- Paint a picture of all the conflicting priorities we try to hold onto simultaneously: money, family, relationships, morality, power, religion, etc.
THE BIG QUESTION FOR THIS MORNING: What’s the last thing in your hands?
- When we think of all those things, there are situations where we have to drop one for the other.
a. A romance is dropped because of a prime job opportunity in another city.
b. Family is dropped because of a chance to go hang out with friends.
c. Morality is dropped because it might end a romantic relationship.
THE ANSWER FOR PILATE: The last thing in his hands is his power.
- John 19:1-16.
- The thing that Pilate treasures more than anything else is his political power. This passage is an interesting unfolding of Pilate trying to find a way to do what’s right while also holding onto his power. Of course, in the end, it’s his power that he won’t lay down, but it takes him a minute to get there.
- Let’s unpack the progression:
a. Pilate believes Jesus is innocent.
- John 18:38.
- This is an important baseline. Pilate states that he does not think Jesus deserves to die.
b. The crowd rebels, so Pilate flogs Jesus, probably in an attempt to create sympathy for Jesus.
- John 19:1, 4-5.
- We can’t be certain but the most logical motive for Pilate having Jesus flogged is to create sympathy. Pilate is unhappy the crowd wants to Jesus to die, so he has Him flogged, thus making Him look like someone deserving the crowd’s sympathy. In v. 4, Pilate again states that he believes Jesus is innocent and then in v. 5 says, “Here is the man.” That likely means, “Is this the person you’re so upset about? Look how unthreatening He looks.”
c. The crowd rebels again, so Pilate tells them to do the dirty work themselves.
- John 19:6-8.
- His attempt to gain sympathy from the crowd fails, so he goes another step down the line: he tells them he won’t stop them from killing Jesus but that he’s not going to do it. Notice that he again says that he thinks Jesus is innocent, but nonetheless he won’t stop them from murder.
d. The crowd informs Pilate that Jesus claims to be the “Son of God”; this freaks Pilate out.
- John 19:7-11.
- Pilate has an unexpectedly strong reaction to the crowd telling him that Jesus claims to be the Son of God. Why does Pilate react like that? The most likely reason is not that he understood the Old Testament and suddenly realized that Jesus was God Incarnate, in accordance with the prophecies. No, the most likely reason is that Pilate believed the Greco-Roman mythology that sometimes the gods took on human form. If you believed that, you obviously wouldn’t want to be the person who condemned a god in human form to death when he revealed his godhood.
- This is why Pilate asks Jesus where He comes from. He’s wondering if it’s not earth.
- Important for our purposes here: notice in v. 12 how the urgency of Pilate’s actions takes a step up. The need to save Jesus is increasing. It’s going to be harder from here on for Pilate to agree to execute Jesus.
e. Now we come to the climax of the scene: Pilate’s power is directly threatened.
- John 19:12-16.
- To use the question we started with: what is the last thing in your hands?
- Here Pilate essentially has two things left in his hands and he’s going to have to drop one of them. The two things are: doing what’s right and preserving his power.
- Doing what’s right involves standing up to the crowd and refusing to crucify Jesus on moral principle. Pilate continues to believe that Jesus has done no wrong. It’s immoral to kill an innocent man.
- Preserving his power starts with the threat the crowd makes. They know that Pilate has had a serious of problems in his rule. They know that if they tell Pilate’s boss that he let go a man claiming to be a king that it will likely mean the end of Pilate’s rule. They say exactly that in v. 12. Pilate understands they threat they are making.
- Notice in v. 15 how he goes further: do you (still) want me to crucify your king? He’s still rebelling a little by calling Jesus a king. It’s just for show, though, because they exploit his weakness by again saying they have no king but Caesar.
- To frame it using the question we started with: Pilate has two things in his hands. We go through several rounds here (as detailed above) with Pilate working hard to hold onto both of them. He wants to do the right thing and he wants to hold onto his power.
- But his attempts are unsuccessful and a point is reached where one thing is going to have to be dropped from his hand. He has to choose: do what’s right or hold onto his power. Verse 16 tells us that he lets “what’s right” drop from his hands and he is left holding only his power.
