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John

John 
Day 
Day 297

John 19:1-16 "A VERY TORN MAN"

Day 297 – John 19

A VERY TORN MAN

Pilate was reluctant to sentence Jesus to death. He expressed this fact in a number of ways. He declared to the Jews at least three separate times that he found “no fault” in Jesus worthy of the death sentence. On all three occasions, the Jews refused to accept his verdict.

Jesus was then sent to Herod, in the hope that he too would concur that Jesus had done nothing worthy of being sentenced to death. However, that move did not impress the Jews at all. They had their own opinions about Herod Antipas, and they did not have very high regards for him at all.

Pilate then had Jesus whipped. He then presented Jesus to the baying crowd. “Behold the Man”, he cried out to the Jews! Surely they had nothing to fear from this Man? However, Pilate had not reckoned with the depth of animosity the Jews felt towards Jesus. They rejected every attempt to bargain with the life of Jesus. They wanted Him dead, and that was the bottom line!

As Jesus spoke to Pilate about “power” and “sin”, the Roman governor found that he wanted to set Jesus free. For some inexplicable reason he found himself seeking every means to set Jesus free. Perhaps, he was afraid of Jesus. What if He was indeed “The Son of God”? Would his miscarriage of justice not weigh against him when he stood before the Divine Judge?

If for no other reason, Pilate would have liked to thwart the purposes of these hypocritical Jews. On the one hand they were plotting to condemn an innocent Man. On the other hand they were preparing themselves to celebrate their most auspicious religious holy event – the Passover! How could they celebrate their Passover when they had just condemned a Just Man?

John noted how Pilate felt in this text.

“From then on Pilate sought to release Him,
but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you let
this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend.
Whoever makes himself a king speaks against
Caesar.'”
John 19:12

Luke recorded how Pilate called Jesus’ accusers together and how he made known to them how he felt.

“Then Pilate, when he had called together the
chief priests, the rulers and the people, said to
them, ‘You have brought this Man to me, as one
who misleads the people. And indeed, having
examined Him in your presence, I have found
no fault in this Man concerning those things
of which you accuse Him; no, neither did
Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed
nothing deserving of death has been done by
Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release
Him.'”
Luke 23:13-16

This summation by Pilate should have been sufficient! Jesus had done nothing worthy of death! He had been “chastised”, (a politically-correct word for the unnecessary and barbaric whipping of Jesus) and he ought to be released before the end of the day.

THE WICKED WILL OF THE JEWS

The Jews realized that Pilate was on the verge of turning the tables on them. They knew that Pilate had the authority to release Jesus. Their trumped up charges did not stand up to scrutiny. Their witnesses were weak simply because they were inconsistent in their testimonies against Jesus. Mark noted this in his Gospel,

“Now the chief priests and all the council sought
testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but
found none. For many bore false witness against
Him, but their testimonies did not agree. Then
some rose up and bore false witness against Him,
saying, ‘We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple
made with hands, and within three days I will
build another made without hands.’ But not even
then did their testimony agree.”
Mark 14:55-59

The Jews had broken their own laws. The chief priests would have been familiar with the laws of Moses which forbade the perversion of the law.

“You shall do no injustice in judgment.”
Leviticus 19:15, 35

“You shall not go about as a talebearer among
your people …”
Leviticus 19:16

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge
against the children of your people …”
Leviticus 19:18

Law after law was broken by the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin Council that spoke up against Jesus. However, their wickedness will prevail over whatever conscience they may have had!

As they listened to Pilate, the Jews knew that they must play one last card! Their trump card was to cite the name of Caesar. If Pilate released Jesus, then he had proven himself to be no friend of Caesar. Once again, the Jews alleged that Jesus had declared Himself a king, and thus he was a political threat to Caesar.

Pilate knew that the Jews were threatening to report him to Caesar. He feared that they would be able to adversely affect the pursuit of his career. What should he do now?