Tag Archives: King of the Jews

PILATE’S DILEMMA

Christian Life, ,

PILATE’S DILEMMA

“Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked Him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’” (John 18:33, NIV).

Never had Pilate encountered a man like this. 

Although He was the prisoner, Jesus was clearly in charge. The leaders and the people had lost it, screaming and yelling like kindergarten kids while He stood calmly observing them. He could have walked free on a few words of self defence, but He refused to respond to their lying accusations. He knew who He was. Pilate was unnerved. “Don’t you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?” he demanded. Lies! Jesus responded with the truth, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”

Pilate was caught in this dilemma through no choice of his own. As governor of Judea, it was his responsibility to ratify the death sentence on those found guilty by the Jewish High Court. Jesus had been sent to him because the Sanhedrin had found Him guilty of blasphemy by claiming to be God. As a Roman, this was nothing to Pilate, so the Sanhedrin changed the charge to treason since Jesus also claimed to be king of the Jews.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate demanded. It was a desperate question and on Jesus’ answer depended His fate.

“My kingdom is not of this world…You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”(John 18:37, NIV). 

“What is truth?” Pilate spat back. He was not interested in the answer. Without waiting for a reply, he turned on his heel and walked away. Faced with the worst dilemma of his life, his mind reeled. The mob was yelling, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Inside, his mind was screaming, “Innocent, innocent.”  Even more disturbing was the warning he had received from his wife.

“Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of Him.” (Matthew 27:19b, NIV).

What was he to do with Him? Yield to the mob and save his skin or yield to the truth and save his life? He chose to save his skin and lose his life.

Every day we face the same dilemma…follow the lies of the world and save our skin or follow the truth and save our lives.

“What is truth?” asked Pilate. Peter declared, “God had made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36b, NIV).  

The apostle John wrote, in the thick of terrible persecution, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 4). We alone can make the choice to walk in this truth or take the consequences. Are you walking in the truth?

KING OF THE JEWS

Bible Study, ,

KING OF THE JEWS

“Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked Him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’

“‘Am I a Jew? ‘Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’

“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of the world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.'” John 18:33-36.

One has to feel some pity for Pilate. At the crack of dawn, when the poor man had hardly wiped the sleep from his eyes, an irate mob of Jews, led by their religious leaders, turned up on his doorstep but refused to go inside because of some religious scruple of their own making. They were demanding the execution of a prisoner he hardly knew anything about.

When Pilate asked about the prisoner’s crime, His accusers retort with the lame excuse that they would not have brought Him had He not been guilty! How was Pilate to interpret that? Were they trying to make him look like a fool so that they could dodge the question?

It was left to Pilate and Jesus to determine His crime. Pilate must have had some notion that Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews. Now the charge was no longer blasphemy but treason, a charge serious enough to deserve the death penalty if it were proven true.

Pilate asked Jesus outright, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus certainly didn’t look very regal at that moment. There was blood congealed on His face from the thorny crown that had bitten into His flesh. His seamless robe was dirty and dishevelled. There were bald and bloodied patches on His cheeks where the soldiers had pulled out His beard. He was pale and gaunt from lack of food and sleep.

He didn’t act like a king either. Where was His retinue of attendants? Where were His loyal subjects? He was neither loudly protesting His innocence not demanding justice for a man in His position. He had no secret army waiting in ambush to attack the Romans and defend Him. He stood before Pilate in respectful silence, waiting for him to decide what to do with Him.

Pilate and Jesus engaged in an unusually polite exchange for a Roman governor and a prisoner. Pilate must have been intrigued by this accused man who did not behave like all the others. There was a calm dignity about Jesus, in spite of His precarious position, that caused Pilate to treat Him far more gently than he would the run-of-the-mill prisoner.

Since Jesus would not state the charge which was supposed to have been brought by His accusers, Pilate tried to find out from Him what He had done to deserve this treatment. Jesus’ response was mystifying. ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’  Was this man crazy? What was He talking about? He looked perfectly sane. Was He hallucinating from pain and shock?

No, Jesus was neither crazy nor hallucinating. As always, He viewed His life from the perspective of His purpose for coming to earth. Whether Pilate understood or not was irrelevant. He was making no claim to Caesar’s rule over Israel. He was establishing His right to rule over the hearts of the men and women He had created for Himself.

What Jesus had done was not the issue but who He was, and it was not Pilate’s responsibility to decide but to acknowledge that He was who He was and to submit to Him as King of the Jews.

