The telling of the trial of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, the abandonment of Jesus by the Jews, and His crucifixion on the cross is always a difficult one for me to read. How could a man that did so much good in the world be put to death? How did it happen back then? Could it happen today?
Out of denial, rationalization, and justification; with a clear mind of truth, it certainly did and certainly can. We see in recent history, people who have been falsely accused, convicted, imprisoned and then set free based on new DNA evidence that substantiates their claims of innocence.
Out of denial, rationalization, and justification; with a clear mind of truth, anyone of us, myself included has the potential to sin and is a sinner of omission at a minimum. We fall short of bring like Jesus in our lifetime even though on a good day, in a good moment, we can be just like Jesus, as the Scriptures say, hopefully, exactly when we need to do so, so that God’s Will for our lives might be fulfilled.
So I read it with acceptance of myself, the world and the reality of life. We are not perfect although we must try to be in a reasonable sort of way. Our hopes in Jesus die along with him momentarily in Scripture. My wish for myself and you is that sin is only a momentary experience in our lives and that it isn’t a habit that self-imprisons ourselves from our destiny here and our eternal life in heaven with God The Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and The Holy Spirit—all of which have come to resurrect me and save me at various times in my life.
I close in great sadness, dismay and guilt; and reprint the crucifixion of Christ as told in the Gospel of John in Chapter 19:
And the soldiers, plaiting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head, and arrayed him in a purple cloak. And they kept coming to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him.
Pilate to the Jews outside: “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” Jesus therefore came forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. “Behold, the man!”
Chief priests and attendants saw Jesus and cried out: “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate: “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
Jews: “We have a Law, and according to that Law he must die, because he has made himself Son of God.”
Now when Pilate heard this statement, he feared the more. And he again went back into the praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are thou from?”
Jesus gave him no answer.
Pilate therefore said to him, “Dost thou not speak to me? Does thou not know that I have power to crucify thee, and that I have power to release thee?”
Jesus answered, “Thou wouldst have no power at all over me were it not given thee from above. Therefore, be who betrayed me to thee has the greater sin.”
And from then on Pilate was looking for a way to release him.
Jews: “If thou release this man, thou art no friend of Caesar; for everyone who makes himself king sets himself against Caesar.”
Pilate therefore, when he heard these words, brought Jesus outside, and sat down on the judgment seat, at a place called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Pilate to the Jews: “Behold, your king!”
Jews: “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”
Pilate: “Shall I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered: “We have no king but Caesar.”
Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified, And so they took Jesus and led him away.
And bearing the cross for himself, he went forth to the place called the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the center.
And Pilate also wrote an inscription and had it put on the cross. And there was written, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
The chief priest of the Jews said therefore to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but ‘He said, I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him, took his garments and made of them four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven in one piece from the top. They therefore said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be.” That the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, “They divided my garments among them; and for my vesture they cast lots.” These things therefore the soldiers did.
Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said to his mother,
“Woman, behold, thy son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, thy mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”
Therefore, when Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is consummated!”
And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
The Jews therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath (for the Sabbath was a solemn day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they night be taken away… But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs; but one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe. For these things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall you break.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced.”
Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, because he was a disciple of Jesus (although for fear of the Jews a secret one), besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission. He came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus. And there also came Nicodemus (who at first had come to Jesus by night), bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, in weight about one hundred pounds. They therefore took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, after the Jewish manner of preparing for burial. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. There, accordingly, because of the Preparation Day of the Jews, for the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus.
Day 104: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; It is Consummated: Jesus is Crucified and Laid in a Tomb.
Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint John Chapter 19.
Bible Notes:
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John
Saint John, the disciple and Apostle whom Jesus loved, was the brother of James and the son of the fisherman Zebedee and Salome.
First a disciple of John the Baptist, he was called to follow Christ.
The purpose of his Gospel he states as follows: “these are written that you may believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may have life in his name.”
John Chapter 19: The scourging and crowning; The Jews demand His death; Pilate again speaks to Jesus; Pilate’s cowardice; Pilate condemns Christ; The Crucifixion; The Inscription; Dividing His garments; At the foot of the Cross; The death of Jesus; Piercing His side; The burial.
And the soldiers, plaiting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head, and arrayed him in a purple cloak. And they kept coming to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him.
Pilate to the Jews outside: “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” Jesus therefore came forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. “Behold, the man!”
Chief priests and attendants saw Jesus and cried out: “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate: “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
Jews: “We have a Law, and according to that Law he must die, because he has made himself Son of God.”
Now when Pilate heard this statement, he feared the more. And he again went back into the praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are thou from?”
Jesus gave him no answer.
Pilate therefore said to him, “Dost thou not speak to me? Does thou not know that I have power to crucify thee, and that I have power to release thee?”
Jesus answered, “Thou wouldst have no power at all over me were it not given thee from above. Therefore, be who betrayed me to thee has the greater sin.”
And from then on Pilate was looking for a way to release him.
Jews: “If thou release this man, thou art no friend of Caesar; for everyone who makes himself king sets himself against Caesar.”
Pilate therefore, when he heard these words, brought Jesus outside, and sat down on the judgment seat, at a place called Lithostrotos, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Pilate to the Jews: “Behold, your king!”
Jews: “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”
Pilate: “Shall I crucify your king?”
The chief priests answered: “We have no king but Caesar.”
Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified, And so they took Jesus and led him away.
And bearing the cross for himself, he went forth to the place called the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgitha, where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the center.
And Pilate also wrote an inscription and had it put on the cross. And there was written, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
The chief priest of the Jews said therefore to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but ‘He said, I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him, took his garments and made of them four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven in one piece from the top. They therefore said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be.” That the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, “They divided my garments among them; and for my vesture they cast lots.” These things therefore the soldiers did.
Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said to his mother,
“Woman, behold, thy son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, thy mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”
Therefore, when Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is consummated!”
And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
The Jews therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath (for the Sabbath was a solemn day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they night be taken away… But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs; but one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he tells the truth, that you also may believe. For these things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall you break.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced.”
Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, because he was a disciple of Jesus (although for fear of the Jews a secret one), besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission. He came, therefore, and took away the body of Jesus. And there also came Nicodemus (who at first had come to Jesus by night), bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, in weight about one hundred pounds. They therefore took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, after the Jewish manner of preparing for burial. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. There, accordingly, because of the Preparation Day of the Jews, for the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus.
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