Sentenced!

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Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, You were rich, but for my sake You became poor, that through Your poverty I might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).

Read John 19:1-16

^[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.” ^[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. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

Meditate

“O sacred head, sore wounded, / With grief and shame bowed down, / Now scornfully surrounded, / With thorns, thy only crown!” (Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1151).

Think Further

Today’s reading concerns a king who was sentenced to die. For the soldiers, Jesus was a laughable king. In a world where life was cheap, the soldiers behaved according to type. Jesus meant nothing to them; he was just another prisoner to torture and humiliate. He was bleeding and abused as they cruelly crowned and robed him in the derisory symbols of a sovereign’s office and ridiculed him with their cries of mock loyalty.

For the Jews, Jesus was a rejected king. Pilate’s attempts to release him got nowhere. The crowd screamed for blood (6) and the rulers mounted two further accusations against him. They accused him of the capital crime of blasphemy. Hearing this, Pilate, more superstitious than religious, was afraid (7,8). Still not persuaded, though, he was then confronted with the decisive argument: Jesus had claimed to be a king (12). Religious blasphemy was one thing, political sedition another. The Jews were rejecting the rule of God in favor of that of the temporal authority. Jesus, their liberating and beneficial king, was not to reign over them. For Pilate, Jesus was an alternative king. He was puzzled by the claim that Jesus could exercise power, especially in his present state. What sort of a king was he? Pilate only knew of one kind and the accused didn’t fit it. Kingship was about fighting wars, passing laws, levying taxes and imposing one’s will. Had Jesus ever done any of that? He was no sort of king Pilate could recognize. But that was because he came “from above” (11).

So the King was sentenced to death, to satisfy the bloodlust of the crowd, the twisted religious logic of their leaders and the shallow understanding of a governor. In reality, though, he was crucified to bear the sin of them all and to re-establish God’s true kingship on earth.

Apply

Consider the various reactions to Jesus’ kingship. Are there those you know who fit the different responses? Pray for spiritual enlightenment for them.

Closing prayer

Lord God, I submit to Your Lordship. Your ways are not my ways, and I ask for strength to be a servant to others, like Jesus.

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