Here's a thought for Good Friday - Why did Jesus remain silent before Pilate?
He could have used this encounter to have a great discussion about the One True God, about the Jewish scriptures, maybe to perform a miracle which would convince Pilate. But he did none of these things.
I wonder if Pilate was secretly quite pleased to have the chance to personally interview this enigmatic, influential, itinerant preacher about whom he had heard all the stories. It must have been quite frustrating that, on the one hand, Jesus didn’t seem to be at all swayed by the authority of Pilate and, on the other hand, that Jesus refused to either engage in discussion or refute the charges against him.
Isaiah prophesied that this was the way it would happen - one could cynically argue that Jesus was simply aware of the prophecy and acting accordingly but considering the torture he was facing this would seem unlikely if he was a fraud. But I'm not cynical and I believe in Jesus!
So after thinking about this for a while I have come to the conclusion that one reason Jesus remained silent was that He was guilty and had no plea bargain to offer. Shock, horror what do I mean by that!
He was guilty of OUR sin and shame. He bore all OUR iniquities. There was no justifying plea that he could offer. He took it all on himself, everything WE deserve, so that WE can go free. The perfect, sinless Son of God gave up everything He had, became fully human, and took on every failure, every sin that separates us from God, and paid the ultimate price - for us.
There was no way He could stand before Pilate tell him all that because He would then have been elevating Himself above our wretched, fallen human condition, and then the sacrifice wouldn't have meant anything. He had to be one of us.
The really awesome thing is that, after all this, He allows us to choose whether or not to believe.
Greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for his friends - and He calls us His friends.
Indeed this makes perfect sense, Penny. Jesus took on our fallen, sinful nature and died in our place. If we personally accept this very unfair swap, we are able to receive by faith his forgiveness and are given his new, clean, holy life.
ReplyDeleteGod in his respect of our free will choice gives us the ability to weigh the evidence and choose who Jesus is; our decision about this will impact our lives both now and for eternity. So, by choosing to accept that Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment we deserve, we can come into the presence of our holy God because of the price Jesus, our rescuer, paid with his blood.
I notice that Jesus is silent and does not respond to any of the charges brought and questions posed by the chief priests and religious leaders, who had both knowledge of the Scriptures and had witnessed Jesus in action so were capable of recognising Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God and understanding what God was doing in Jesus. In all the gospels, however, Jesus replies to Pilate's question, confirming that he is the King of the Jews. In John 18:33-37 there is a slightly longer exchange in which Pilate ends by asking 'What is truth?' We each have to decide whether we accept or ignore the truth about Jesus. To decide not to make a decision is a decision in itself! This Easter is a great time to make that choice for anyone who hasn't already.