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.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
Two threads run through this story of Pilate and the Jews. One is the battle between the Jews and Pilate over whether Jesus should be crucified. The other is the idea that the reason Jesus should be crucified is because he claims to be king of the Jews.
If Pilate had better understood the Jews, he would have recognized that the “king of the Jews” was a hot button topic. What Pilate was mocking when he glibly referred to the king of the Jews was not the crowd’s accusations. He was mocking the Jew’s hope for a real king that had been promised to them by God. Each time Pilate mentions the “king of the Jews,” he pours gas on the raging fire of the angry crowd.
In today’s passage, Pilate avoids using the words, “king of the Jews.” Instead, he says simply, “Here is the man!” When Jesus stands before the crowds, “the man” wears a purple robe and a mock crown. Even without words, the message is still the same: Jesus is the one who claimed to be the Messiah, the true king of the Jews. For this affront, this blasphemy, Jesus must die. Instead of calming the crowd, the situation has grown worse. Pilate’s words and actions are at cross purposes with each other.
Application: In his book, ”The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People,” Stephen Covey lists one of them as ”seek first to understand, then to be understood.” If Covey had been around in Pilate’s time, Pilate might have paused to try and understand what was bugging the Jews so much about Jesus. Instead, in his ignorance, he made the situation worse. We can learn from Pilate’s mistake by being sensitive to the emotional needs of others. We can try to understand what makes a person tick before we push for what we want.
Food for Thought: As Jesus stands before the crowd what thoughts might have been going through his head?
Please click “Continue Reading” for comments.
Great question. I don’t know 🙂
But, based on His statements on the cross, He may have been thinking about us. He may have been thinking about those for which He was dying. He likely was thinking about His Father. Jesus is consistent. He was not selfish and He had His eyes on the prize.
Hmm… I think he would be in endurance mode – like a distance runner running at his limits. There is a slight detachment from the pain (beatings), mental fuzziness with the dehydration and blood loss, and knowing the final hill is coming around the corner.
I think He would have been thinking about the resurrection and also thinking of those he loved to keep pressing on – the Father and us.