A Friend of Caesar

John 19:1-16
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. ² And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³ They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. ⁴ 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.” ⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” ⁶ 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.” ⁷ 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.” ⁸ When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ 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?” ¹¹ 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.” ¹² From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ¹⁶ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified."

So, last night in my personal study time, I was reading the story of Jesus' death. You know, I have often times felt bad for Pilate. He was put in such an awkward position by the Jews that wanted Jesus dead. It was obvious that he believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be. You could tell he was conflicted and didn't want to sentence Jesus to be crucified. Every time I read the story, I can feel his pain. But....last night I felt sorry for him in a different kind of way. I felt sorry for him because he was not brave enough to stand up for his beliefs. He was threatened with losing the support of Caesar, and because he didn't want to lose his status, he betrayed Jesus and sent Him to be sacrificed.

Power, greed, status & the fear of losing his own life motivated this poor man to kill the Son of God. This breaks my heart, not only for Pilate and the guilt he had to live with every living day of his life thereafter, but for the people of this world today. Just look around you. We see it everywhere we look. Heck, I am guilty of doing this very thing from time to time. Any person who says they are not is not being truthful with themselves.

In Matthew 10:33, Jesus says "but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." What do we do with this passage? Do we just read over it and shrug our shoulders and go on about our business? Or do we read it, acknowledge it and put these words into action? It is far better to be despised in our lifetime here on earth rather than being damned to hell for all eternity. Who's with me?