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| Daily Devo/Bible Study - 3/3/2010 - John 19:4-7 |
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| Deep Thoughts | |||
| Written by Jonathan Hsieh | |||
| Wednesday, 03 March 2010 21:40 | |||
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19:4 Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him.” 19:5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look, here is the man!” 19:6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!” 19:7 The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”
19:4 Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him.” 19:5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look, here is the man!”
After Pilate had his men thoroughly beat and humiliate Jesus and give Him a purple cloak and a crown of thorns, he presents Jesus to the crowd. He hopes that they will see what Jesus has been through and think that He's had enough and so release Him. Pilate has not found any reason to have Jesus crucified, so he doesn't want to execute Jesus. Pilate presents Jesus with the famous words "Look, here is the man!" The Latin for this is "Ecce homo". There is even an arch named the Ecce Homo Arch, located at the Antonia Fortress on the Via Dolorosa, where tradition holds that this happened at. As mentioned previously, these events more likely occurred at Herod's palace.
19:6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!”
They see Jesus and Pilate's plan totally fails. They still want to crucify Jesus. They want Him dead. He was about to let them do it, because Pilate couldn't crucify Jesus with a clean conscious. Again Pilate states that he finds Jesus totally innocent. Pilate can't find a reason to have Him executed.
19:7 The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”
The Jews respond with the real reason they want Jesus executed. Their main concern is not in Him causing a rebellion, but that they believe Jesus was blaspheming, calling Himself the Son of God.
Again this shows Jesus' humility in amazing form. Here is Jesus Christ, who made these people and is God. Jesus had come to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). It is this very Word of God that these religious leaders were trying to use against Jesus. If I were in that situation (thankfully, I was not) it would've been almost impossible for me to not call down an army to teach these rats a lesson they'll never forget. But Jesus stood His ground. Pilate repeatedly declared Him innocent for crucifixion, but the Jews didn't care. They just wanted Him dead.
Just as Jesus was falsely accused and attacked, although being innocent, Christians will be persecuted. As Peter writes (1 Peter 3:17), it's better to be persecuted for doing good than for doing evil. If we are persecuted, let's hope it's for doing good, what we should be doing, instead of evil.
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