Or, When the Heavenly Father Gave Earthly Authority to Abuse His Son
Scripture: John 19:1-11
Date: May 25, 2014
Speaker: Sean Higgins
The entire nation of Israel faced the threat of imminent extinction when Haman convinced Ahasuerus (also known by His Greek name, Xerxes I, the King of Persia) to allow him to kill every Jew. When Mordecai learned of the plot, he urged his younger cousin, Esther, to seek the king to stop the order. She knew that, even as the queen, such a request could cost her own life. Mordecai encouraged her: “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
We know that to be true; she had come for such a time as this. We have the end of the story. God put Esther in place to be His instrument to deliver His people. God also put everyone else in place. Vashti mouthed-off, which ticked-off Ahasuerus, who set-off a regional beauty pageant to find a replacement wife. The story also includes when God planted Mordecai by the gates to hear the assassination plans, then to be forgotten, then to be rewarded at just the right time when the king couldn’t sleep and had a book of deeds read to him. God had Haman build excellent gallows; little did he know that he was hanging himself. The power of Xerxes to kill and the power of Xerxes to keep from killing was given by God. The Lord delivered His people, not with a single instrument, but with an orchestra of persons and events. Esther was in her place for such a time as this.
Esther is a great story because it’s over. We know that it all works out in the end. The good guys win and the bad guys get theirs. In John 19, the story isn’t finished and the innocent man is abused at the hands of jealous, angry, self-promoting, ungodly, unrighteous men. Jesus’ perspective? They were all put in place for such a time as this.
We know the end of this story, too; we’ve read ahead. But we ought to learn to see where we’re at before the final page in light of how the Author of salvation writes. He uses the same sorts of devices and characters and plot lines again and again. He also calls us to believe, to trust Him, day by day, when we don’t know the details of the end yet.
The “sort-of” trial of Jesus before Pilate is saddening, maddening, confusing, and comforting. It’s saddening because we see our Lord mocked, mistreated, and brutalized. It’s maddening because Pilate himself acknowledged that Jesus didn’t deserve it. It is confusing because, how could a righteous, good God let this sort of thing happen? And it is comforting because, if we can see under the surface God is getting everyone into place, we know He’s on His way to deliver.
The Jews brought Jesus from Ciaphas and the Sanhedrin to Pilate in John 18:28. Pilate questioned the Jews and Jesus and tried to be done with the problem by offering to release Jesus. Pilate tries even further efforts to unhinge himself from Jesus in chapter 19, but he swings through three more scenes.
The Jewish crowd cried out that they wanted Barabbas released instead of Jesus. Pilate had an idea that he though could change their mind.
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. (John 19:1–3, ESV)
The arrest was unwarranted. The Jewish judicial proceedings were out of order. Jesus had been bound, questioned, even slapped, all unnecessary and unjust. Now Pilate goes further to physical abuse. He took Jesus and flogged him , or he “had him taken and had him scourged” (Lenski, 1244).
Historians, such as the Roman historians Livy and Suetonius, along with the Jewish historian Josephus, mention three levels of flogging. Fustigatio was the least severe followed by verbal warnings. Flagellatio was more severe and seen as sufficient. And verberatio was the most violent, often a precursor to execution.
Jews typically used rods when they beat a man, lacerating the back blow by blow. Romans typically used whips with multiple leather straps with sharp stones or bones or metal shards fastened to the end. They would splay the criminal across a broad rock and tie his hands down. The pieces would gash the skin, bite into the muscle, rip chunks of flesh, and even expose bone if done enough times. It was painful, exhausting, and dehumanizing.
John doesn’t say how many lashes the soldiers used when they flogged Jesus. It’s possible that they flogged him on two separate occasions, before releasing Barabbas and after the sentence of crucifixion.
Under Pilate’s authority the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head . These may have been date palm thorns, up to twelve inches long, stiff and spiked, not thistles or thorns like on a rose stem. Adding a purple robe , they dressed Jesus up in mock royalty and they came up to him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands . It seems that they formed a line and one-by-one added insult to injury; the tense of the verb means “they kept coming.” They were here just for such a time as this.
It was time to try the Jews again.
Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” (John 19:4–7, ESV)
Back outside the headquarters Pilate though he could present such a pathetic picture that the Jews would back down. Surely their anger would abate seeing Jesus in such a state. “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” Pilate (had supposedly) stepped up the intensity of the interrogation and found nothing new. Of course, no additional questions were asked, The abuse was part of the act.
So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” This man posed no threat, certainly not in this condition. The Latin phrase, Ecce homo, was used in classical literature to mean “the poor fellow” or “the poor creature” (as in Demosthenes, see Kostenberger, 533). Pilate says, “Look at him!” The robe may have covered the wounds on Jesus’ torso, but not the His pain. Blood washed down His face from the thorns over bruised cheeks and swollen eyes. This was enough. Jesus has been taught His lesson.
Showing blood to wild dogs does not make them sympathetic (Lenski, 1254). When the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” The abuse did not satisfy their anger.
For the third time Pilate states that Jesus is not guilty (18:39; 19:4, here). Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him . Pilate knew that they did not have the authority to kill someone, nor would they crucify anyone. He’s dismissing their bloodlust. Jesus isn’t guilty.
