10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar (John 19: 10-12).
As I discussed yesterday, Pilate didn’t want to crucify Jesus. Pilate recognized that Christ was innocent and that the Chief Priests really wanted Christ dead because they feared loss of control or out of jealousy. Jesus says something interesting here; He knows Pilate is worried that he is making the wrong decision, and Christ tells Pilate that he is less to blame than the religious leaders. Also interesting is that Pilate’s power and authority to have Christ crucified is granted by divine prerogative. Pilate is accountable and guilty of the action but it was allowed to occur. That is God Himself granted the power. We now know why, it was the will of God to save us. The greatest news in history resulted from the worst event imaginable. The worst event was the suffering and death of the author of life. But out of the travesty came the hope of all eternity through the resurrection.
As I discussed yesterday, Pilate didn’t want to crucify Jesus. Pilate recognized that Christ was innocent and that the Chief Priests really wanted Christ dead because they feared loss of control or out of jealousy. Jesus says something interesting here; He knows Pilate is worried that he is making the wrong decision, and Christ tells Pilate that he is less to blame than the religious leaders. Also interesting is that Pilate’s power and authority to have Christ crucified is granted by divine prerogative. Pilate is accountable and guilty of the action but it was allowed to occur. That is God Himself granted the power. We now know why, it was the will of God to save us. The greatest news in history resulted from the worst event imaginable. The worst event was the suffering and death of the author of life. But out of the travesty came the hope of all eternity through the resurrection.
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