WHOSE FAULT IS IT? (JOHN 19:1-15)
In the days of the Civil War, it was illegal to trade in cotton; but many unscrupulous speculators tried to buy cotton in the South, run it through the Union lines, and sell it at great profit in the North. One of these speculators approached a Mississippi steamboat captain and offered him $100 if he would run his cotton up the river for him. The captain declined, reminding him that it was illegal. “I will give you $500, said the man. “No,” answered the captain.
“I will give you $1000.” “No,” the captain said again.
“I will give you $3000.” At that, the captain drew his pistol, and pointing it at the man, he said, “Get off this boat! You are coming too near my price.”
It’s been said, “Everybody has a price.”
Pontius Pilate is a key figure, if not the central figure, in deciding Jesus’ fate. He was appointed the fifth procurator of Judea in A.D. 26, but his ten year relationship with and rule of the Jews and Samaritans were poisoned from the start. It ended when he was reported and removed from office for his violent treatment of a Samaritan religious group. His cruelty was addressed in Luke 13:1-2 as well. Pilate was a selfish, stubborn and self-righteous man. He was a corrupt and crooked career politician who served no one’s interest, including his wife’s interest (Matt 27:19).
What opportunities and occasions have God given you to serve Him? How do we exert our influence and be involved and not be isolated in the world and in the community today? Why is the public office just as good as the company office and home office for a place to serve God?
Volunteer Your Compassion
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John 19:1-6)
Dwight Morrow, the father of author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, once held a dinner party to which President Calvin Coolidge had been invited. After Coolidge left, Morrow told the remaining guests that Coolidge would make a good president. The others disagreed. They felt Coolidge was too quiet, that he lacked color and personality. No one would like him, they said. Anne, then age six, spoke up: “I like him,” she said. Then she displayed a finger with a small bandage around it. “He was the only one at the party who asked about my sore finger.” “And that's why he would make a good president,” added Morrow. (Bits & Pieces, February 4, 1993)
Verse 1 in NIV says “Pilate took Jesus and HAD HIM flogged,” but all other versions agree that Pilate scourged him (KJV, NASB, RSV) or flogged him (ESV).Pilate was not a passive bystander but a powerful advocate. There was no mistake or misinterpretation. Pilate flogged Jesus, not had him flogged. Pilate was subject, the action was the flogging, and the object was Jesus. Pilate was more complicated, conniving and complicit than most people think. John the eyewitness, who was with Jesus all the way from within the court (John 18:15) to the outdoor cross (John 19:26), saw Pilate flogging Jesus. Jesus predicted he would be flocked by Gentiles in the gospels (Matt 20:19, Mark 10:33, Luke 18:33), but who ended up flogging Him? Pilate (v 1). We often see soldiers whipping Jesus in the movies or the miniseries, but seldom Pilate persecuting or punishing Jesus. The chief priests and officers (v 6), the Jews (v 14), the multitude (Matt 27:20), the people (Mark 15:11) and the rulers (Luke 23:13) all demanded Jesus to be crucified, but never his flogging, so Pilate decided and delivered it himself. He was not provoked or pressured into action. It was his mean, menacing and merciless side working overtime. Ultimately he had no compassion. Encyclopedias such as Wikipedia record much of Pilate’s history but not his flogging. Philo the historian attested that Pilate had “vindictiveness and furious temper,” and was “naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness” (Wikipedia).
Flogging was a Roman means to extract confession. Unlike Indiana Jones’ long whip, the Roman whip was shorter to inflict more pressure and pain, with indented bronze or glass fastened to thongs or cords at the snake-tongue end of the whip to cause more hurt and harm. In those days victims often stand or lie down flogging. Everyone’s last image of Pilate was of him washing his hand, but it was because he soiled his hands by whipping Jesus. Literally and figuratively he soiled his hand.
Compassion distinguishes caring leaders from career politicians. Leaders need to have a sharing and serving heart, not serve for selfish but sincere reasons.
Verify Your Character
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. (John 19:7-9)
Al Gore is out jogging one morning, notices a little boy on the corner with a box. Curious he runs over to the child and says, “What’s in the box kid?” The little boy says, “Kittens, they’re brand new kittens.”
Al Gore laughs and says, “What kind of kittens are they?” “Democrats,” the child says.
“Oh that’s cute,” Al Gore says and he runs off.
A couple of days later Al Gore is running with his buddy Bill Clinton and he spies the same boy with his box just ahead. Al Gore says to Bill, “You gotta check this out” and they both jog over to the boy with the box.
Al Gore says, “Look in the box Bill, isn’t that cute? Look at those little kittens. Hey kid tell my friend Bill that kind of kittens they are.” The boy replies, “They’re Republicans.”
“Whoa!” Al Gore says, “I came by here the other day and you said they were Democrats. What’s up?” “Well,” the kid says, “Their eyes are open now.”
