Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.
Looking at life through God’s eyes offers a lot of interesting insights. Jesus is talking with the man who has just had him flogged and humiliated. The pain is fresh and intense. Most people after being whipped and humiliated would either be completely cowed or indignant and enraged. Jesus was neither.
Pilate begins to wonder who Jesus really is and where he comes from. Jesus does not answer. He is not here to convert Pilate. He is here to be crucified.
Confronted by Jesus’ silence, Pilate tries to goad Jesus into responding. He says to Jesus, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
What is he really saying?
He says, “I have power.” That power, he says, can be used to free Jesus or crucify him. Pilate normally deals with people who will do anything to live. Jesus knows that life in a physical body is not really living. Life with God is what true living is all about.
Instead of answering Pilate’s question about where he comes from, Jesus says something amazing.
”You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
He is not taking away from Pilate’s authority here. He acknowledges his authority … with a twist. Instead of allowing that Pilate’s authority comes from Caesar, he points out that it comes from God.
Jesus again speaks as one who is not from around here. He speaks as one who knows what God sees and what God thinks. He continues:
”Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
It is tempting for us to want to pass judgment on Pilate as a “bad guy.” After all, he is the one who was responsible for ordering the crucifixion of our Lord. Yet Jesus seems unconcerned. Instead, he offers comfort to Pilate. In effect, he says that what Pilate is doing (or is going to do) is not as bad as what the chief priests and Pharisees did in bringing Jesus to Pilate.
Later, on the cross, Jesus would say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”* Who was he asking forgiveness for? Was it the chief priests? The Jews in general? The Roman soldiers? Or was it for all mankind? All of us, even Pilate?
Application: At this point in his ministry, Jesus has become the sacrificial lamb. His job is not to beg for his life or argue with his antagonists, but to allow his Father’s will to be carried out. Even in the midst of what was already unbearable pain after the flogging, Jesus shows concern for the human judge tasked with condemning him to death. He explains that Pilate’s real power comes from God above and that whatever sin he is guilty of is less than the Jews themselves. How gracious is that? Should we be any less gracious with those whom God has put in authority over us?
Food for Thought: How does God weigh sin? Why is Pilate’s sin less than the Jews who brought Jesus to him?
*(Luke 23: 34)
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Good question and a hard one to answer without knowing what God knows. In context, I think Jesus is pointing out that what Pilate is doing is in accordance with God’s plan. He is the authority unwittingly executing God’s plan. The Jewish leaders handed Jesus over out of malice. Pilate is simply carrying through on his authority but has no personal hatred or ill will toward Jesus. Either way, the Jews, Pilate and all of us need to respond to Jesus personally and accept the work done on the cross. We all crucified Him due to the sin that we have in common. We are all in the same boat and need to same rescue.
Rich,
As always you bring a great perspective to the table. The most important relationship each of us can have is between ourselves and our Creator.
I think that Jesus’ comment to Pilate is related to His statement to the Pharisees after He healed the blind man at the pool of Siloam. In John 9:41, He says to them, “If ye we’re blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (See also James 4:17) Rich is right, as Jesus has “power on earth to forgive sins.” (See Matthew 9:6.)