POWER AND PARTNERSHIP
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Opening Prayer
Father, open your Word to me with a freshness I cannot ignore— and give me courage to apply it to my life in ways that others will see your Son in me.
Read JOHN 19:1–16a
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
19 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.”
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. 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.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Find a photo of yourself. As you look at it, ask God to show you how you reflect him.Violence, mockery, attempted vindication, and renewed accusations follow thick and fast in today’s verses. From the soldiers’ sneering (v. 3) to Pilate’s indignant boasts of power (v. 10), the passage turns on the subject of sovereignty.
We find ourselves on the sixth day of the Jewish week, the creation day on which God made living creatures and then humankind to co-reign with him (Genesis 1:24–28). From the start, man was meant to have his Maker as king, to be his ambassador, exemplifying and exercising his rule on earth. As God’s people wandered from him, a succession of anointed leaders was appointed to mediate his ways and words. But that wasn’t enough: Israel rejected God’s reign in favor of a human king (1 Samuel 8:7).
Now we see humankind, the creature made in his image, using its God-given authority to kill the Creator and obliterate his perfect Image. With cries of ‘Crucify!’ and declarations of allegiance to Caesar (v. 15), the chief priests bring this biblical storyline to its darkest hour. While his people reject it and Pilate fails to recognize it, Jesus—the true Man—shows us what it looks like to fulfill God’s invitation to reign with him. Life here and now is our opportunity to join him and practice for eternity (Revelation 22:5).
Apply
Think about this day and those to follow. How might you be stepping into co-reigning with God?
Closing prayer
Jesus, as a member of your kingdom, please show me where I can have greater vision to be your witness in the world you have given me.
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