THE SIDE OF TRUTH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound Him, led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

When He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He gave no answer.

Then Pilate asked Him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against You?”

But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

Matthew 27:1-2, 11-14

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused Him of many things.

So again Pilate asked Him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing You of.”

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Mark 15:1-5

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”

So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by His teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Luke 23:1-7

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed Him over to you.”

Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death He was going to die.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about Me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What is it You have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.

With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against Him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!”

Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

John 18:28-40

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The trial before the Sanhedrin was over and Jesus was a convicted man but in actuality, He was doomed the moment He was arrested and He not only knew it beforehand. He expected it as it was all a part of the bigger plan for His life, a plan dictated by the will of God to bring salvation to all people.

So what happened after the trial?

Well, the Jewish religious authorities had carefully calculated the steps needed to eliminate and eradicate Jesus, once and for all. Or at least they thought they would be getting rid of Him. And although all Gospels have an account of what happened as Jesus was taken before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the Jewish region of Judea at the time. Herod was the governor over the region of Galilee and we do see him come into play as we read Luke’s gospel, an indication that it was easier for Pilate to pass Jesus on than to have to make the decision himself but it ended up back in his lap anyways.

For now, I want to focus on the John passage and before I get into the exchange that Jesus had with the Roman governor, I want to first cover why the Jewish religious leaders got the Romans involved in the first place because it’s very important to understand in the overall big scheme of why Jesus ended up executed by crucifixion.

You see, the Sanhedrin could render a lot of different penalties on those they found guilty of violating God’s law but the one thing they couldn’t do is crucify. They were instead relegated to the act of stoning as an act of judgment. Wanting a public spectacle and desiring someone else to do their dirty work since many Jews had actually embraced Jesus, the Jews instead led Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate and to sweeten up their case, they added that Jesus opposed paying taxes to Caesar.

As the crowd of Jewish religious leaders paraded Jesus to Pilate’s palace, we read where the Roman governor comes out and questions them asking:

 “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

With more than a little sarcasm, they replied:

“If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed Him over to you.”

Sensing that the Jews were passing Jesus on instead of handling their own affairs, Pilate tells the Jewish religious authorities to “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” To which the members of the Sanhedrin replied, “But we have no right to execute anyone.”

And with that, Pilate summoned Jesus to join him in the palace. The scriptures tell us the Jewish religious leaders were unwilling to follow as going into a place of the Romans would make them unclean and unable to observe the Passover. So they remained on the outside, completely unaware of the conversation that would be had between Jesus the accused, and Pilate, the man who held His destiny in his hands.

Now alone with Jesus, Pilate asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In other words, Pilate wanted to know if the charges brought against Him were true and surely expected a “yes” or “no” answer but as we know about Jesus, He didn’t exactly follow conventional ways in what He did.

This case was no different for we find Jesus responding to Pilate’s question with one of His own, asking:

“Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about Me?”

In essence, Jesus was asking Pilate about what he believed about him but Pilate dodged the question saying:

“Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What is it You have done?”

Pilate was not a Jew. He was a Roman and a powerful Roman at that. He had to wonder why Jesus would ask a non-Jew about his opinion regarding Jesus’ position as being over the entire Jewish nation, a position that would certainly place Jesus in a position of great power as well, a position that hardly should have a man facing execution by way of crucifixion.

Well, Jesus was a man of great authority within a kingdom but that kingdom was not of the world. Rather, Jesus’ kingdom was the very kingdom of heaven which placed Him not just above the Jews but the Romans and every other people. To drive this point home, Jesus assures Pilate that if He was indeed a King over just the Jews then His followers would wage war against His accusers to prevent His unjust arrest and trial. But there was no resistance because Jesus had to lose His life on earth to reach His true kingdom in heaven as His kingdom was in another place.

Well, Pilate had listened with intent to what Jesus said and although he obviously didn’t understand all the talk about kingdoms outside of the world, he definitely did understand what it meant to be a king, an identity Jesus attached to Himself. And so we find the Roman governor ask Jesus with emphasis:

“You are a king, then!”

To which Jesus replied:

“You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.”

I love this response from our Lord and Savior. He could have simply responded to Pilate by saying. “Yes, I am a King!” but instead He made sure the Roman governor knew He was perfectly true in everything He did or said. In fact, truth was at Jesus’ core. He Himself said He was the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). And so Jesus here doesn’t placate Pilate. Rather, He tries to get Pilate to understand that the man before Him was the One in authority and Pilate should submit and listen to Him, the One who was born into the world to testify to the truth. The question was simple:

Was Pilate willing to submit to what Jesus would say to Him in truth? Or in other words, was Pilate on the side of truth?

His response showed us he wasn’t as he simply asked Jesus:

“What is truth?”

And with that, the conversation ended. Pilate went back out to face Jesus’ accusers with his verdict:

“I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

And then, hoping to find a way out of the matter he was in, Pilate tried to play against the Jewish religious authorities, offering them an option to executing Jesus, stating:

“It is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

Such was the hatred the Jewish religious leaders had for Jesus that they asked for a known criminal over an innocent man, shouting back to Pilate:

“No, not him! Give us Barabbas!”

Pilate had no other option except to give the Jewish religious authorities what they asked for. Barabbas was released and Jesus continued on His way to the cross. His destiny remained intact because no one in His path to the cross was willing to stand with Him on the side of truth.

And so the questions our scriptures pose for us today is simple.

Are we like Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders, opposing Jesus instead of submitting to His authority and accepting everything from Him as absolute truth?

Or are we willing to stand with Him on the side of truth, never questioning His guidance or the way He lived His life, the way we are supposed to live our own as Christians?

I’m eternally grateful to have made my decision nearly 30 years ago to stand firmly on the side of truth, to stand with Jesus in obedience to what He has called me to do for Him, carrying on His work here in this world until I am beckoned to join Him in the kingdom that is really my home, the kingdom of heaven where He abides and reigns.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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