Slices
Prepare
Use Isaiah 53:3 to focus your thoughts on Jesus, ‘despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.’
Bible passage
Jesus sentenced to be crucified
19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’ 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’
6 As 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, 9 and 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 realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’
11 Jesus 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). 14 It 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.
The crucifixion of Jesus
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
Explore
The tussle continues. Pilate thinks he is in charge – although given his inability to face up to the Jewish leaders it is hard to see why. In fact, whatever is going on, it always seems to be Jesus who is directing affairs. Now the question is addressed head on. Pilate only has the authority that God allows him to have (v 11, ‘authority’, ESV, is a better translation than ‘power’). While he carries responsibility, others (possibly Caiaphas, possibly Judas) carry more (v 11). And all of it takes place within God’s overall purpose. Humans are always responsible for their actions, but this never robs God of his ultimate authority; Peter underlines it in Acts 2:22,23.
And so to the ultimate irony. The Jewish leaders, longing for a messianic king to overthrow the Romans, reject the Messiah and claim Caesar as king. We can see the irony but we miss another; that we can miss the significance of Jesus. First World War chaplain GA Studdert Kennedy wrote a moving poem comparing the brutality of Calvary to modern indifference: ‘When Jesus came to Birmingham, They simply passed Him by … For men had grown more tender, And they would not give Him pain …’ It’s worth reviewing our own attitude to Jesus and the way that is reflected in how we live.
Respond
Pray for those you know who are indifferent to Jesus.
Deeper Bible study
Using the websites of organisations like Barnabas Fund and Open Doors, choose a country where Christians face injustice and pray for God to sustain them throughout the Easter period.
After having Jesus flogged and allowing his soldiers some fun (vs 1–3), Pilate presents to the people a wounded Jesus, arrayed as a king. Perhaps he hoped that seeing Jesus’ humiliation would prove the charge ridiculous and allow the matter to be dropped. The religious leaders, however, discern Jesus’ threat to them much more clearly than does Pilate.1 Mob-handed, they shout for crucifixion. They twist the knife by adding the detail that Jesus had claimed to be divine, a difficult claim to hear when you’re working for an imperial family that claimed divinity itself. Yet whatever the Jewish law dictated, Roman law was sovereign and only Pilate had the right to authorise an execution.
Pilate has a choice to make and hopes that Jesus can help him out, but Jesus will neither plead for mercy nor offer false witness, respecting the power given to Pilate only because it has been given him from above. Given his claims of a kingdom not of this world, Pilate fearfully starts to wonder just where Jesus is from, but this goes unanswered.
Pilate comes down to the public seat of justice to give his ruling (v 13), now desperate to release Jesus and avoid responsibility for this mess. Stunningly, in seeking to defend their place and their nation, the religious leaders now commit themselves utterly to Rome: Jesus’ claimed kingship puts him at odds with Caesar, but they recognise no king at all other than the emperor (vs 12,15). Will Pilate, like them, choose to be Caesar’s friend (a reference to a title that conferred real status in Rome)? The threat is clear: if he chooses not to be Caesar’s friend, Caesar will hear about it. Outmanoeuvred, Pilate reluctantly condemns Jesus to death.
Ask God to show you people around you who are being treated unfairly (perhaps even by you). How would God want you to serve them?
1 Cf John 11:48–50
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Joshua 1–3; Psalm 37
Pray for Scripture Union
It’s always exciting to hear of someone responding to Jesus’ invitation into lifelong relationship with him. Faith Guides will be supporting children and young people who make this choice through Grow Communities. Please do pray for them.
