John 19:5-8
So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever.
We are in that territory of John’s story where it is again imperative to keep in mind his literary objective: to bolster the faith and confidence of Jewish followers of Jesus that they had made the right choice; that the hardship and rejection they have experienced for following Jesus is worth it; and that, contrary to charges they have likely heard, they have not abandoned their Jewish faith but rather been supremely faithful to it by receiving Jesus as Messiah. Because of John’s literary intent and aim, he has portrayed Pilate in a more sympathetic light – the one who sees Jesus’ innocence and therefore wants to release him – and the Jewish religious authorities in a much harsher light.
That being said, I still find absolutely fascinating the issue on which this whole matter finally turns: the assertion that Jesus has claimed to be the Son of God. This claim of divinity and, in particular, of intimate relationship with God Almighty, is finally and fully the charge which leads Jesus to his death.
For the religious authorities, it is blasphemy. There is one God and Jesus is not it. H is not God’s Messiah or God’s Son, but only one who has made unrighteous. For Pilate, the matter is not blasphemy, but treason. There is one God, and that God is Caesar. There can be no other. And so both parties – religious and political – have now turned against him. For they receive his purported claim as a demand on their allegiance.
And in that perception, I would argue, they are right.
When we confess Jesus as Lord, we give him authority over all other allegiances: political, familiar, economic, relational. But do we take that seriously? Do we, that is, contemplate the implications of what our confession of Jesus as Lord and, indeed, as Son of God, means for us? For how we spend our time, energy, and money? For how we conceive of and live out our relationships? For how we vote and make decisions more generally? Do we really, that is, imagine that our faith in Christ makes demands on all these things, or is our profession of faith simply one (perhaps even minor) element of who we are and what we do?
Because here’s the thing – whatever else they get wrong, Pilate and the religious authorities get this part right: Jesus makes a claim on all of us.
Prayer: Dear God, let us hear your call to obedience and answer it…in every part of our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Ecce Homo, Antonio Ciseri, 1871.
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