The Crowd, Pilate, and Jesus

In the first part of John 19 we see a huge contrast between Pilate, the crowd, and Jesus.

The contrast is between the what motivated Pilate, the crowd and Jesus. It is also between the character of Pilate, the crowd, and Jesus.

In John 19:1-2, Jesus is flogged, mocked, and beaten by Roman soldiers. Pilate brings Jesus out beaten, bloody and wearing the crown of thorns.

In John 19: 6 it says that the chief priests and their officials shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Later in John 19:12 when Pilate tried again to release Jesus, the crowd said, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

In John 19:15 when Pilate brings Jesus out and tells the crowd that here is their king, they shout, “Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!” Then the chief priests shout, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The crowd was desperate. Their desperation was led by the chief priests and religious establishment.

The religious establishment in Israel wanted Jesus out of the way.

Jesus was doing two things that threatened the religious leaders.

First was that Jesus was teaching the truth about God.

What was being taught by the Jewish leaders was only partial truth. They pictured God in their own image so that they could retain their hold over the people.

Jesus came and taught the whole truth about God. Jesus thus freed the people.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is teaching the complete truth of God and who He is and freeing people to know and follow God.

The second thing that Jesus did that was threatening to the religious leaders was to win the people’s affection and respect. When Jesus did, it threatened the religious leaders’ position.

The religious leaders wanted to be the power. They wanted to be in control.

Jesus pointed people to God the Father and to Himself as the Son of God as the authority the people were to look to.

In John 3:30 John the Baptist says in referring to Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less.”

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is life becoming more about Jesus and less about us.

The motivation of the crowd was hate.

Pilate was fearful.

Pilate tried four times to find a way to release Jesus and not have Him executed. Each time fear stopped Pilate from doing what he knew was right.

Pilate was fearful of the crowd.

Pilate was also fearful of Jesus.

In John 19:7 the Jews tell Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God.

In verse 8 we are told that this made Pilate “more afraid.”

Pilate was fearful of who Jesus was.

In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told that God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

In 1 John 4:18 we are told that perfect love, the kind of love God has for us, casts out fear.

When we have a relationship with God the Father through Jesus we don’t have to live in fear.

Pilate was motivated by a desire not to fail. He didn’t want to look bad at governing Israel and so he gave in to the crowd to do what he knew was not right.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in faith, not fear, and doing what God desires.

Jesus faced the situation with calmness and peace.

In John 19:10 when Pilate comes back to question Jesus, he says to Jesus, “Don’t you realize that I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

In John 19:11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

Jesus should have been fearful and desperate. He wasn’t!

The reason that Jesus faced this situation with calmness and peace was because He was motivated by faith in the Father’s will and confidence in the Father’s love.

He knew the Father had a plan to use Him to bring salvation.
He knew the Father loved Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing God has a plan for our lives and being confident that He loves us.

We live in a frightening time:
A time of economic uncertainty
A time of terrorism
A time of changing moral values
A time of great social and political division

If we look to and depend upon man-made solutions, we will live in fear and hatred.

If we look to God, we can live even in fearful circumstances with calmness and peace.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Jesus trusted the Father. Jesus acknowledged the Father. Jesus totally understood what He was to do. Jesus did the Father’s will with calmness and peace.

With the Peace of God Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls.
                                                    Joe