John 19:1-16 (NLT)
1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip.
2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him.
3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.
4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.”
5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”
6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
He brought Jesus out after his soldiers beat him with a whip that was made up of a set of leather strips with sharp objects, usually metal, embedded in the leather. It was meant to rip the skin open and create intense pain, while not killing the person. Pilate assumed that the crowd would see the scourged Jesus and have sympathy for him. The crowd looked upon Jesus, but it made no difference...they still yelled to crucify him.Pilate's dilemma was not that he couldn't release Jesus, it was how to do it so that he pacified the crowd.
The problem was Jesus!
“Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever.
9 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer.
10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
13 When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha).
14 It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”
15 “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away.
Pilate was shocked by Jesus...Son of God?...that's a lot different from King of the Jews. When he takes Jesus back inside he asks him "where are you from?" Jesus' silence is deafening. He will not make Pilate's job easier. So Pilate threatens - something people in authority do to try to make people submit to their authority.
“Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
Inside of the room are two men: Pilate and Jesus. Jesus is bloodied, his skin torn open, blood flowing down his back, and Pilate is saying I can go either way on this...and Jesus won't let him believe that which is not truth.
11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate was imprisoned in his role...he couldn't release Jesus without making the Jews angrier; and he couldn't release Jesus without making his position as governor more at risk...BUT, he also knew there were no real offenses worthy of death that Jesus had committed...He was the imprisoned one!
Jesus was the one who was free...he knew he had the power to be physically free if he wanted to. There was a time in his own home town where he had walked through an angry crowd that wanted to throw him off of a cliff.
THEN it was not his time.
NOW it is his time, and he is the one who is in charge!
Peace
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