assign guilt and punishment upon ourselves. Our responsibility is to see our guilt as declared by God in His Holy Word. We have no business assigning it to self or others.
Self-condemnation apart from God’s Word is just as arrogant as self-atonement. That’s true whether we are condemning ourselves or others, and whether we are declaring ourselves or others to be innocent. Only Christ is fit to judge. Assuming anything else is but hubris.
