John 18:28-32
You and your family had acquired tickets for the daily tour
of the governor’s headquarters in Jerusalem, it is early morning and all of a
sudden the Secret Service of governor Pilate come out of the headquarters and
tell everyone in line to move back. You’re a Roman citizen and you as well as the
others in line, do as you are told, because that’s what Roman citizens do and
to your amazement a group of Jews dressed in some kind of religious garb enter
the grounds with their police and a man who is bound and looks as if he had
been mistreated.
One of the leaders, or one who seems to be the spokesman
talks with Pilate’s Secret Service and they open the doors to the headquarters
so that they could enter, but no one moves, and my wife said they (the Jewish
guys) said it was “Passover” and if they enter the headquarters they would be
defiled. I ask the group standing with
us, what is “Passover” and one person who had studied the Jewish people replied:
“it is the major Jewish spring festival that commemorates the
liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, lasting seven or eight days
from the 15th day of Nisan.” He went on to tell us some amazing things about what took place and that
it had all been documented, and that the Jewish people believe that their God
parted the Red sea, and then closed the waters on Pharaohs army, he went on to
tell us he was not sure how it happened, but that it did take place as
reported.
As we are waiting, it seems like hours but you know it was
probably not, my teenage son ask the historian why would they pick such a day
to bring this man before Pilate, was he some kind of mass murderer? We all began to talk and came to the
conclusion he must be a very evil man for them to have such urgency in bringing
him before Pilate. Then the door opened
and the Roman procurator of Judea was standing there, what an
unexpected blessing to see the governor.
We watched as Pilate went down to them, and my wife said in my ear “what
a humble man is our governor, they should have come to him.” It was at this point the Procurator of Judea
spoke; “What
accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were
not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to
them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to
him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” (John 18:29-31 ESV)
Now as a Roman citizen this did not pass
the smell test, where were the witnesses to what the man had done, where were
the documents to support bringing him bound before Pilate? One thing is sure the man was not a Roman
citizen, for it is a heinous sin to bind a Roman
citizen, it is wickedness to beat him, it is next to parricide to kill him,
what sinful act has this man committed? The Roman Secret Service come back and tell the families that the tour for today will not happen, and the governor sends his regrets. You ask who is this man, and what horrible act has he done? His only answer is “they say he claims to be king of the Jews, and that he is telling the people not to pay taxes to Caesar, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth.
As you and the families leave, the question is ask, is that a death sentence, surely not, but to tell the people not to pay taxes to Caesar, should require a public flogging. And in our disappointment, we all went our separate ways.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment