When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. ‘’Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus…
At this point, Pilate is starting to wrestle with the same question we have wrestled with throughout John’s gospel. Where did Jesus come from? Jesus consistently speaks as if he is not from around here. He talks about coming from the Father and going to the Father. He says that before Abraham was, “I am.” He looks at the world and the people in it as if he had traveled a long way to visit.
Now Pilate asks, ”Where do you come from?”
Pilate’s relationship with Jesus is unique. Pilate has not come to Jesus to be healed. Pilate is not interested in the arrival of the Messiah. Instead, Jesus is brought to him and presented as a man deserving punishment. The only problem is that to Pilate’s eye, Jesus does not appear to be guilty of anything. Now the Jews tell him that Jesus claims to be the Son of God.
Application: Before there can be faith, there needs to be a sense of wonder. The man who is confident that he knows everything there is to know is not open to something or someone larger than he is. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying, ”Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18: 3) A child’s mind is open to wonder. In today’s passage, we see Pilate starting to wonder. The door of his mind is opening a tiny crack to the possibility of something beyond imagination being real. Like Pilate, we need to open our minds to the wonder that is the reality of God on earth.
Food for Thought: Do you allow yourself to wonder? Do you feel wonder is safe or dangerous? Why?
Please click “Continue Reading” for comments.