Comedian Groucho Marx said, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
Pilate was the perfect politician personified. Before chapter 19 Pilate uttered the first of his three famous “I find no fault in him” speeches (John 18:38). In Greek the personal pronoun “I” was emphatic: “I, nothing, I find fault in Him” (John 18:38). The second claim was more impressive because the same line was packaged as a purpose clause (hina subjunctive): “(in order) THAT ye may KNOW that I find no fault in him” (John 19:4, KJV). The third was the crescendo with two imperatives and a reason added: “TAKE ye him, and CRUCIFY him: FOR (gar) I find no fault in him” (v 6, KJV). At the end of his three “no fault” declarations, Pilate had expertly pronounced Jesus as not guilty with the skillful repetition of personal pronoun “I” initially, followed by a purpose (hina subjunctive) clause, and topped it with two imperatives. It was quite a presentation and a performance.
If there was no fault in Jesus whose fault was it? Pilate was the top guy and most responsible for Jesus’ death, right from inspection to implement, from indecision to injustice, from interrogation but imperatives. He was fearful of Jesus (v 8) and the crowd, protesting his innocence and provoking the crowd at the same time to his advantage. In the other three gospels the people chanted twice, “Crucify Him crucify him,” but not John’s gospel. The third “Crucify him” was instigated by Pilate (v 6). John the eyewitness indicted Pilate’s involvement and not independence in Jesus’ sentence. Pilate’s fault and flaws were that he was a double-minded, two-timing and heart-hardened person. It was premeditated and promoted. Nothing was personal to him, but politics as usual to him. Politics is a dirty word that ruins and betrays commoners and citizens, from city to country, from courtroom to church.
Milton Friedman said, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
If you exercise or exert influence, you have to add character to compassion. Credible is how people perceive you, but character is who you really are.
Voice Your Conscience
10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 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. (John 19:10-16)
To Have Power Over Others
To have power over others is something one does not need
For tis only by good example that one can ever lead
And many with power over others their power they do abuse
And for those who abuse others there cannot be an excuse.
If you wish to be a leader some sort of form of power you crave
And what it takes to be a great leader is to be understanding kind and brave
But leaders with such qualities to say the least seem rare
To some very ordinary people they do favorably compare.
For to have power over others a good person does not desire
And many power hungry people are those we should not admire
Power over others and personal power are different from night and day
We all do need some personal power for to serve survival's way.
To have power over others is something one can do without
And on those who desire such powers one has to cast some doubt
They seem to be control freaks with darkness of the soul
The lives of other people they do need to control.
Francis Duggan
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
Power is repeated three times, twice in verse 10 and once in verse 11, which begs the question: “Who is more powerful? Jesus or Pilate?” Pilate’s power (vv 19, 11) was inferior, intoxicated and institutionalized. He had the power to order Jesus’ crucifixion, but not the power to oppose the Jews. John’s gospel is fascinating because the Jews were recorded only five or six times each in other gospels, but 71 times in John. Pilate caved in and catered to power brokers, vested interests and mob mentality. What Pilate had was the position, but Jesus was the one with power. Pilate was the beneficiary, but Jesus is the Benefactor. Power is displaying conscience and courage under coercion. Pilate’s power was periodical, but Jesus’ power was permanent. Pilate was power crazy, but Jesus is the power supply. Jesus has three exclusive powers in John’s gospel, to save from sins (John 1:12), to judge the world (John 5:27), to raise the dead (John 10:18) and to give eternal life (John 17:2).
To Pilate’s question (v 10, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”), Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (v 11). That was Jesus’ way of telling Pilate, “You have no power over me.” Pilate did not have power in himself or over others, so how could he have power over Jesus? Pilate’s power was a sham because he acted above the law in condemning a person without fault. It was an attempt to placate or please the Jews. Jesus never tried to please anybody. Jesus did not compromise his stand, cry for mercy or consult a lawyer. Pilate had the power to exercise judgment, but Jesus has the power to execute justice.
True power is not pragmatic, projected, provoked, promoted or punitive, but positive, purposeful, peaceable, prudent and praiseworthy. What is the last verb of the narrative in verse 16? What is most intriguing is that the verb “handed him over” corresponds to one other person in the betrayal narrative, none other than Judas. Pilate was no do different from Judas. Ironically and interestingly, the last person to hand Jesus over in John’s gospel was not Judas (John 18:2, 5), the Jews or the chief priest (John 18:35), but Pilate (John 19:26). Pilate was the kind of guy Jesus was not. He sacrificed others to save himself, smeared others to secure himself, suppressed others to serve himself. Jesus, on the other hand, was the Servant King, transparent, true and triumphant to the end. He died so that we might live. He emptied himself to exalt us. He left heaven for us to escape hell.
Conclusion: What kind of person are you in God eyes. Do you have compassion, character and conscience to lead Can you say no to power, pride and popularity? Do you follow the footsteps of Jesus, to honor God and humble yourself in suffering, sorrow or shame?
