John 19:1-6

John 19:1-6 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 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.”

The day Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged represented an ignominious day for the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thinking they would mock Jesus because He called himself King of the Jews, the pagan Roman soldiers dressed the Son of God in a purple robe, the robe or garment of a royal personage, one deserving special homage and worthy of praise. They formed a crown for his head by twisting painful thorns into a rustic diadem to press upon his tender brow. Perhaps they thought parading Jesus before the Jewish people attired as a king in derision of the Israelite faith and calling out again and again, Hail, king of the Jews would reinforce upon the Jews the power of the Roman Empire. Maybe they wanted to remind these people crying out for blood that only Caesar held the power of life and death in the world as they knew it. Only he possessed principality authority in their land, never a Jew, not ever a Jew. How the religious leaders and Pharisees must have chafed against this irreligious behavior and show of power, but they would not have been able to speak out against the soldiers' behavior or anything else the Romans decided to do. But they could appeal to Pilate to fulfill their cruel plan: As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him [Jesus], they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!"

Pilate introduced Jesus as THE MAN. But Jesus was not the man, He was THE SON OF GOD, the KING OF KINGS. Looking at this scene, we see the chief priests and officials stung by the Romans' cavalier and demeaning reactions. We hear them cry out for Christ's death, totally ignoring Pilate's assessment: I find no basis for a charge against him [Jesus]. To these religious leaders entrusted with caring for God's chosen people, Jesus represented a threat to their position. His words, teachings, and miracles undermined their respect and authority in the Jewish community. Perhaps they instinctively knew and rightfully feared the complete implementation of a new covenant meant the end to the priesthood as they knew it. Their vocation and purpose for living would no longer have meaning or set them apart from others in the community if people believing in Christ completely undermined their position. Men might no longer try to win their favor or come to the temple to serve God if the kingdom of God could be found within people as Jesus was saying. Religious symbols and activities might be put aside if these things were a shadow of what was to come, and Jesus was the fulfillment of that shadow. If men and women could enter the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus, then what would happen to the whole established religious order represented by the many laws and ordinances the teachers of the law studied and explained to the people daily in the temple courts? What about this salvation plan and the Counselor Jesus said He was going to send after He went away? Far too many unanswered questions and too many uncertainties existed for those who had been in power so long to lay down their power at the feet of Jesus and to surrender to him. In fear of what they did not understand or comprehend, they said, Crucify! Crucify!

When Pilate asks him if He is the king of the Jews, Jesus says, Is that your own idea, or did others talk to you about me? Jesus goes on to say, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place. Without argument, Pilate quickly concedes, You are a king, then! Jesus follows with further heresy according to Jewish Law: You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. But Pilate does not truly believe Jesus is a king or he would not have had him beaten; he would not have said, Here is the man! You take him and crucify him. No, Jesus was not the man: not a man that any mere human soldier or any Roman ruler possessed the power to mock or to curse or to pass judgment upon him without falling down dead unless God stayed his mighty hand of retribution. Jesus, the Word made flesh, was and is and always shall be God: the God who walked on Earth in human form: born of a woman; tested in all ways as we are, yet without sin. He was willing to die a most cruel death that all might live forevermore. Standing before the people a true king, the Most High King of all kings, Jesus defends not himself but places himself in God's hands and faces his destiny.

To the ungodly, the unknowing, this scene might appear as the nadir, the midnight hour, of Jesus' existence as they watch his demise draw nigh. But in the heavenly realm, on that day a mighty host prepares for a day of rejoicing as Father God sees the zenith of his greatest victory soon to appear in the sunrise of an empty tomb. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Christ will rise victoriously from the grave, bringing light and life to the people who sit in darkness in triumph over sin and death. Satan will topple in defeat, his grip on man forever loosened. Christ is ready. The time has come for the perfect Lamb of God to offer up his own life as a sacrifice for all. Jesus knows He will arise from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through his death and resurrection all people will find new life. Mankind will shout the victory throughout the ages: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:54b-55) No, Jesus is not the man: He is God's beloved Son who will die and rise again. The works He did on Earth no man could do: the work He will do at the cross no man could ever do. That was established before time began. He lives; therefore, we live also: now and forever. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15) Praise the God of our salvation: praise him all you saints of the Lord!