Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews

carpecollum@gmail.com — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:10:07 GMT

The chief priests were upset when Pilot placed the sign above Jesus on the cross which read: "Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews" (John 19:19-22). The whole point of crucifying Him was to stamp out, once and for all, any notion that He was the king of the Jews. The sign was certainly uncalled for, and they let Pilot know he had written it wrong. "What I have written, I have written," Pilot countered.

Perhaps Pilot put the sign up to mock the Jews. He did not want to condemn Jesus to crucifixion in the first place, so maybe this was his way of getting in the last word, even though he folded to their demands. Whatever the case, Pilot did not know how right he was.

Everyone who looked at the sign would have recognized Who this was. Jesus had made waves around Jerusalem. I can imagine some of the people standing around, shaking their heads at what a terrible end this radical teacher had met. I can imagine some sneering to themselves because this Man had been talking pretty big, telling the Jewish leaders they were all wrong, and, quite frankly, scaring the togas off of many of them with His talk of a great Judgment from God. For some reading the sign, this shattered their hope in what could have been a great turning point for the Jewish people. For others, this was a justification for their sinful ways. After all, if men could kill this Jesus in this way, He must not be such a great prophet or king after all. They could all go back to their lives now and forget all that teaching about repentance and forgiveness, etc, etc.

But none of them counted on His resurrection...

Nathan

Daily Bible Message

Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews