So they took Jesus, and
he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull,
which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two
others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an
inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus
was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and
in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The
King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate
answered, “What I have written I have written” (John 19: 16b-22).
The
center of today’s scene is a declaration… “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews”. It was inscribed by the Roman Governor Pilate and placed
very visibly over the thorn-crowned head of Jesus. It was fixed on the cross
carried by the King to a seat of judgment where He would soon decide the fate
of two thieves even as He paid for the sin of the world. It was written in the various
languages of the day so it could not be overlooked by the crowds that came to
see this beaten and abused criminal. The chief priests recognized the
significance of the title and petitioned Pilate to change it in order to reduce
the impact of its truth on the people, but in His sovereignty, God orchestrated
this moment as a beautiful and clear revelation of the King who died for us.
The title was meant to humiliate the King. In
this inscription, the power and authority of the Romans was to be seen as
conquered by the power and authority of the alleged King of the Jews. The
inscription was meant to keep the Jews in their humble, submissive place and to
discourage further rebellion. But our Teacher, the Holy Spirit shows us the
true authority being released through the King on this cross… “And you,
who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling
the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside,
nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to
open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:13-15).
The title was meant to discredit the King. Placing
this title above His head and crucifying Him between two thieves was meant to disguise
and deny the judgment of Christ. He came to convict the world of sin and to
offer forgiveness to repentant sinners. In the shadow of the inscription, Jesus
turned “The Place of a Skull” into a seat of judgment for the
thieves as well as for all looking on the cross through the ages… “And he
said to him (the repentant thief), ‘Truly, I say to you, today
you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:43).
The title was meant to limit the sovereignty
of the King. Pilate wanted the whole world to believe that the impotent rule of
this alleged King was restricted to the humble Jewish community. The
inscription was written in Aramaic, the common language of the local community;
Latin, the governmental and scholarly language of the Romans; and Greek, the
common language of the Gentiles. In His sovereignty, God used the unwitting Pilate
to confirm the gospel truth that Jesus is the King who died for the sin of the
entire world… “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John
3:16).
Instead, Pilate’s inscription clearly
confirmed the divine mission of Christ. Pilate wrote what he wrote because
Jesus said what He said about himself. Jesus was the King who carried His own
cross like a scepter, a royal symbol of authority that was not of this world.
His cross was a divine token of power that submitted to the will of God and
served the deepest need of men. In today’s scene, the Gentile governor identified
Jesus as King of the Jews at his death just as the Gentile wise men had done at
his birth… “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where
is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him’” (Matthew 2:1-2).
As we grow up into Christ may we be increasingly
recognized as humble, thankful subjects of…
The King Who Died for Us.
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