Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23
Have you ever been caught between the
proverbial rock and a hard place? This is the encounter of a man who found
himself caught, by the hand of God, in between politics and religion. Sometimes
we try to define who we are by how we are perceived by the people around us. We
simply care too much how the outside world sees us. We try to define ourselves
through our outward perception instead of our inward character.
This man was stuck between political
powers where no choice would be the right choice. Leadership has its
responsibilities. Pontius Pilate bore the responsibilities of the Roman Empire
in a very pivotal part of the world. Palestine was a crossroads for trade, a
military bulwark, and a governmental outpost. Rome had conquered the area only
60 years before this encounter, so the presence of Rome in Jewish culture was
still relatively new. There was not a lot of precedence in place in how to
handle the situation Pilate found himself in, an outsider being called upon to
handle what was obviously an internal matter. He was about to meet the One at
the center of it all. Pilate, a gentile unbeliever, was to have his perception
of how things worked called into question.
Then
they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But
they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled,
but that they might eat the Passover. John 18:28
‘They’ referred to in this verse is the Sanhedrin, the
ruling body made up of religious and political leaders who convened to hold a
hearing of what should be done with Jesus. They had him arrested, though there
was no warrant for his arrest. So they worked the system in reverse, arresting
and then went to get the charges sworn out, which meant taking him to Pilot,
who would decide on the charges, pronounce judgment, and carry out the
sentence. He would be their means to the end. They could get rid of their
problem by using the hated Gentiles and that way save face among the people.
Pilate
then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this
Man?”
They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we
would not have delivered Him up to you.”
Then
Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
Therefore
the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus
might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. John
18:29-32
Pilot doesn’t easily go along with their plan.
He’s no one’s pawn, except maybe the emperor’s, but he is being paid for that
role. He didn’t get into the position he held by being someone’s nephew. He
earned it. He had served the empire and risen to his position. He had done this
by being the fist of Rome against anyone who would come up against the Empire.
He was a brutal ruler, who policed his way through any situation. Yet when
Jesus is brought before him, rather than wave his hand and have Jesus taken
away, he actually gives this one man a hearing. This was not like Pilate. It
makes one wonder why. Jesus didn’t hold Roman citizenship, so he had no right
to appeal. It was the charges they brought against him that intrigued Pilate,
insurrection. To lead a rebellion
against Rome resulted in public execution in order to deter anyone else from getting
any ideas to rebel against Rome. Pilate wanted to hear the troublemaker, so the
encounter began.
Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said
to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about
this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief
priests have delivered You 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 fight, so that I should not be
delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:33-36
In his initial questioning of this alleged
insurrectionist, Pilate gets down to the main issue at hand. Is Jesus claiming
to be the rightful ruler of the territory that Rome has established to be part
of the empire? Jesus answers his question with a question. Jesus assumes the
authority by questioning Pilate as to where he’s getting his information. It
was a way of asking him by what authority is he judging. Pilate then has to let
Jesus know that he is doing the work of the people who delivered Him up for
judgement. Pilate asks what Jesus has done to deserve the hatred that Pilate is
so familiar with feeling himself. Jesus doesn’t deny being a King, but He does
point out that if He was the King of those who delivered Him up then wouldn’t
they be fighting for him, not delivering Him over to their enemy? Yet, Jesus
answers that He is a King, just not of this world. This was a claim to deity.
The statement had to throw Pilate for a loop. To see before him a prisoner, a Jew,
without Roman standing, claiming deity and in the pantheism of his beliefs, not
just godhood, but to be a king of gods, he had to have branded Him a lunatic in
that moment. He didn’t seem to be a lunatic, because Jesus spoke with such
authority.
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus
answered, “You say rightly that
I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the
world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
hears My voice.” John18: 37
He has his answer about if Jesus is a threat to his
position in Palestine, therefore, he has no call to harm Jesus. Yet, Pilate asks
if Jesus is then a king. Yes, we know Jesus is a King. He is the King of all kings.
Jesus’ answer isn’t to establish His kingdom in Pilate’s land but in his heart,
and it does establish His kingdom in the hearts of men all the same. It is the
dividing rod that lies down the boundary between those who will enter into
Christ’s kingdom, and those who will not. Jesus came to bear witness to the
truth, the truth is that God has put us in the place of judgement, and it is
our decision that will decide our fate. We call this freewill, and it is what sets
Christianity apart from all other religions in the world. Choice. Choosing to
hear the message, and take in the truth, and allowing it become our guide. It
is called submission. Jesus was in the position in that moment of demonstrating
in its fullness what submission looked like. As He had just said, He was a
King. He had dominion over the situation and could have his subjects fight for
Him. Consider what was subject to him. Mark 4:41 ”And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be,
that even the wind and the sea obey Him! " Matt. 10:1 "And when He had called his twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kids of diseases." Matt. 11: 5-6 “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up
and the poor have the
gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of
Me.” Jesus didn’t need the testimony of others. His
own deeds and words had enough power of their own, and yet there He stood with
Pilate who was to decide the fate of Jesus. What would Pilate do with the truth
before Him? Surely Pilate knew of who Jesus was apart from what was being told
to him by the Sanhedrin. Surely it was more than just a legal matter. Yet was
there enough evidence to convict Jesus under Roman law of the crime of
insurrection?
