Pilate to Jesus: “Where are you from?”
Daily Scripture
John 19:5-12
5 When Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here’s the man.”
6 When the chief priests and their deputies saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify, crucify!”
Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find any grounds for a charge against him.”
7 The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a Law, and according to this Law he ought to die because he made himself out to be God’s Son.”
8 When Pilate heard this word, he was even more afraid. 9 He went back into the residence and spoke to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus didn’t answer. 10 So Pilate said, “You won’t speak to me? Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and also to crucify you?”
11 Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me if it had not been given to you from above. That’s why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From that moment on, Pilate wanted to release Jesus.
However, the Jewish leaders cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t a friend of the emperor! Anyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes the emperor!”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Pontius Pilate never imagined anything like Star Trek. But dealing with a minor religious dust-up he met a person who seemed worryingly unearthly. The local religious leaders insisted he kill a rabbi from Galilee— “we have a Law, and according to this Law he ought to die because he made himself out to be God’s Son.” Shaken, Pilate asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus didn’t reply bluntly, but did say, “You would have no authority over me if it had not been given to you from above” (at least a hint of where he was from). Jesus clearly was not just from Nazareth!
- Jesus gave answers unlike anyone Pilate had ever examined: “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world …. I came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth” (John 18:36, 37). C. S. Lewis wrote that a man who made such claims falsely “would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.” * How do you respond to Jesus’ claims: was he a lunatic, a liar, or Lord and God?
- Pilate avoided a riot, kept local rulers happy, and upheld Roman power—all at the “small” cost of torturing and killing one innocent peasant rabbi. How did Jesus and Pilate’s dialogue in 19:8-11 show the contrast between external power and inner moral strength? When might you have to choose between pleasing a human power (even if it’s “just” social or family pressure) and doing what’s right? How do you nurture the God-given sensitivity and moral strength to do what’s right?
Prayer
Loving Lord, when Pilate said, “Here’s the man,” the religious leaders snarled “Crucify him.” You’re still “the man,” and I want to follow you, not crucify you. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Amen.
GPS Insights
Caleb Sramec
Caleb Sramec is serving as a modern worship intern at Resurrection this summer. He has been a member of the church since 2018 and has been fortunate enough to serve on many different worship teams. This fall he is going to Fort Hays State University to study psychology and business which he hopes to use toward a career in law enforcement or ministry.
Often in life, you find yourself at a crossroads. Sometimes that fork in the road is a rather significant landmark on your journey but sometimes not. If you’re like me, sometimes they lead you down a rabbit hold of right and wrong. Recently in a study group, the idea of “rumble strips” was brought to light.
If you are driving a vehicle on a road, you have to make countless choices. Those choices are sometimes mistakes and distractions like outside pressure from your phone dinging with notifications, kids arguing in the back seat, or maybe a nice car in a parking lot. Your natural response is to key in on these stimuli blaring around you. Though not inherently bad, they can draw you off course.
Similarly, outer pressure from the world, friends, society, even family, can contrast with your inner moral compass. We see this in John 19:5-12 where Pilate is torn between what the public and the authorities want him to do (crucify Jesus), and what his internal mind is saying (not to crucify Jesus). Though sometimes not as extreme as this circumstance, we all find ourselves in these positions of peer pressure and temptation, even when it goes against our morals. But Jesus can be our rumble strips to keep us on track.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics) (p. 52). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
