Click here to get this post in PDF

It was about competence to rule

Download the pdf:  Jesus’ Not So Subtle But Gentle Rebuke of Pontius Pilate

As explained in Post 1 on this topic, Jesus’ kingdom being sourced from another place and not of this world does not reduce His authority in this world, it expands it.  Pilate didn’t understand, as he shows later in the conversation.  But Jesus was teaching compassionately even when he spoke with his enemies, even when rebuking them.  Jesus explains that His Kingdom is so powerful that His followers don’t need to fight to defend Him.  His Kingdom doesn’t depend on physical weapons for it to be successful in history and eternity.  It is not based on the physical requirements of a kingdom of this earth, which involve force and coercion.  

Thus, in His answer, he not only told Pilate that He and His followers were not threatening physical violence or revolutionary overthrow but that He was motivated completely by peaceful means of advancing any Kingdom He might have dominion over.  In fact, His intent as a King, which He did not deny that He was and later admitted to being, had nothing to do with undermining or overthrowing Pilate or Caesar.  His answer indicated innocence in past action and in present intent.  No crimes committed or contemplated, Pilate.

Jesus has again controlled the interrogation by Pilate completely.  Initially, he rightfully corrects Pilate by questioning Pilate’s motivation in asking Jesus if He’s a king.  First, the judicial role must be met by the Judge, in this case Pilate.  Jesus does this in one sentence.  First things first.  But now that part of the trial is over, and Jesus has exonerated Himself, He lets Pilate ask his question again.  It’s logical because Jesus has mentioned His Kingdom in His answer.  

Pilate:  “Art thou a king then?”  Perhaps Pilate thought Jesus had slipped up in His answer by speaking of His Kingdom.  Pilate may have thought:  “Aha, He does claim to be a king.”  Of course, a pagan leader would have a hard time sharing leadership with anyone, no matter how peaceful and non-threatening that person may be in his leadership as a king.  Jesus still won’t have any part of this attempt to pin Him down as claiming some authority that Pilate might perceive as improper.  He first puts it back on Pilate:  “Thou sayest that I am a king.”  Jesus knows Pilate wants an admission that he can use against Him, but for the truth’s sake, Jesus cannot be bound by Pilate’s definitions.  In other words, I won’t let your understanding of what a king is label me and my authority.  

He could have stopped there, but He goes further.  And this is where the not so subtle but gentle rebuke occurs.  “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”  This is the statement that recently caused me to question how I’d looked at this passage in the past.  Why did Jesus start talking about truth?  

You might posit that Jesus is simply taking advantage of the opportunity to tout His credentials as the Son of God and the proclaimer of absolute truth for the world, but at this moment as He’s on trial before Pilate, that seems out of place and somewhat other worldly.  We have to look at the words of scripture in their context.  Here’s Jesus controlling the conversation with Pilate and explaining what real, authentic rulership is all about.  He’s telling Pilate, the ruler and judge “from hence,” who has the power of life and death as a human judge, what is really important.  One ruler talking to another.

So, what was He getting at?  Pilate’s answer gives it all away.  He asks, “What is truth?”  This is a stunning answer.  It tells us so much about Pilate.  Here’s a judge of highest authority over an entire nation, the nation of Judea within the Roman Empire, and all he can say to Jesus is “What is truth?”  If he doesn’t know what truth is, then he’s completely unfit to judge.  He can’t tell whether someone else is telling the truth, he can’t decide what is right and what is wrong, and he can’t impose a proper sentence on a defendant.  

What guides Pilate as a ruler then?  Fear of a higher authority.  That’s it.  He’s afraid of Caesar, his boss.  And that’s apparently all he cares about.  Even after he decides that he should let Jesus go free, the Jewish leadership has one ace up their sleeve, when they say, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend:  whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.”  John 19:12b.  That was all it took.  At that point, Pilate quit trying to release Jesus.  He condemned an innocent man, knowing that he was committing an unjust act.  He did it out of fear of Caesar and out of spite for the Jewish people, shown when he put a sign at the top of Jesus cross saying The King of the Jews.”

Anyone who could do that is unfit to rule.  He proved that he didn’t understand justice, the central quality of a ruler and a judge.  His concerns were:  First, himself and his position with respect to Caesar, and second, the power of the Roman Empire and its authority, which meant no other kings allowed, not even God, the source of truth and justice.  Jesus’ words, on the other hand, demonstrated His qualification for rule, for not only did He speak the truth, that’s why He came into the world.  Truth is the foundation of His Kingdom.  And He doesn’t have to impose His Kingdom on anyone; all He has to do is speak, and those who hear are also of the truth.  

Judges have jurisdiction a word derived from the Latin words for “law” and “speech.”  They speak the law.  Jesus’s power is of that sort but more powerful because He also bears witness of “the truth,” not just facts or law.  Jesus was politely telling Pilate – by asking Pilate questions and drawing out the answers that were in his heart – that Pilate was not fit for the position of judge in which he served.  He was also telling him the key to being a judge and that He, Jesus, was the perfect Judge, deriving His very being and meaning for existence on earth from “the truth.”  

Therefore, to assert that Jesus was abdicating any and all authority in the sphere of civil governing on earth shows a woefully ignorant perception of what was happening in their conversation.