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he
went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
Pilate could find no grounds for condemnation. He had not stood in
opposition to the Emperor. He had not led the people to rise up in arms against
Rome. Pilate had no grounds to do what they were asking of him. Legally he
could not put Jesus to death and appease them. Jesus was not at fault. More
telling than that was his rejection of the truth. His answer to the truth was
one we hear so often in our world today, “What is truth?” It has become a
humanistic mantra, but even more so a war cry of the enemy to get us to doubt
the Truth of God. It was the same as the old serpent in the garden asking Eve, “Did
God really say…” It is the same as saying, “What is truth?” From that moment on
man has been trying to do an end run around his God. From that moment on Pilate
was trying to do an end run around God as well. He wanted out of that situation
without having to take the brunt of the decision he would be forced to make, to
release Jesus, or to have him executed. He sought to have them make it for him.
“But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the
Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Then
they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a
robber. John 18:39-40
Barabbas- the name means son of a father, simply put a man,
anonymous, no one special. He had robbed and that was all that history knows of
him, other than he was deserving of the penalty he was under. Jesus was
switched out for someone who deserved the beating Jesus received.
So
then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a
crown of thorns and put it on
His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail,
King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.
Pilate
then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you,
that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”
Then
Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the
Man!”
Therefore,
when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying,
“Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
Pilate
said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” John 19:1-6
Pilate has had Jesus beaten brutally. We know this was to fulfill
scripture found in Isaiah 52-53, but in Pilate’s mentality he was trying to
show his fierceness in dealing with those who would cause uprisings. He had
hoped that the beating would satisfy the religious leaders and the mob of
people they’d gathered with them. Yet they would not relent. What had to be
going through his mind at this time. He had to wonder at the hatred shown
toward Jesus. We as Christians become so angry when people show such hatred
toward Christianity forgetting what Jesus himself said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute
you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in
heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt.5:11-12 We should not be
angry when people are offended by the Lord. Jesus said it would happen.
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law
He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”
Therefore,
when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the
Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no
answer. John19:7-9
Pilate is fearful. What is it that this bully is afraid of? He is
afraid of what everyone who rejects the truth is afraid of once they pull the
trigger on their decision. What if they’re wrong? What if what Jesus has said
is the truth? What if he is messing with God? What power has he unleashed on
himself? For Pilate, in his arrogance, like many, his way of handling it is to
try to regain control and remind himself, and Jesus, of what control he does
have.
Then
Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have
power to crucify You, and power to release You?”
Jesus
answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been
given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the
greater sin.” John 19:10-11
These are the final words spoken to Pilate by Jesus. Their
encounter ends here. Pilate has been told that he has no power over Jesus at
all, but is simply a pawn in the annals of history, a position appointed to him
from the moment of his birth, ordained for him by God, and when the moment of
his choice came, he chose death over life, not Jesus’ death, for that would
have come about by some other means perhaps by another prefect would have
condemned Jesus in a second trial overruling Pilate. The fact is it was Pilate
who stood condemned at this point, not Jesus, because of his decision to reject
the Truth of God.
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
sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew,
Gabbatha. Now
it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he
said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
But 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!”
Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus
and led Him away.
And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is
called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where
they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in
the center. Now
Pilate wrote a title and put it on
the cross. And the writing was:
JESUS
OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Then
many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was
near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, andLatin.
Therefore
the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the
Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” John
19:12-22
And so the story of Pilate’s dealing with Jesus ended. He had
tried to get out of it, but under the pressure of two cultures clashing he didn’t
have the strength of character to stand above the fray. We can find ourselves
in Pilate’s position as well. How often do we vacillate in our faith when it
comes to the accusations or demands of the World’s systems to crucify our Christianity,
even when we know we have no grounds for condemnation? What is interesting to
know is that Pilate died only a few years later. He was ordered to commit
suicide. The reason for order was due to his wrongly condemning men without a
proper trial.
What should we take away from Pontius Pilate’s encounter with
Jesus? First, that not all who we meet will come to Christ, even when they
encounter Him and the truth is revealed to them. Secondly, that within all of
us is the call to stand up to the systems of this world for the Kingdom of God,
despite the cost and not give in to the crowd of voices calling for the
crucifixion of our Lord. He has already died for our sins, we don’t need to
nail Him again to our cross of pride, or to deny His sovereignty again. Our
King will reign in glory when next we see Him. And finally, that we know the
Truth.
In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for inquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil." Prov. 16:6
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