Thursday, March 18, 2010
John 19:7-9 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.
THEY GOT IT: PONTIUS PILATE
Jesus' case was an open and shut case to Pilate. The crowd was obviously bloodthirsty, while Jesus was innocent and calm.
Pilate knew that the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead because they envied Him (Matthew 27:18). When they were given a choice between Jesus and a murderer, they set the murderer free! Throughout all their angry accusations, Jesus just stood there, not uttering a single word in defense of Himself. Pilate's own wife sent him a note telling him not to condemn Jesus because she had dreamed about Him this very night, and He was innocent. Even after Pilate's soldiers had brutally scourged and humiliated Him in front of the crowd, they still wanted His blood.
Pilate didn't understand that this was truly God-made-man in his presence. But Pilate did understand that Jesus was innocent. Pilate pronounced that verdict numerous times to the crowd. He even announced Jesus' innocence with an object lesson: Pilate washed his own hands in front of the crowd, saying Jesus' blood was on them if they insisted on murdering Him.
Pilate got it. I mean, he understood that Jesus was innocent of any capital crime. What Pilate didn't get was that Jesus was also innocent of ANY crime. He had never, not once, ever stepped off the path of God's will. He had never sinned.
Perhaps Pilate sensed what we know by faith: Jesus wasn't from around here. Pilate certainly sounds shaken as he asks Jesus, "Where do you come from?"
Because we get it, we are shaken too. Though not with fear and uncertainty, but with awe and confidence. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (John 3:17-18).
