- Lesson 4 in the Connect360 unit “The Beauty of Restoration: The Final Days of Jesus” focuses on 19:5-16.
Pilate became even more afraid when he heard Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, something that happened quite often in Roman and Greek mythology and certainly more believable than in the Jewish religion.
The fearful question of “Where do you come from?” implies that perhaps for the first time, Pilate was afraid Jesus was like the mythical stories from Pilate’s childhood. Perhaps he feared Jesus was neither a mere man nor a king of the Jews, but one of the gods come down from heaven, or in Pilate’s case, from Mount Olympus. Undoubtedly, Pilate had heard of the miracles, the healings and the wisdom of this Jesus of Nazareth. Was it possible this frail, bloodied, beaten man’s power might be greater than the Jews, greater than Pilate, or greater than Rome itself?
For Pilate, power was everything, and with Jesus’ silence, the Roman governor boasted of his power to release Jesus. However, Jesus was not like others who had come before Pilate, begging to be released, pleading not to be chastised, crying out not to be executed.
Jesus’ calm response showed Pilate that at least in Jesus’ mind, there was a power greater than Rome, the sword, the cross, even greater than death.
There is not a clear answer to this, but ponder this: who was “the one” who handed Jesus over to Pilate? Apparently, not all sins are equal because Jesus said this “one” was guilty of a greater sin.
Was the “one” with the greater sin Caiaphas? Herod? Annas? Judas? The crowd shouting outside? The greatest sin in the world is not Pilate’s sin. It is not her sin or his sin. The greatest sin in the world is not their sin and it is not even your sin. No, say it out loud: “There is no greater sin than my sin.”
Why? I can do nothing about your sin, or the sins of Pilate or Judas. My sin put Christ on the cross. The one with the greater sin very well could be me!
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