Shall I crucify your king ?

John 19:1-16
We love power, and it's nice to hear that to follow Jesus is to follow the powerful one shown through powerful healing and teaching.

In this passage we see Jesus being mocked, beaten and humiliated and it can be difficult to see this as a demonstration of power. It's horrific that this treatment should happen to anyone, and yet this happens to the true king of the world.

How disciplined Jesus must have been to restrain himself in the midst of the physical and emotional torture, all to be obedient to God's plan.

So who has the power in this passage?

Pilate who has the authority of Rome, control of the armed forces and it would initially seem that he is the one with power.
But, Pilate and the Jewish priests are in power struggle, and the Jewish leaders blackmail Pilate suggesting that Jesus is claiming to be in opposition to Caesar, recognizing Pilate's shallow conviction.

John points out the irony of the Jewish leaders who despite their religious beliefs say that 'we have no king but Caesar'. The truth is that the Jewish leaders didn't recognize Jesus as the messiah because he didn't exhibit what they were looking for in power - physical and political power.

Jesus explains in the climax to this passage that all power comes from God and while he could have with a spoken word zapped his mockers, he respectfully in obedience bore this suffering in our place.

Isaiah 53 forecasts that Jesus was to be humiliated, disfigured, as a suffering servant king - which is the amazing way that he became the conquering messiah!

To have Jesus as your king is to humbly accept His salvation. Our sin caused Jesus to take this path.

To follow this true King, we need to serve Jesus by humbly unselfishly and sacrificially serving those around us, in order to bring glory to God's name.

Created over 1 year ago