John 19:12-24
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.” f
So this is what the soldiers did. [1]
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I find myself almost feeling sorry for Pilate – but not quite. He knows that it would be right to release Jesus. As a governor, he is well-versed in Roman law, and by that law, there was no justification for crucifying Jesus. This was a local religious squabble that didn’t really matter to Rome, so under normal circumstances, there would be no need to get involved.
But there was a higher unwritten “law” that he was also aware of: keep on the good side of Caesar. When the Jewish leaders attacked him on that front (which was highly ironic and hypocritical of them to do), he caved. (He gets his little passive-aggressive revenge later by putting up a label on the cross that was intended to irritate the Jewish leaders.)
But what is the point that strikes me today? Do I compromise doing what is right for the sake of approval? Do I place a higher value on the approval of people, no matter how powerful and influential, than the approval of my Lord? Can I be tempted away from doing what is right for the sake of maintaining the approval of the people around me?
I am called to seek above all the approval of my heavenly Father. I’m not talking about earning His love or salvation. That is and always will be a gift of His grace. But still I am to seek to glorify my Father by the thoughts, words and deeds. But when we do seek to glorify the Father, our actions toward those around us will be in line with His will, and will ultimately be more of a blessing to them than a short-term striving for their approval
My prayer is that this day in all that I do I would glorify my Father in heaven, seeking His approval above all.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 19:12–24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.