Browse Bible Study Resources

Daily Devotions

Luke

Luke 
Day 
Day 321

Luke 23:32-38; John 19:17-22; Matthew 27:35-44; Mark 15:24-32 "THE INSCRIPTION OF ACCUSATION"

Day 321 – Luke 23

Text: Luke 23:32-38; John 19:17-22; Matthew 27:35-44; Mark 15:24-32

THE INSCRIPTION OF ACCUSATION

All four Gospels noted the inscription that was placed on the cross of Jesus. Only John noted that there was a dispute between the Jews and Pontius Pilate concerning the wording of the inscription. It was quite normal for a title to be made, to signify the crime committed.

John recorded that the Jews tried to manipulate the governor, even to the minutest detail. On this score, Pilate had the last laugh! He must have known that what he had inscribed would pique the Jews…

“Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross.
And the writing was:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
John 19:19

Technically, Pilate was correct. The Jews had charged that Jesus had committed treason against the Emperor, when He made Himself King. The Jews has pressed other charges against Jesus, but the others were religious in nature. They accused Jesus of blasphemy. Pilate could not place those charges against Jesus, for religious judgment was entrusted to the Sanhedrin Council by Rome itself.

The Jews knew that Pilate was within his rights to put up such an inscription, but the title would then be ambiguous. It could be read that Jesus was truly the King of the Jews, which could in turn be understood as a Messianic title. The Hebrew Scriptures did prophesy that the Messiah would come as King, fulfilling a prophecy given by God to David (Cf. Isaiah 9:6).

It could also be read as if Pontius Pilate, representing Rome mocking the Jews. Imagine having their King crucified as a common criminal! Worse, the inscription was “written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin” (John 19:20; Luke 23:38). Anyone passing by could read the inscription very clearly.

The Jews were not clearly dissatisfied with the inscription. They approached Pilate and said,

” ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”
But, “He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.” ”
Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written'”
John 19:22

Pilate must have been disgusted with the Jews by now. This time he refused to budge. He had been coerced to release Barabbas and to condemn Jesus! This wasn’t what he wanted to do. He had felt trapped by these unscrupulous and hypocritical Jews whom he must have hated with increasing intensity with every passing hour, and with every contact he had with them.

Let them stew over what he had written. Let them fret and fume over the inscription! Serves them right for the wickedness they had obviously displayed against an innocent Man!

FURTHER MOCKING OF JESUS

The Jews had failed in their bid to get Pilate to change the inscription. In a foul mood, the Jews and other bystanders railed and blasphemed Jesus. Mark noted some of the things hurled against Jesus.

“And those who passed by blasphemed Him,
wagging their heads and saying,
‘Aha! You who destroy the Temple and build it in three days,
save Yourself, and come down from the cross!’
Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves
With the scribes said,
‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross,
That we may see and believe.’
Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.”
Mark 15:29-32

Luke added another perspective,

“The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering
Him sour wine, and saying,
‘If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”
Luke 23:36

Five different groups of people – and they all despised Jesus in their own respective ways.

1. There was Pontius Pilate, who by this time must have been disillusioned with Jesus. After all, he could order the flogging of Jesus and sentence Him to death by crucifixion. What kind of a king could Jesus be if He couldn’t even defend Himself?

2. Then there were the Jews, the chief priests and the scribes. They had been at their venomous worst! They mocked Jesus with every bit of vile strength they could muster.

3. Then there were the bystanders. What did they know about Jesus? These could well be the people the chief priests and scribes had instigated to cry out for the death of Jesus.

4. The two criminals who were crucified with Jesus, caught up with the cry of the crowds also railed against Him.

5. The soldiers who were on guard duty added their two cents worth! They joined in the mocking of Jesus!

“BUT WE SEE JESUS…”

How would you have responded if you were the one crucified? Severely beaten, mocked over and over again, hated deeply, rejected by enemies, and forsaken by friends! How would you have responded?