Son of God…King of the Jews…from the human point of view He was guilty of both charges but, from the divine perspective, He not only claimed but proved Himself to be who He said He was. The problem was that His accusers refused to examine the evidence. He was a threat to their cushy lives and that was more important than the truth. Unlike Jesus, they refused to view the whole of life including the part that extended beyond the grave. Jesus was offering them mercy for the past and grace for the present and hope for the future but they turned it down flat!

What about you?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – PILATE’S DILEMMA – THE INNOCENT FOR THE GUILTY?

Bible Study, ,

CHAPTER 15

PILATE’S DILEMMA – THE INNOCENT FOR THE GUILTY?

​1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Mark 15:1-5

According to the Jewish religious leaders and the Sanhedrin, phase one of Jesus’ trial had been successfully concluded. They had found a charge that stuck, confessed by Jesus’ own mouth – blasphemy – and that was punishable by execution, according to their law.

The next step was to find a charge that would also be punishable by death according to Roman law. Again, from Jesus’ own mouth had come the confirmation of the charge that Rome would never tolerate – treason. When He was hauled before Pilate, this was the question that He was asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

What did Pilate think of this whole debacle? As an objective observer, he would have seen a most unusual prisoner, facing a remarkably undignified set of “lawyers” plus an unruly mob of supporters all trying to get his attention to enforce their demands. This was not about justice. This was about manipulation, intimidation and domination. What chance did Pilate have against the threatening mob? The situation was tense. The soldiers were on high alert. The crowd was shouting, demonstrating, chanting, “Crucify Him; crucify Him!” The noise was disorientating. He tried to release Jesus by offering Barabbas in exchange. It was like trying to get Mother Teresa released by offering a serial rapist and killer in exchange. But the crowd would have none of it. So bent were they on killing Jesus, egged on by the religious judges that they had completely lost all reason.

The noise of their chanting rose to a crescendo. Pilate panicked. If he didn’t do something now, a riot would break out and there was no knowing where it would all end. Jerusalem was packed with Jews from all over Israel and farther afield – and they hated the Romans! If he didn’t give in to this mob, blood would flow and he would be answerable to Caesar. He had to sacrifice one innocent man for the sake of peace! What an amazing scene – prophecy fulfilled before his eyes, and he didn’t know it.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – KING OF THE JEWS

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KING OF THE JEWS

“The soldiers also came up and poked fun at Him, making a game of it. They toasted Him with sour wine. ‘So you’re the king of the Jews! Save yourself!’

“Printed over Him was a sign, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

“One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed Him. ‘Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!’

“But the other one made him shut up. ‘Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as Him. We deserve this but not Him — He did nothing to deserve this.’

“Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.’

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.'” Luke 23:36-43.

If they had known what they were doing, would the people who were thoughtlessly mocking and taunting Jesus, ever have said and done what they did?

Surprisingly, there was only one unlikely man who understood, and he was at the point of death. Up to this moment, he was like everyone else – denying his responsibility for, and ignoring the consequences of his deeds; part of a race of rebels against God, doing what he chose at the expense of others, but one of the unfortunate ones who was caught out.  Both men hanging beside Jesus were paying for their misdeeds and he finally knew it.

One was behaving in a typically human way, defiant all the way and using Jesus as a scapegoat for his angry rebellion. The other one watched Jesus’ reaction to the torture and listened to His gracious words of forgiveness. He was not ‘religious’ but in a flash he realised that there was a world of difference between them and Jesus. Perhaps for the first time, he became aware of God and acknowledged his responsibility for his ungodly life.

His rebuke of the other criminal mirrored a reverence for the man dying beside him. Jesus was so different from any other man that he instinctively knew He was God. We might think that his plea was a last desperate effort to escape judgment. I think there was something far nobler in his request than what we give him credit for.

Those around the crosses were taunting Jesus. ‘Save yourself!’ they mocked Him, not understanding that it was the last thing He wanted to do. His response to the dying thief was the culmination of His coming to the earth. It did not matter at what stage of his life the man next to Him recognised and acknowledged who He was. All that mattered was that he had answered the question every human being must answer at some time in his life.

‘Who do you say that I am?’ Jesus had once asked His disciples and Peter had responded, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ That is the answer that transforms a life and settles an eternal destiny.

