Earlier, we have
established that Pilate found Jesus not guilty. The accusations made against
Jesus did not square up with what he found out through his own interrogation. Then
he explored the custom of releasing a convicted felon on death sentence, during
the Jewish Passover to release Jesus. This was what the Roman authority would do to show their graciousness.
But the Jews did not take his bait. So they refused his seemingly kind gesture toward
Jesus. Instead, they demanded for Barabbas. So in John 19:1-3, Pilate tried
another way to have Jesus released without him having to take a stand for what’s
right. We are told that he had Jesus scourged.
“The soldiers then
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple
robe on Him; and they began to come up to
Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.” The description
of the unfair treatment Jesus received here was predicted by Isaiah many years
before hand. We are told in Isaiah 53:5 that “The chastening for
our well-being fell upon Him,
and by His scourging we are healed.” Pilate’s
unwillingness to act on his right findings, had allowed the soldiers to scourge
Jesus. They cruelly and heartlessly ploughed through His bareback with a
leather whip that had pieces of metal and bones embedded. His skin was literally
ripped off, leaving a bloody and torn back. Then they pressed a crown of thorns
on His head as the soldiers incessantly mocked and taunted Him. They made Him wear
a purple robe and insultingly and derisively proclaimed, “Hail, King of
the Jews!” As if that was not enough, they also slapped Him repeatedly on His
face.
Having had Jesus scourged, Pilate again
came out to the Jews telling them that he found no guilt in Him. He was hoping
that the cruel treatment he dealt to Jesus would placate them but it didn’t. Here
Jesus, the King, came out to the praetorium wearing a purple robe and a crowd
of thorns as Pilate sarcastically announced, “Behold, the Man!” Although the chief
priests and the officers saw Jesus in that state, they remained unmoved and became
even more vehement to have His blood. “Crucify, crucify!” They cried. Exasperated,
Pilate again repeated that he had found no guilt in Jesus. By this time he was already
tottering at the brink of giving in to their demand and had no moral courage to
stand up for what’s right. So he told them, “Take Him yourselves and
crucify Him, for I find no
guilt in Him.”
Pilate’s cruel
treatment of Jesus leave us with a lesson: that a seared conscience could never
stand up to the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil. It reveals to
us that unless we are connected to God, we too would succumb and wilt under the
pressures and demands of the world. And when that happens, we will have to suffer
the folly of wrong choices. Pilate chose compromise. His wrong choice ended up
subjecting an innocent man to undue injustice. He was too coward to stand up to
his right conscience. In this account the crowd also made a wrong choice, they
demanded the release of Barabbas and ended up sending the Son of God to Calvary.
John had been trying to show us how anxious Pilate was to release Jesus.
He declared more than once that he found no crime in Jesus. He sought for a way
to outwit the determination of the religious authority to crucify Jesus. But he
wanted to do it at no cost to himself. Pilate was unwilling to pay the price to
do what is right. What about us? Are we willing to pay the price for what is right?
We must never allow ourselves to slip into the weakness of Pilate. We must seek
to remain loyal to Jesus as we stand with and for Him. Don’t be pressured by the
world into taking a compromised stand. Instead be loyal, always standing with Jesus
our Lord, and the truth we found in Him.
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