John 18:28-19:16a - Jesus Stands Before Pontius Pilate

John 18:28 - 19:16a

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.” So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 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 guilt in Him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So 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.”

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

Message: Jesus Stands Before Pontius Pilate

Time: John is not recorded as the author, but unanimous testimony of early Christians, like Iraneus in the 2nd century declare him the author. Plus, the eyewitness account give rise that he was one of the close knit disciples and Peter already penned through Mark (the Gospel of Mark), and James died soon after the resurrection, which leaves John. It is thought this book was written between 85 and 95 AD. The Deity of Christ is a striking quality of John's gospel.

What the Lord is Saying:

Once again, I felt like I should reference the entire text in the Post. Sometimes I just do excerpts from the text. This is a familiar story, whereby Jesus is delivered over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate is only going to sentence Jesus because the Jews want this to happen. When given the option of releasing a man, the Jews choose another man, a robber. What they have against Jesus is he proclaims himself as a king and as one with authority. Jesus has always made it clear that he has authority and this has always bothered the Pharisees and Jews. Pilate did not care about Jesus. Even though he had no reason to believe he was guilty, he also had no reason to let him go and to that end, he feared his own safety and his own name if he would have gone that route in letting him go. 

One of the words that Pilate spoke of Jesus was "Behold, the Man!" When speaking of the man, Pilate is referring to Jesus as a man. Sin entered the world through a man, Adam, and now Jesus as our Savior, and as a man will atone for the sins of other human beings. It is an important distinction as it took a second Adam to reconcile us to God. Romans 5:19 declares, For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

Jesus does remark that He is King. “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” He is truth. And so he submitted to the authorities in order to stand in Truth. Jesus knew this time was coming. He knew His message was one of controversy. Many times it is recorded in the Gospel of how he would tell people that he has healed or encountered to not make a commotion about Him because He wanted to get the message of His gospel out to many and He knew that what He was putting forth would be received by some but for others they would feel threatened. Jesus is still this way. Mentioning God is fine, but once we start mentioning that Jesus is more than a man, more than a prophet, people are taken aback. But this is who Jesus is and this is who I need to proclaim Him to be, beyond what is heard on sunday morning at church. Jesus is God incarnate and He is Savior and King and Lord. 

Promise: Let us always love the truth and proclaim it even when it is not convenient for us. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for Jesus and for Him being fully man and fully God and dying on the cross for my sins and then rising again, conquering death and taking me now with Him to eternal life with Him. I will conquer death in the same way. You God are Lord and King. Lord, you remind me though Lord of how I need to continue to proclaim you in the streets, in the office, throughout my life that You are Lord of my life. I admit too often my words of you are safe and I mention God but not sure amongst unsaved that I mention Jesus, you having changed my life. Lord, I want to be an ambassador for You and be a witness and proclaim You as You proclaimed me and chose me. I want to stand up for Jesus no matter what crowd or people group I am in. Show me now how to have the strength of sharing you Jesus with others.