KING OF THE JEWS! A title of contempt or a declaration of faith? For this man, it was a declaration of faith and the last words he ever uttered in this life. But he died with the assurance that he would join Jesus in the presence of God because, like Peter and his fellow-disciples, he embraced Him as Messiah and rightful king of God’s people.

What tipped the scales for him? He answered that question in his comment to his fellow-criminal. “Have you no fear of God?’ His eyes were opened to the realisation that he was where he was because he had never acknowledged God or taken Him seriously. The apostle Paul diagnosed the reason for human depravity. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:18 (NIV)

The moment we take Jesus seriously and acknowledge who He is, the truth of our accountability to Him will dawn on our souls. Like the dying thief, we will step into the realm of understanding the truth and be joined to Jesus forever.

 

Kingdom Characteristics

Christian Life, , ,

KINGDOM CHARACTERISTICS

‘If you hold to my teaching’ Jesus said, ‘then you are really my disciples…’ (John 8:31)

It stands to reason, then, that to be a disciple of Jesus, we must first know what He taught. Jesus began to teach His disciples, according to Matthew, by giving them some principles of attitude and behaviour that should be the characteristics of those who live in the kingdom of God.

Matthew wanted his Jewish readers to be convinced that Jesus was the king of the Jews. The focus of his writing was Jesus as Messiah and especially the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy regarding Messiah’s role as king. Even when Matthew recorded the events around His crucifixion, it was always with the understanding that Jesus died as the king of the Jews. He did not ignore the prophecies about Jesus as the Suffering Servant. He presented them in the context of His royal office and calling.

However, Jesus was a very different king from those who ruled in Israel and those who ruled over the surrounding nations. He was not a king who lorded it over His people. He was a king in the nature of God, one who loved, and one who always showed mercy to the extent that He gave His life to rescue His people from the plight of their sin. He characterised Himself as one who was gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11:29).

Some people say that they live by the Sermon on the Mount without giving allegiance to Jesus as Lord. This is impossible without the presence of the Holy Spirit within. Jesus gives new life to those who believe in Him, and this life is lived only through the power of His Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount is not a new set of rules; it is a new way of life – internalising God’s instructions given to His people in the Old Testament so that the very disposition of Jesus, gentleness and humility, is the new disposition of the believer.

Jesus was the perfect expression of the Father in the flesh. He was bold enough to say to Philip and his fellow disciples,

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14: 9).

On many occasions, Jesus enraged the Pharisees by claiming, “I and the Father are one.” They understood very well what He meant because they recited the Sh’mah, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4) at least twice a day and had done so for as long as they could remember. For Jesus to say that He and the Father were one meant only one thing – He was God – so He said. What was worse was that He produced the evidence although they refused to accept it.

As a Jewish rabbi, He insisted that His disciples be like Him. This was a particularly tall order for them because Jesus was unlike any other rabbi who ever walked the earth. His disciples recognised and confessed that He was indeed the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). And He wanted them to be like Him?

He gave them the prescription for having a disposition like His and acting towards people as He did. His first teaching, according to Matthew (in Matt 5), was about having a disposition of humility and mercy so that they would bend their energies towards reconciling man to God and man to man even if it brought the hatred of God’s enemies down on them.

The so-called “Beatitudes” are not meant to make His followers morbidly introspective. The devil is good at provoking us to self-condemnation. Jesus wanted His followers to understand that His life, and following Him, was a life of self-forgetful and loving service to others from a heart of mercy. We are to be generous and show mercy because of what God has done for us.

How do we hold to Jesus’ teaching? Paul explained it this way:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12: 2a).

The transformation of our disposition from selfishness and greed to generosity and mercy is a slow process. It happens as we contemplate the Lord’s glory in the Word. The more we gaze at Jesus, the more we are enthralled with His glory and the more we become like Him.

It’s a principle of life. We will eventually become like the people we watch closely. Isn’t that why Hollywood has such a powerful influence on the world? People hero worship the stars. Soon enough they begin to copy them. They don’t need help, either, because their corrupt nature is already at work in them.

The same principle is at work when we gaze at Jesus assisted by the Holy Spirit whom God has given to every believer, to reveal the glory of Jesus and to lead us into all truth. Our part is to give Him every opportunity to change us into His image as we respond to His promptings, learning from Jesus and being empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a true follower.

Being a disciple of Jesus is certainly not about obeying a new set of rules. It’s about subduing the old selfish nature by submitting to a new Master and responding to the heart of His teaching – loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and loving my neighbour as myself.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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