John 19:7-11 – God is still in control

Pilate was hoping that the compassion of the Jews could be aroused on seeing the grossly mistreated body of Jesus. But He was wrong on many counts. The crowd was unmoved. The innocent Jesus was subjected to gross abuse. And Pilate had just displayed his moral weakness and cowardice by his refusal to act on what’s right. Remember the Lord was standing before the Jews, bloodied and torn all over by the scourging he went through. He was also wearing a purple robe which the soldiers had dressed him in mockery. Blood was also trickling down His thorns-pierced brow caused by the crown of thorns that they pressed over His head. But instead of being placated, the cries of the multitude for Jesus’ blood went even more vociferous. The Jews kept calling for Jesus to be crucified. Exasperated by their insistence, Pilate literally told them that they could crucify Him as they pleased. It was his way of saying, “I don’t think He deserves death but if you all are so insistent, you don’t have to ask me. Just go and do what you please.” Of course the Jews knew that they did not have the right to do so without his signal to go-ahead.

So the priests appealed to their Jewish law.  They insisted that “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard that he became even more afraid. Why? It’s because he misinterpreted what they had said. As far as the Jews were concerned, they saw God as only one. Anyone claiming to be the Son of God was blaspheming. They were saying that Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God was a blasphemy that deserved the death sentence. But as a pagan, Pilate believed that there were many gods and many children of the gods. He concluded that they were saying that Jesus was one of the sons of the gods. So as a demi-god, Jesus would possess supernatural powers and could come and wreak vengeance upon one who had displeased Him. Being superstitious, Pilate was struck by fear in his heart.

Immediately he took Jesus back into the praetorium and asked Him, “Where are You from?” What he wanted to know was who Jesus really was and what kind of person was He. But Jesus refused to answer him. In anger, Pilate attempted to impress Jesus with the power he possessed. He audaciously told Jesus that he had the power to release Him and the authority to have Him crucified. He over-estimated his own ability. He was oblivious to the fact that God is the source of all authority and without His consent, nothing moves.

Notice how gently and with dignity Jesus revealed the truth to Pilate. He simply told him, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  Jesus was inferring that Pilate was an ignorant man who was unaware of how God operates. But the priests did. They were learned people who knew the Law and the Old Testament. Of all people, they would have been aware of the demands of God for justice, love and mercy toward others. Jesus was showing that He was truly innocent as Pilate had discovered. And the guilty ones were the priests. They had committed a greater sin by delivering an innocent man over to this pagan governor to be crucified.

As followers of Christ, we need to know what the Bible says about life here on earth. We need to know that God is in control of everything and He’s in-charge of all our lives. He is the source of power behind all our experiences in life. Nothing can happen to us without His permission and nothing happens to us by chance. As Paul so confidently declared in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Knowing this will help us deal with the problems of injustice, pain, heartache, and diseases, and all the calamities we encountered in life. We must be aware that we live in an imperfect world and when we face unjust treatments we must know that God is still in control. He is still running the world. No one has power except what is given from above!