Taking Time To Make a Decision While The Crowd Shouts
[19] Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” [20] Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. [21] So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” [22] Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
[23] When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, [24] so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”So the soldiers did these things
You can see that Pilate had some conflicts in executing Jesus that lasted all of the way through the end. He was stuck in a hard place between his desire to keep his power and the peace in Jerusalem but also not kill an innocent man. When he had the sign hung up “The King of the Jews” it was multi-purposed. It showed what he may have believed. He listened to Jesus when He talked about being a king and responded “so you are a king then?”
He was afraid when he heard that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God. For Pilate, who lived in a culture that believed that gods and humans intermingled and had offspring, it wasn’t that crazy to believe that Jesus could have been a descendent of a deity.
Pilate was also mindful of his authority over the region. Even though the religious leaders were extorting and manipulating him, he was in charge of the area according to Rome. When he hung up the sign that the ‘king of the Jews’ had been killed, it showed everyone that Rome was really in charge.
Pilate, like a lot of real people (vs. storybook characters) was a complicated guy. He struggled with what to do in this whole situation. The last we hear about him is when he allows Nicodemus (a Pharisee, ok, also complicated) to take down Jesus’ body and give Jesus a proper burial.
Pilates fate, whatever it was, was sealed about 2000 years ago. Today, there are many equally confused people that are trying to figure out what do to about Jesus. Let’s not be the mob that forces them to make a decision too soon for the wrong reasons. You have to wonder what Pilate would have done if the circumstances were different. His wife had prophetic dreams about Jesus after all.
The soldiers had other opinions. To most, Jesus was just another victim/subject of Roman law. To others, Jesus was a legend with clothes worth keeping. There was one that declared “Surely this was the Son of God.” when he saw Jesus die. Again, if asked, they might not be able to fully explain what they thought about that Man.
Let’s walk with people through their path to faith in Jesus. Many might be closer than we think to trusting and following Jesus.
##
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing here. Join the discussion online on Facebook or Twitter.