The Declaration of a King

Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

John 19:19-22

John records that the sign that was placed over Jesus to designate the charges against him didn’t come without controversy. The leaders were appalled about what Pilate had done. ‘He wasn’t the King, he just claimed to be’, they shouted. Now because of how it was written, in the three most common tongues of the region, everyone would think that this was true! But Pilate refused to budge. The sign over the cross would stay.

Which seemed kind of out of character for Pilate. He had shown that he was willing to placate the Jews. He had just been willing to sentence a man to death whom he found no fault in because of their pressure. That was the first time it had happened either.

When Pilate first arrived on the scene in Jerusalem he had caused a stir, when soldiers under his command brought in a sign of their own. Records aren’t clear exactly what they brought in either a golden shield, a bust or some kind of standard banner, but the Jews reacted to it all the same. The message on the items declared the Emperor as Lord and King. The Jews saw this as idolatry and a violation of the law.

At first, Pilate wasn’t going to back down, it would have been an insult to the emperor. Then a large group of Jews went to Pilate to protest his actions. Pilate was preparing to send in his troop to remove them when the Jews sat down and refused to budge. Rather than cause carnage, he relented and removed the offending standards.

I wonder if that incident was part of Pilate’s mindset when he created the sign on the cross. All the trouble that they had given him about his king, now Pilate would declare who was king of the Jews. His insult, however, had only one problem, is was absolutely true;

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

Acts 2:36

We all must make our own declaration about Jesus as well. Is he our King, the Christ, the Son of God? It that our standard? Have we made that confession? Have we held to it?

Comments

I Know All Those Words, But That Sentence Makes No Sense To Me

Let’s say you travel back in time six hundred years or so. Luckily, you happen across a fellow that speaks English. Upon hearing your tale, he describes you as nice, smart, and handsome. Wouldn’t you feel good? You shouldn’t. As Sol Steinmetz in his book, Semantics Antics , explains; Nice originally meant someone who was foolish, ignorant, senseless, or absurd (middle English 1300). Smart for the first 300 years of its use meant causing pain, sharp, cutting, or severe, a sense that survives in the idiom "smart as a whip.” Handsome wasn’t complimentary. When coined around 1425, it just meant easily handled; it didn’t have its current positive connotation until 1590. You might think he said you were a kind, intelligent, good looking bloke, when in reality he said you were a foolish pain easily dealt with. Words have an annoying habit of changing meaning over time in the same language and it becomes even more compli...

Master Your Self

In a contest for the toughest president of the United States, it would be hard to go against Theodore Roosevelt. He was known for his “manly” pursuits hunting big game, climbing the Matterhorn, participating in boxing match while president. (These weren’t play fights, he lost the vision on one eye because of them!) Once before he was about to give a speech an assassin shot him in the chest. Roosevelt refused to go to a hospital and insisted on giving his speech, still wearing his blood-soaked shirt! Teddy might have become tough but he wasn’t born that way. He was a sickly child that suffered from severe asthma that almost proved fatal. As was a young boy, doctors discovered that he had a weak heart, and advised him to get a desk job and not strain himself. He was homeschooled because of his many illnesses and spent most of his time indoors. But then as a teen his father, whom Teddy Roosevelt revered, told his son, “ ...

The Gift You Give Yourself

I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog