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.”When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.
Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.--John 19:7-11
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
I am looking at John 19 in preparation for a bible study Mary will be giving on Thursday at church. Verses 9-11 really jumped out at me and gave me pause to think. I included 7-8 as background.
Pilate was becoming fearful in regard to who Jesus really was. The Jews in verse 7 said that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. According to John MacArthur the Jew would interpret Jesus' claim as messianic but the Roman would put Him in the category of a divine being. Pilot was afraid he had just whipped and beaten someone who could call vengeance down on him, and, you know, He could. His wife had also warned him to have nothing to do with this Man. In verse 8 Pilate perhaps in fear and superstition asks "Where do you come from?" Jesus gave him no answer. Why? Well, in fulfillment of Scripture is the first answer, but it was because Pilate had already spurned the truth when he asked Jesus earlier, "what is truth?" Jesus had told him who He was and where He was from. See Chapter 18.
Fear and anger many times go hand in hand. Pilate boasts about His power in verse 10 probably because he feels weak and scared inside. In trying to appear strong, however, he only demonstrated his weakness. Pilate had made it clear he WANTED to release Jesus. If he truly did have the power, why didn't he just release Him? Pilate feared man more than he feared God and his cowardice was evident to whomever cared to look.
John 19:11 is filled with both application and irony. "Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." These words of Jesus stopped me short. First, they obviously reveal His love and faith in His Father in heaven. Perfect love casts out all fear. He knew where all authority came from. He knew He was in His Father's hands. Perfect love for His Father enabled Him to surrender to mere men...because He was not doing their will, He was submitting to His Father's will. The most important application here for me...the application that my heart rejoiced over was that Jesus took comfort in this. He took solace in the sovereignty of God. Who better to demonstrate it to us than Jesus because He knew the Father...He revealed who the Father was to us. Now I don't know why I have never thought of Jesus' submission to His Father in quite this way but it is so reassuring to me to know that Jesus was comforted by the knowledge of His Father's character.
Okay...I am starting to understand why I am so excited about this.
Jesus, knowing all things that would come upon Him, takes comfort in being totally in His Father's care. What a beautiful picture of Isaiah 26:3 You will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is set on you, because He trusts in You.
Even amidst all this evil the Lord omnipotent reigns! What an example for us...Jesus, deity laid aside, yielded himself to men who would crucify Him because He was submitted to His Father and knew He was in control. He was sovereign.
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”--John 10:17-18
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”--John 10:28-30
If only, I could have that kind of faith and know that whatever I face here on this earth I face it knowing that nothing happens outside of God's sovereign control. Any authority or position we have is given to us by God. Any situation or trial we find ourselves in is ordained by God. Our very breath, the number of our days is in His hands. We, like Pilate, FOOLISHLY think that we are in charge...that we are the masters of our fate. HA! Pilate thought he was the judge. The irony was that He was in fact being judged on his response to Jesus. We all will be judged on how we responded to Jesus. It is not going to matter what you thought or decided about Jesus...maybe that He was a great teacher, or maybe a prophet or just some warm and fuzzy idea to get some of us through life. Jesus is still going to be God no matter who YOU decide He is.
...Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.
Now at first I thought Jesus was talking about Judas here...my mind did not go to Caiaphas until I read one or two commentaries...I can't really come down on either side...Caiaphas was the head of the Sanhedrin...He did know all of Jesus said and did and yet coldly and calculatingly took an active part in the plot to turn him over to the Romans for crucifixion as well as presiding over the unfair trial. Judas had a more personal day to day knowledge of Jesus which makes his sin of delivering Jesus up perhaps even more reprehensible. Caiaphas and Judas hardened their own hearts and were willful in their unbelief. Unlike Pilate, both Judas and Caiaphas saw and heard overwhelming evidence that Jesus was in fact God's Son. Ironically, however, Pilate, the pagan, was the one who showed fear and trepidation in handing Jesus over to be crucified, as opposed to Judas and Caiaphas, who seemed to revel in their sin. To much is given, much is required. Uh oh...
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” John 18:35
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. John 18:38
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. John 9:41
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. John 15:22-24
Truly the Lord God does rule and reign in the kingdom of men! Jesus took comfort and solace in this...we should too!
Love
Mom
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