Jesus Before Pilate
Matthew 27:11-31, Mark 15:1-20, Luke 23:1-25, John 18:28-19:16
In these sections of the gospels, we see Jesus brought before the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. The Roman governor was an individual specifically chosen by the emperor to carry out the military, financial, and judicial processes of each sect of the empire. Known for his cruelty, the Jewish council hoped Pilate would sentence Jesus to death. They had charged him with blasphemy for declaring himself the Son of God, but had no legal authority to do so themselves. So, “Jesus stood before the governor” (Matthew 27:11). How shocking is this imagery of Jesus, the King of kings, for whom “all things were created” (Colossians 1:16), standing before a human judge?
Pilate didn’t care about the Sanhedrin’s accusations against Jesus. What did it matter to him if Jesus was blasphemous against a god he didn’t serve? He knew that Jesus was innocent and found “no basis for a charge against him” (John 18:38); however, at this point in history, he was desperately attempting to maintain his political power and favor with the emperor. There were uprisings in Judea, and he was not handling them effectively. He knew the standards of the Roman judicial system said to release Jesus, but he was afraid of losing his authority at the cost of one Jewish man, so he gave the people a choice, and they “insistently demanded that he be crucified” (Luke 23:23). Ignoring the warnings from his wife, Roman law, and his own conscience, he sentenced Jesus to death on a cross.
The Son of God, who was given authority over everything, humbled and submitted himself to the will of God and had his fate sealed by a Roman governor. He was executed unjustly by us and for us, so that the glory of the Holy God would be displayed through his death on the cross. The blood of his sacrifice now covers us and makes us innocent. There was no advocate pleading Jesus’ innocence, and yet, Jesus pleads for us. There was no equitable justice in Pilate’s court, and yet, “He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity” (Psalm 9:8). How great is our God that he would pardon us from the very sentence that he lived out?
As Paul says in in Philippians 2,
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature with God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death ― even to the point of death!” (5-8).
My hope is that just as Christ put aside all pride before Pilate, we as Resonate Church would put our own pride aside as we live tenderly and compassionately with one another. Jesus was fully God and yet chose to lay down his life in submission for the glory of God. As you dwell on this truth today, ask God to reveal the areas of your heart that are not in total submission to him and let it bow under the authority of its maker.
“For all those things my hand has made,
And all those things exist,"
Says the LORD.
"But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at my word.”
(Isaiah 66:2)
