Over the past few weeks I have been studying and teaching in John.  As I went into Chapters 18 and 19 I was saddened to read that the beatings Jesus endured actually began at the hands of the temple officials, before they turned Him over to the Romans.  Jesus was interrogated numerous times, and always found innocent of every charge, except of the one charge of calling Himself the Christ.  Yet, the temple officials beat Him anyway.

That the temple officials collaborated with the Gentiles to arrest Jesus is amazing.  That they ultimately turned against everything that they held to be sacred is staggering.  They were so very concerned not to make themselves ceremonially unclean (because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover meal) that they did not even enter Pilate’s residence, the Roman governor and a despised Gentile.  Yet, they were willing to sin by telling lies, inciting riotous behavior, and conspiring to commit murder. 

But even more shocking is what happened when Pilate, who time after time, attempted to find creative ways to release Jesus.  The temple officials shouted to Pilate, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar."  These religious leaders of Israel were threatening to accuse the Roman governor of not being sufficiently loyal to Caesar. 

And then, the ultimate insult to Jesus who is the True Vine, the giver of the Law, the one who called Israel to be His chosen nation, the reason that a temple was built and priests appointed:  the temple officials screamed, “We have no king but Caesar.”  No king but Caesar?  Caesar was the false god and ruler of the Roman empire.   That about sums it up.  As their real God and King stands before them, bleeding from beatings and near death from the scourging, a crown of thorns battered into His head with a rod, and covered in Herod’s royal “gorgeous robe,” He was prepared to be the sacrifice for all Israel and the world, and they shouted back, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Jesus summed this all up for Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."  In other words, “Pilate, your authority to place me on trial is legitimate and from God (though you are sinning by condemning an innocent person), but those who conspired to have Me killed and delivered Me to you had no authority to do that, and so, they are more sinful than you.” 

And then, I thought, who did deliver Jesus to Pilate?  It was me, my sin, that caused Jesus to leave Heaven, come to Earth, suffer, and die.  My sin.  Jesus was talking about me when He said, “he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  And yet, even as He said, that, He was planning to erase my sin, to declare me innocent, and to set me free.  What kind of love is this?  What kind of God owns us?  God is love, and He never changes.  Amen!!!!!