Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
Pilate might be a lot of things but one of them isn’t stupid. He smells something fishy as soon as the Jewish leaders open their mouths. His response is quick and business-like.
If they had brought him someone who had murdered people, or had stolen from the Romans, or was a known threat to the Romans, he might have been interested. Instead, they brought him a simple carpenter from Galilee. He looked a bit beat up but he didn’t look scary.
Pilate had been around enough to be able to tell who was trouble and who was not just by looking at them. Jesus was mildly interesting to him because he just stood there. He didn’t look scared nor did he look belligerent. He simply stood there. Meanwhile, the Jewish leaders were agitated. They were jumping up and down shaking their fists in the air and pointing at Jesus. They were madder than the proverbial wet hen. Though he couldn’t make out most of the words they were saying, he could see that they were so mad that they were spitting as they angrily spoke over each other.
It was an amazing contrast! The man who was tied up standing calming in the middle of the crowd. The crowd, acting like they should be tied up. Pilate knew right away that he didn’t want any of this situation to get on him.
”Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
Application: For those who know Jesus personally we can take some encouragement from him. In the middle of seemingly hopeless situations, we can look to Jesus, the calm in the middle of the storm. Knowing what he did for us, helps us put what we go through into perspective. Eternal perspective.
Food for Thought: At this point in the story, Pilate could probably see that the Jewish leaders were agitated about something. It was early in the morning. I doubt Pilate had even had his coffee yet, or the Roman version of coffee. He wanted nothing to do with this situation, but God had other plans. How do you respond when God pulls you into his plans and it is not going a direction you want it to go?
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Good question, because God is really good at doing this and He does it all the time. He wants us to submit to His plan and authority. His plan is the only one that matters. Jesus was obviously accepting of His plan and at peace with it. He is our model.
Thanks Rich! So true!! Sometimes it is hard to trust that God is in control but in the end he always is. 🙂