Friday 4 – 5 am

John 18:28-40; 19:1-16

John 18:28-40

Today's New International Version (TNIV)

Jesus Before Pilate

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” ³⁰ “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
³¹ Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

 John 19: 1-16

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

¹ Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
⁷ The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
¹⁶ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

Additional Readings

Matthew 27: 1-2, 11-31
Mark 15: 1-20
Luke 23: 1-5, 13-25

PRAY

O Christ, Lamb of God, slain for the sin of the whole
world,                                                    

with penitent heart I come to your
cross,                                                                                 

pleading for mercy and
forgiveness.                                                                                            

My sins –
and they are many – have added to the burden of Your suffering                                                                                                                              
and have nailed You to the accursed
tree.                                                                                    

For me You tasted the agony of the utter darkness that I might not perish,                                                                                                                                     
but have everlasting life.                                                                                                                           
Have mercy upon me, O Christ, Lamb of
God,                                                                           

embrace me with Your love, and forgive me all my
sins.                                                                

Your death brings healing to my
soul,                                                                                      

peace to my mind,                                                                                                                   
cleansing to my heart.                                                                                                                                    
If You would mark iniquity, I could not
come,                                                                                            

for my hands are unclean, my lips are sullied, and my heart is blackened by sin.

But beholding You bleeding, despised, forsaken, dying, pierced,                                                                                                            I come to be cleansed and
forgiven.                                                                                                          

O Christ, Lamb of God, grant that I may hate sin and
wickedness                                                

more and more as I behold You in Your great
agony.                                                                    

My grateful heart today finds hope in Your
words,                                                             

comfort in Your promises, and salvation in Your finished work on the cross,                                                                                                                                    by
which You have overcome sin, Satan, and
death.                                                                            

O Lord, have mercy. O Christ, have mercy. O Lord, hear my prayer. Amen

Lutheran Book of Prayer


MEDITATING ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST

Jesus is condemned to death by Victor Hoagland, C.P.

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. John 19, 16

Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” After his arrest in the garden, he was taken for a hurried hearing that led to his judgment and condemnation. Prompted by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, judged him and sentenced him to death.
Most likely Jesus was just another obscure Jew to Pilate, unexpectedly thrust before him the day before a hectic Jewish feast, when the Romans stood poised, battle-ready, to crush any sign of Jewish disorder or rebellion. Pilate's priority that day was to keep order in the restive city. Controlling Jerusalem was far more important than the innocence of the One who stood before him.
And so Jesus was condemned as a possible troublemaker. The Roman process was quick, unfair, and without appeal. A show of raw, impersonal power. Once sentenced, Jesus was handed over to executioners who immediately began to taunt and torture him till his death.
The psalms mirror the mind of Jesus. Listen to the cry of the innocent sufferer in Psalm 69. Can we hear the voice of Jesus caught in this web of injustice?

Save me, God,
for the waters have reached my neck...
Too many for my strength
are my treacherous enemies.

Yet deep within, Jesus knew that God's judgment matters most, and he trusted the judgment of God whatever others might say.
Lord, may we too be faithful to the truth and do your will, no matter how we are judged by others.