Behold, The Man!

John Chapter 19 

Scripture: 

5When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”  

6As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”  

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”  

7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”  

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”  

11Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”  

13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.  

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.  

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”  

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.  

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.  

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.  

Observation: 

"Behold the man!" Pilate says.  Pilate meant that he was presenting the one they'd brought to him, but my mind took a different spin on it today. Jesus was God in the flesh AND all man too.  Human.  It begs the question, "What does it mean to be human?"  What separates us as humans from beasts? 

    

Part of being made in God's image - as being human, is that we have the power to defer to long term thinking that steps outside of short term gratification.  We have the ability to CHOOSE to react or not react, to stimuli, to people, to temptations, to anything.  Pilate saw that Jesus withstood torture without begging for a deal, for his life, or for them to stop.  When after being tortured, and he was offered a way of escape through Pilate, he took the longer view and did not waver from the reasons he submitted to the cross in the first place... and still remained silent. 

In fact, Jesus didn't speak at all during his questioning or torture, and when he did speak it wasn't to defend himself, but to defend the sovereignty of God. Pilate tells him "Don't you know I have the power to free you?"  Jesus breaks the silence by correcting Pilate's worldview.  "You would have no power over me were it not given to you from above."   

Hebrews 12 says "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame...." How great must have been the joy that Jesus looked forward to that it carried Him through THAT suffering? 

Application: 

Today I am wondering about my own worldview. Do I say one thing, but live out another?  Do I say I believe in the sovereignty of Christ, yet act out that faith as though he didn't have all power and control?  I have to confess that I sometimes let worry and stress get leverage over me.  Sometimes I react in the moment and feel defeated by it. 

But Jesus doesn't leave us there.  He shows us how to have the endurance he did.  James 1:2 says, "count it all joy when you face trials (temptations) of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance."   

It's a process of development.  Non of us are able to get it right the first time or all the time.... but rather it's something that develops over time that requires you to patiently endure the testing in order to be approved.                                                                                                                       Prayer:    

Lord, I pray you remind us when we go through trials and temptations, that these are opportunities to trust in your sovereignty.  Help us align our worldly and short-sighted worldview into one that trusts not in ourselves but in you.  Amen.