YOUR LOVE IS KING
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, take all of me. Have Your way in my life.
Read Mark 15:1–15
Jesus Before Pilate
15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over 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
Why do you believe Jesus is the One?Meanwhile, Jesus is led to Pilate who asks a question, knowing full well the answer (it’s Herod!). But Jesus replies, “You have said so” (2). It’s as though that title of sovereignty, even though unspoken, goes without question. Has Pilate answered his own question? Further enquiry elicits no reply from Jesus and brings mystery: why doesn’t He defend Himself and what manner of man is this (4, 5)? Pilate’s retort to the people: “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” is the literary equivalent of washing his hands of the matter. After all, what do the rif-raf of this people know about it (12; Matthew 27:24)?
How do we see this King? Do we claim Him as King, accepting that what He says goes? We learn about Jesus from His own words, not from making up our own “Jesus” in our heads. The creature is not greater than its Creator; we must allow Him to reign in us if we are to rise with Him in glory.
Apply
Is Jesus truly King in your life? Does His Word have the ultimate say in your choices and actions? Kneel before Him today and surrender fully to God’s will over your life.
Closing prayer
Lord, You know all and are King of all, teach me Your ways.
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