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” This is the most honest they’ve been. Everything they say here is true on one level. The Old Testament blasphemy law in Leviticus 24:16 required the death penalty. Claiming to be God qualifies as blasphemy. They bring it to Pilate’s attention because he should respect their law. Even more true, Jesus had made Himself the Son of God. He had revealed Himself as such, claimed this for Himself. What they say is true and they are entirely wrong. They were wrong in attitude and application of the law. And they were here for just such a time as this.
Pilate’s plan wasn’t working. It was only getting worse.
When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:8–11, ESV)
Why was Pilate afraid ? And why was he even more afraid ? John doesn’t say anything about a first fear on which to add “more” fear, but probably he’s thinking about Pilate’s wife who warned Pilate to “have nothing to do with that righteous man” because she suffered in a dream about Him (Matthew 27:19). Now Pilate hears, not just that Jesus is a king, but that He claims to be the “Son of God.” What would he have thought of that phrase?
The Roman pantheon of gods was as crazy as it was diverse. Not only were there many gods with varying interests and power, some of the gods supposedly had intercourse with humans for sake of demigod offspring. Remember when the Lyconians thought “the gods have come down to us,” calling Barnabas Zeus (the Greek name for Jupiter) and Paul, Hermes (Acts 14:11-12)? Had Pilate just beaten and mocked more than a mere mortal? Would Jupiter send a storm against Pilate for such disrespect? Would Mars make war against him?
Note Pilate’s question when they go back inside: Where are you from? Remember that Jesus already told him, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). What sort of “other worldliness” is this?
Pilate’s superstitions were not stronger than his pride. Jesus gave him no answer about His hometown or His home planet and this angered Pilate back into bully mode.
You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Standing as tall as he could, chest full of air, sneering with contempt for the beaten prisoner, Pilate’s pride is so threatened that he threatens in return. Pilate’s pride takes a beating by Jesus’ silence. He argues that life and death are in his hands, to release means life and to crucify means death. He holds the balance of power.
Before we consider Jesus’ answer, if Pilate had so much authority, then why is he even still talking to Jesus? He declared Jesus not-guilty three times, so why hasn’t he also declared “Case closed” and released Jesus? If he’s so free to do what he wants, then why is he still negotiating with the Jews? “Since when must the judge treat his own finding and verdict as non-final until the accuser gives his approval? Since when has the accuser the power to make the judge alter his verdict if that verdict does not satisfy the accuser?” (Lenski, 1251). Turns out, his authority really isn’t so awesome.
In fact, Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.” Jesus doesn’t deny that Pilate has authority , or “power.” But it isn’t unrestricted. It isn’t even self-asserted. No authority at all, no power in any direction, that hadn’t been given to him.
The delegation didn’t come from up north, from Caesar in Rome, though it did. Tiberius put Pilate in place. But who put the Roman Empire in place? These appointments came from above , from heaven, from God. This is about the least that Jesus could have said. The Son made and sustains all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:15-17), including Pilate’s heart, his home, his soldiers. Pilate had nothing that he hadn’t been given by Jesus and His Father.
He owed his appointment to the governorship at this time to God. His authority was real and really not something to argue against Jesus.
Pilate couldn’t even sin “better.” Jesus continued, “Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” It follows Pilate’s part by showing that Ciaphas’s part was also under God’s sovereignty and was also his responsibility.
He who delivered me over to you is not Judas, though he did deliver Jesus to the Jewish authorities. It was Ciaphas, leading the religious authorities, who delivered Jesus to Pilate. In doing so, he sinned against his own law, his own Messiah, his own promises, his own God. He was in place for just such a time as this, as was Pilate. Both sinned, but Pilate’s cowardice and Ciaphas’ hard-heartedness against greater light received different judgments.
What a story! An entire worldview that defined an Empire provided the context for individual sinning persons. God put in place: Israel’s sin for sake of judgment, the Caesars and Rome’s Empire to conquer Israel as part of consequences for Israel’s sin, Jewish rejection of the Christ, Pilate in his governor’s chair, all to get the Son of Man lifted up to die on behalf of His people’s sins. God put them all in place for just such a time as this.
What were the angels thinking while Jesus was being beaten? Could they bear to watch? Peter says that there are things angels long to look into regarding our salvation. Did they know this part of the story ahead of time? Did they want to jump in and stop it?
The only one in the universe who knew what was going on and who was calm was the One being abused. The disciples were fearful for upset. The Jews were angry. The Romans were annoyed or disturbed. Only Jesus was calm. He trusted His Father above.
Are we? Are you in chapter 19 of your story? Can you see the gallows that Haman has built for you next door? Has your friend made the wrong conclusion from a wrong perspective? Are the “powers that be” enjoying their authority over you too much?
The Father above has put them all in place for just such a time as this. The worst evil of all time was committed by man, controlled by God, against His Son. The Father gave power to Jesus’ abusers for the sake of our salvation. It isn’t merely that God can use hard things for good, He means to. Your deliverance is coming, through event or through death, but it is in Jesus.