Tuesday: The Unwitting Witness of Pilate

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 12th of November 2024

Time and again, John records the attempts of the religious leaders to seize Jesus, to bring Him to trial, and to sentence Him to death. A theme in John’s Gospel, stated often by Jesus, is that His time or hour had not yet come, by which He meant the time for His crucifixion (John 2:4; John 7:6,8,30; John 12:7,23,27; John 13:1; John 17:1).

Now the hour had come. Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, brought before Annas, then Caiaphas the high priest, then twice before Pilate.

John has called upon many witnesses from every walk of life to testify that Jesus was the Christ. Now John calls upon Pilate, the governor who tried Jesus. This was an important testimony because Pilate was a Roman, a governor, and a judge; most of the other witnesses were Jews and commoners.

How is Pilate’s verdict connected to the theme of John’s Gospel? John 18:38, John 19:4-22.

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Jesus was brought to Pilate early on Friday morning (John 18:28). His plan was to dispatch the prisoner quickly to His fate. But Jesus’ demeanor drew Pilate’s attention. The governor questioned Jesus closely and heard from His lips, “ ‘For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice’ ” (John 18:37, ESV).

Though the governor ultimately condemned Jesus to death, he nonetheless three times proclaimed Jesus innocent (John 18:38; John 19:4,6). And over the cross he wrote the words “ ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’ ” (John 19:19, ESV), completing his witness to who Jesus is. And yet despite his testimony of Christ’s innocence, he nevertheless condemned Jesus to death.

Pilate had the Truth Himself standing before him and yet—allowing the mob to bully him—Pilate sentenced Jesus to death anyway! What a tragic example of not following what your conscience and heart tell you is correct!

What can we learn from Pilate’s example about the dangers of allowing popular sentiment, even pressure, to keep us from doing what we believe is right?

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