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18 March 2008
John 19 v 9-16
Pilate went back inside the palace and asked Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus did not answer him. Pilate said, "You refuse to speak to me? Don't you know I have power to set you free and power to have you crucified?"
Jesus answered, "The only power you have over me is the power given to you by God. The man who turned me in to you is guilty of a greater sin."
After this, Pilate tried to let Jesus go. But some in the crowd cried out, "Anyone who makes himself king is against Caesar. If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar."
When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at the place called The Stone Pavement. (In the Hebrew language the name is Gabbatha.) It was about noon on Preparation Day of Passover week. Pilate said to the crowd, "Here is your king!"
They shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
Pilate asked them, "Do you want me to crucify your king?"
The leading priests answered, "The only king we have is Caesar."
So Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
The Chinese teacher Confucius defined 'cowardice' as 'to know what is right and not to do it'. There can be no doubt that Pilate was having a very difficult time trying to keep the religious leaders happy, his own thoughts in perspective and the words of Jesus which he could not ignore.
Pilate was vulnerable and weak in character and like so many people in that situation made rash statements that were not always true. This is seen in his words 'Don't you know I have power to set you free and power to have you crucified'. Jesus replied by saying that the only authority he had was given by God. What we see is a man who is a leader yet one who is on a roundabout of confused thinking. By the fact that he did not act in a decisive way only underlines this fact.
Right to the very end Pilate tried to placate the leaders and also the crowd for deep down inside he knew the truth yet they still demanded that Jesus should be executed.
His final action was to hand Jesus over to be crucified.
We might well consider on reading this passage that this was the greatest crime that humanity has even known. Yet from the prophetic words of Isaiah to this gospel account we see the will of God being carried out.
How we need to ask God to give us a clear and discerning mind both in the small and large decisions of life. That we will be able to look back and recognise that we have made the right decisions and not given in to the pressure of influence of those round about us. Often to stand for what is right is harder than we think!
Lord some decisions in life are hard to make and so I pray please help those who have positions of leadership. May they have both a clear understanding and the strength of character to act in a wise way for the good of those for whom they have responsibility in our world today. Amen
Written by David Morgan
John 19 v 9-16
Pilate went back inside the palace and asked Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus did not answer him. Pilate said, "You refuse to speak to me? Don't you know I have power to set you free and power to have you crucified?"
Jesus answered, "The only power you have over me is the power given to you by God. The man who turned me in to you is guilty of a greater sin."
After this, Pilate tried to let Jesus go. But some in the crowd cried out, "Anyone who makes himself king is against Caesar. If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar."
When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at the place called The Stone Pavement. (In the Hebrew language the name is Gabbatha.) It was about noon on Preparation Day of Passover week. Pilate said to the crowd, "Here is your king!"
They shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
Pilate asked them, "Do you want me to crucify your king?"
The leading priests answered, "The only king we have is Caesar."
So Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
The Chinese teacher Confucius defined 'cowardice' as 'to know what is right and not to do it'. There can be no doubt that Pilate was having a very difficult time trying to keep the religious leaders happy, his own thoughts in perspective and the words of Jesus which he could not ignore.
Pilate was vulnerable and weak in character and like so many people in that situation made rash statements that were not always true. This is seen in his words 'Don't you know I have power to set you free and power to have you crucified'. Jesus replied by saying that the only authority he had was given by God. What we see is a man who is a leader yet one who is on a roundabout of confused thinking. By the fact that he did not act in a decisive way only underlines this fact.
Right to the very end Pilate tried to placate the leaders and also the crowd for deep down inside he knew the truth yet they still demanded that Jesus should be executed.
His final action was to hand Jesus over to be crucified.
We might well consider on reading this passage that this was the greatest crime that humanity has even known. Yet from the prophetic words of Isaiah to this gospel account we see the will of God being carried out.
How we need to ask God to give us a clear and discerning mind both in the small and large decisions of life. That we will be able to look back and recognise that we have made the right decisions and not given in to the pressure of influence of those round about us. Often to stand for what is right is harder than we think!
Lord some decisions in life are hard to make and so I pray please help those who have positions of leadership. May they have both a clear understanding and the strength of character to act in a wise way for the good of those for whom they have responsibility in our world today. Amen
Written by David Morgan
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