- Power is a demanding god. Much may have to be sacrificed to maintain it. Here Pilate loses his morality to preserve it.
- It’s ironic that Pilate is obsessed with his power and yet in many ways he has the least power in this scene. He’s so weak because he is willing to do whatever it takes to preserve what he treasures.
- What might this look like today?
- The issue here is power (and that certainly is a relevant issue today) but it could be one of a hundred other things too.
a. “I’ll follow You as long as I’m still making as much money.”
b. “I’ll follow You as long as I’m still as popular as I am now.”
c. “I’ll follow You as long as I get to call the shots in my life.”
d. “I’ll follow You as long as I don’t have to give up that habit.”
e. “I’ll follow You as long as I have as much power as I have now.”
- It’s crude to ask “What do I want more than Jesus?” but those questions make it clear that many people have something they want more than Jesus.
- If we have money/popularity/authority/sin/power in our hands along with our belief in Jesus and we have to drop one, who gets dropped? Often, it’s Jesus that gets dropped.
HOW DID JESUS HANDLE POWER? Jesus was only concerned about “power from above.”
- John 19:11.
- There is an interesting reference in v. 11 that helps us to understand the larger situation.
- Jesus tells Pilate that he would have no power if he had not been granted it “from above.” One way to say that is that there is earthly power and then there is power from above.
- Pilate is clearly obsessed with his earthly power. He is doing all he can here to try to preserve it.
- Jesus, on the other hand, knows that there is also power from above. That is the only kind of power that He is interested in. How did that play out in His life?
a. Jesus emptied Himself of His power.
- Philippians 2:5-11.
b. Jesus relied on the Father to supply the power He needed.
- John 14:10.
c. Jesus commissioned us with power from above.
- Matthew 28:18-20.
d. The passage here clearly indicates that God has the power, should He desire, to refute any earthly power.
- John 19:11.
- When you add all this together, it shows us that Jesus was focused on power from above, not earthly power. It further shows that He wants us to be the same way.
- Pilate, as we’ve shown, is tying himself in knots trying to preserve his earthly power. The last thing in his hand is his power, not his morality.
- We should be blessedly free of that wrangling. Why? Because we have heavenly power and that’s enough.
- What would that look like in our lives?
a. The only power in my life that ultimately matters is what is given to me by God.
b. I trust God to hold my power.
c. I hold everything else lightly.
- Four examples of that:
a. On the eve of a potentially costly vote, a politician who is a Christian prays contentedly, “I’m going to do the right thing and if it later costs me the next election, that’s fine. I’ve got all I need in you.”
b. Workplace. Not lying to cover up even though it might cost a job.
c. Friendship. Not doing questionable things even though it might cost the relationship.
d. Romance. Not doing what’s wrong even though it might end the relationship.
- As we think about this, think of two people awaiting a plane flight.
- One is on standby. If conditions are right and a certain number of people don’t show up and there aren’t too many in front of him, then he’ll get on the flight.
- The second has a reserved seat. He is guaranteed a spot.
- The first is full of anxiety and uncertainty because they really want to be on the flight.
- The second is relaxed and secure because they know their spot is certain.
JESUS PROVIDES US A STARK EXAMPLE: The last thing in Jesus’ hand was God’s will.
- John 19:1-3.
- The first three verses of this passage have some stark imagery in them: we see Jesus as the mocked King.
a. He is wearing a crown, but it’s a crown of thorns.
b. He is clothed in royal purple, but it is without respect.
c. He is hailed as king, but it’s a mockery.
- Such ugly mockery and yet Jesus is not acting like Pilate, trying to somehow grab His power back in this midst of this moment.
- Why not?
- Because the last thing in Jesus’ hands is God’s will. As long as He is doing God’s will, the other things can fall without Him being concerned.
- Pilate earlier provided a clear picture of someone desperately trying to cling to their power. Jesus here provides a clear picture of someone content to have only God’s will left in His hands.
- And He can do that because He knows that even without any earthly power, He still has power from above and that the Father will exercise that at the right moment on His behalf.
- So the question to close with this morning is: what are you clinging to? What’s the last thing in your hand? If it’s anything other than God and His will, it’s time to reassess.
