Monday, November 16 –
We
begin the week in our reading thru the New Testament, and continue to read
John’s Gospel. The beginning of this
week’s readings is tragic, but the end of the week is triumphant. Today, read John 18:28 – 19:16. After you finish reading, please come back
and we’ll look at it together.
John does not follow the Synoptic Gospels in detailing Jesus’ trial before
Caiaphas (cf. Matt. 26:57-27:1, Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71). The purpose of the Jewish trial was to find
Jesus guilty of blasphemy, because he claimed he was equal to God, and as Jesus
answered their question with the words, “you say that I Am”, they had
all they needed to sentence him to death.
The trial before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin took place, illegally,
before Dawn. John knows that they could
not have executed Jesus if they didn’t have the Romans on their side, so he
begins with the Jewish leaders marching Jesus to Pontius Pilate’s
headquarters. It was around six in the
morning and Jesus’ “hour” was at hand.
“Then
they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It
was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters,
so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate
went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have
delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and
judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to
put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken
to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (18:28-32).
It is
so clear that Jesus is in control of all that is happening here. The Jews led Jesus to Pilate, but in a
rather ironic act, they stay outside of Pilate’s headquarters because it is the
day before Passover begins and they do not want to defile themselves by
entering into a Gentile setting. They
religiously thought they were clean before God by doing this part of the law while ignoring the rest of the law in Jesus’ illegal trial. Their religion clouds their hearts in
darkness, as religion often does. Pilate
wants to know what the charge against Jesus is, but the Jews veil their answer
in not making a specific charge, but rather in reasoning that they wouldn’t
have brought him if he had not done something worth Pilate’s judgment. Clearly, Pilate would not be interested in a charge
of blasphemy, so they have to make him think Jesus is a revolutionary who is intent
on overthrowing the Romans. As this
initial proceeding takes place, John makes the commentary, that each part
thinks it is in control, but John knows it is Jesus who is directing this.
The
Jewish leaders want the death penalty, so Pilate goes back to question Jesus: “So
Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are
you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own
accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a
Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What
have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my
kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might
not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say
that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come
into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had
said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in
him” (18:33-38).
Pilate
must have looked at Jesus’ bloody, broken body and thought “what did this guy
do?” Yet, when they claim he is a King, he
asks the question – “are you the King of the Jews?” Had Pilate any knowledge of Jesus at this
point? We don’t know. Perhaps he had heard of Jesus’ entry into
Jerusalem that had stirred the crowds who came to lay the Palm branches before
him – much like a King would receive as he rode into a city. Looking at Jesus we see that Pilate didn’t
think of Jesus as a threat, but his job was to discern if Jesus was a potential
revolutionary. Jesus’ answer to Pilate
is that he is a King, but not of any earthly kingdom. Kingdoms, governments, nations are founded on
power, military might, financial backing, intellectual leadership, and customs
derived from the past. Jesus describes
the Kingdom as a place of Truth, and there is no military fight that his rule
represents. The basis of Christ’s
Kingdom is the Truth, but Pilate dismissed that as insignificant to Rome’s
power. “What is truth?” is the
world’s (even today) of reasoning that “truth is whatever I want to make it to
be”. The Romans, like the West
(including America) today, see truth as their intellectual and social
superiority. It is a pragmatic truth
that chooses expediency…what works…and not God’s way, truth, life. Pilate comes to the conclusion that Jesus is
no threat and he concludes – “this man is not a threat, he’s not guilty of
anything”. It is here that Pilate
proposes another solution, but caves in when they reject it:
“But
you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do
you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out
again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. Then
Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a
crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.
They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him
with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am
bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him” (18:39-19:4).
Pilate
had hoped that if he released Jesus – as was his custom at Passover – that He
would be done with this issue. Yet, the
Jewish leaders had made it clear to the crowd that Jesus had to be crucified. Pilate turns Jesus over to his soldiers who mock
him, strike him, taunt him – all to humiliate and appease the crowd’s
blood-thirsty desire. It doesn’t work.
“So
Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to
them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him,
they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him
yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him” (19:5-6).
Pilate
gave them permission to do execute him, but the Jews didn’t want this decision
to rest on them. They needed Pilate to
be the one who ordered Jesus’ execution.
The Jewish leaders tell Pilate about Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God,
and that is when Pilate shows that he is now afraid of what was going on and
who Jesus really is.
“The
Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die
because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this
statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and
said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So
Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have
authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered
him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you
from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin” (19:7-11).
Pilate
is obviously aware of what they were saying – Jesus is equal to God. He asks, “where are you from?”, but
Jesus would not answer him. Pilate
attempts to coerce Jesus with his authority, and once again we clearly see –
Pilate has no authority except what God gives him. Evil cannot prevail against truth, and power
belongs to truth, not evil. Who was
Jesus speaking about when he says “he who delivered me over to you has the
greater sin?” Judas? Caiaphas? Satan? – all of them played a role
and none of them acted alone. Human
leaders, rulers, whether by democracy or dictatorship, often lose sight of the
truth that their authority is derived from God’s sovereign will. As Bruce Milne says: “Jesus, however, is
conscious of an authority infinitely greater than any wielded by Pilate, or
Caesar, or Caiaphas, or the Jewish mob; an authority in whose hands these human
forces are but reeds in the wind. His ‘hour’ has come, hence he is now ‘given
up’ by the Father to Pilate’s will. Pilate’s mastery is purely a ‘gift’ from
above. As to human responsibility, that lies the more with Caiaphas and his
cronies, who had been exposed to the light of God’s Word and risen up in evil
confederacy to extinguish it (18:11).[1]
Now
things move quickly to a mutual Jewish/Roman resolution. A resolution that was purely political for
Pilate, but one that he was forced to agree to.
It was nine o’clock in the morning.
“From
then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release
this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king
opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out
and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in
Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It
was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They
cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them,
“Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but
Caesar.” So, he delivered him over to them to be crucified” (19:12-16).
To the
Jews – “this man” – is a blasphemer and deserves death. To Pilate, Jesus is a problem that he needs
to get rid of in order to appease both the Jews and the leaders back in
Rome. “Behold your King” is not
an acknowledgment from Pilate, but rather it is a mocking comment on why Jesus
had to die. To us, this is our Savior,
our Lord, who is suffering for us. He is
condemned as Isaiah had prophesied, that He might bear our curse. The trials are all unfair – an abuse of
justice – but all are sovereignly directed according to the will of God. Chuck Swindoll closes this off so
brilliantly:
“In 1920, Robert Frost intrigued us with the opening lines of his classic poem: ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood…’ Pontius Pilate stood at a critical juncture—for him, a choice having eternal impact. He had to decide which kingdom he would serve. The road we travel forks more than once... Our first choice has to be Christ, but then, each and every day, we must choose which kingdom we will serve.”[2]
Peace
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