John 19:6-16

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify! Crucify!"

But Pilate answered, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."

 

The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."

 

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"

 

Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

 

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar."

 

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.

 

But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"

 "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked.

 "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.

 

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. (NIV) They took Jesus, therefore. (NASB, v 17a)

 

Pilate had presented Jesus to the Jews as a battered and innocent man, a man who did not deserve death. But the Jews’ response was still, “Crucify! Crucify!” They really wanted Jesus dead, even though Pilate continued to insist on Jesus’ innocence. Pilate told them to crucify Jesus themselves – that is, without his authority – because Pilate found no basis for a charge against him.

 

But the Jews couldn’t crucify Jesus on their own authority. So finally they told Pilate why they hated Jesus so much. He deserved to die, according to their law, because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God.

 

This scared Pilate. Badly. He asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” Pilate seems to have begun to believe that Jesus might truly be a heavenly king, that he might truly have been the Son of God. It frustrated him that Jesus wouldn’t answer his question. In one question, Pilate both pleaded with Jesus and threatened him: “Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you?” The threat was that, if Jesus didn’t speak up, Pilate would have to crucify Him. But more than a threat, this question was Pilate’s plea for help. Pilate didn’t want to crucify Jesus; he was scared. But it was Pilate’s call, and he needed Jesus to speak up and prove his innocence so that he wouldn’t have to crucify the one he was scared to crucify.

 

Here Jesus spoke. Jesus understood authority, and He therefore told Pilate, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above.” In other words, Pilate’s authority was not his own. Jesus understood that Pilate had been appointed to this position of authority “from above” – humanly by Caesar’s authority, but ultimately by God’s. Pilate was therefore the one who had to make the call and decide whether to release Jesus or crucify Him. Jesus’ conclusion was, “Because of this, the one who handed me over to you has greater sin.” Jesus was speaking words of mercy to Pilate, words of understanding. Jesus was not helping Pilate to set Him free; Pilate would have to crucify Him. But Jesus knew that Pilate had not made himself Jesus’ enemy. Pilate was appointed to make this decision – appointed from above, by Someone else.

 

Pilate kept trying to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept insisting on Jesus’ crucifixion. They twisted Pilate’s political arm, saying, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

 

So Pilate made one last effort. On the Preparation Day for Passover, Pilate prepared Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king.” And they rejected their king, pledging allegiance to their oppressor: “We have no king but Caesar.”

 

So Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. And they took Him.

 

Father, I don’t know Pilate’s final fate. But it is so very interesting to see that Pilate took the possibility that Jesus was Your Son seriously and, recognizing Jesus’ innocence, kept trying to defend Him. He did not acknowledge Jesus as his king, but called Him the king of the Jews. Still, Jesus spoke comforting and understanding words to Pilate. Jesus understood that Pilate was making the judgment against Jesus not because he wanted to (though he chose to), but because he had been appointed to his position and had to. If nothing else, this gives me comfort. I see that You and Jesus, Father, know our circumstances. You know not only what we do, but the reasons we do what we do. And when we do things that harm You, You take the reasons into account. We can trust Your ultimate judgment to be completely right, whatever it is. The Jews rejected their own king. Pilate merely rejected someone else’s king. And he did so reluctantly because he had to as a representative of Caesar. And it was all part of Your plan. Jesus kept moving toward the cross. Thank You for Your good plan. Thank You for Your understanding of people’s motivations, not just of our actions. And thank You for Your mercy to cover our sins, given by sending Jesus to be our Passover Lamb.