There are moments that reach such intensity that all which is held sacred and true may be ignored and a threshold crossed to do unthinkable actions. These are called tipping points. They happen in everyday life, but they also happen in one’s spiritual life.
Let me tell you about a man who was supposed to stand for law and order. When challenged publicly to break the law and support injustice, he refused. He tried to reason with the accusers and rebuffed them multiple times with innocent verdicts. He even appealed to a tradition, but it didn’t solve the problem. Even after his wife warned him not to, he gave in. This man was Pontus Pilate, and his tipping point was politics: “From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.’ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out…” and soon “delivered Him to them to be crucified” (Jn 19:12-16).
Law, justice, reasoning, innocent rulings, tradition, and a spouse weren’t enough to hold Pilate to do what he knew to be the right thing. He fought it until something was at risk that he valued more than law, justice, reasoning, his findings, tradition, and his wife’s input. This isn’t a case of a blind or ignorant decision. Pilate knew his decision to hand Jesus over violated law, justice, reason, judgment, tradition, and his wife’s advice. But politics and job security were his tipping point. The chilling part of this is that all of us probably have a spiritual tipping point too.
Managing Our Tipping Points
I don’t have one. We are tempted to deny our tipping points. Wicked men like Pilate are not the only ones who have tipping points. Peter didn’t think he would turn his back on what he knew to be true and deny the Lord: “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You” (Matt 26:35). The fact that we don’t see our tipping points is what makes them so easy to sneak up on us. The fact that we deny them is what makes them so dangerous. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
Imagining the unimaginable. Pilate initially stood for the law and pronounced Jesus’ innocence many times – “I find no fault in this Man” (Lk 23:4) and “…nothing deserving of death has been done by Him” (Lk 23:14-15). Pilate is strong until he’s not and then does the unimaginable by authorizing the crucifixion of the innocent Jesus. Peter tried to imagine the worst that could happen, “If I have to die with You” (Mk 14:31), but he didn’t see confessing Christ when under pressure as his tipping point. Christians may be strong until something unimaginable happens and they “…crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame” (Heb 6:6).
Avoid micro-compromises. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and the false charges were due to envy (Matt 27:18), yet he offered to have Jesus beaten and released (Lk 23:16, 17). He actually did have Jesus scourged, but instead of de-escalating things, “…when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (Jn 19:1, 5-6).Some of these seem like innocent missteps, such as Peter sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:40-41), while others try to quantify and belittle sin. These can blind us and even cause our consciences to be “seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2). Consciously allowing any sin to dwell in our hearts and lives compromises our reverence for God and His will and dilutes our abhorrence of evil (Rom. 12:9). Compromises are wrong and will create additional unthinkable future tipping points.
Avoid abandoning knowledge and reason in intense situations. Pilate’s problem wasn’t that he didn’t know that the law said Jesus was innocent or that he was convinced by reason that Jesus was guilty. Peter’s triple denial wasn’t due to him not knowing the truth about Jesus. The problem is that things like fear and consequences can cause us to ignore what we know and accept bad reasoning (or no reasoning at all). God warns us to remain vigilant, clear minded, and thoughtful in all situations (1 Pet 5:8; Phil 4:8). If we fail to do so, we may cross our tipping point and do what we know we shouldn’t.
Avoid “I can do whatever I want” thinking. Pilate thought he could do whatever he wanted. He said to Jesus, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” (Jn 19:10). Jesus reminded Pilate that he wouldn’t have any power at all against Him “unless it had been given you from above” (Jn 19:11). When Peter denied what Jesus said about His suffering and death, Jesus told him, “…You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt 16:23). Thinking we know better than God or that we are in control tips us into things that are not the will of God.
Listen to warnings. While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, “…his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him’” (Matt 27:19). Pilate didn’t listen. Jesus warned the disciples, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night” (Matt 26:31). Peter was certain that he wouldn’t stumble, but Jesus warned him that he would deny Him three times (Matt 26:33). In the Garden, Jesus warned the disciples, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41). They didn’t listen. There is power to avoid tipping points in warnings, vigilance, and prayer.
Avoid siding with Jesus’ enemies. “When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all…” and “…wanting to gratify the crowd… he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified” (Matt 27:24; Mk 15:15). Crowd sourcing and crowd pleasing is often disastrous. And sometimes just being around those who are against Jesus takes us to our tipping point. It can be like after Jesus’ arrest with Peter warming himself by the fire in the courtyard of the high priest and exposing himself to his tipping point and denying Jesus. Being with the wrong people when we’re vulnerable can tip us to want to please them rather than God.
Return. It appears that Pilate’s tip was a one-way trip, but it doesn’t have to be. Jesus said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Lk 22:31-32). Simon’s faith failed, but it wouldn’t be a total failure if he returned to Jesus. And he did! When Jesus rose from the dead, the angel told the women at the empty tomb, “…go, tell His disciples – and Peter – that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as He said to you” (Mk 16:7). When we stumble over our tipping points, our Lord prays that our faith will not fail and that we’ll return to Him – even after our worst denials. The angels of heaven say, “Go tell His disciples – and [your name].”
davdiestel@yahoo.com