five3challenge: John 19

"The Trial of the century!"

After Jesus was arrested, he was tried first by the Jewish authorities, but since they were under Roman rule, they had no real authority.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all talk about the encounter between Jesus and the Roman Governor named Pilate.

In John 18, this account begins when Pilate called for Jesus to be brought to him.

"Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked him.

Jesus replied, "Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?"

"Am I a Jew?" Pilate retorted. "Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?"

Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world."

After this happened, Pilate actually attempted to let Jesus go... This is really strange because if Jesus truly were a king, he would have been viewed as an insurgent and should have been killed to keep him from stirring up a rebellion. Why did the Roman government not care that Jesus claimed to be a king?

The answer is the statement that Jesus made. His kingdom was not of this world. Jesus did not come to gain political or military power, if he had, then he easily could have raised an army and defeated even rome... After all what good are chariots against the one who created the universe?

But that was not Jesus intent. Rather than political power or might, he was going to save the universe simply by an act of utter humility.

It is interesting to think about what this means to us living today about power.

Jesus in weakness, was stronger than Pilate's political strength.

When we are weak, but depend on Jesus, then we are actually strong...