Maundy Thursday
Scripture: St. John 19:13-24 (NKJV)
19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
15 But 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 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.
17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS
20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:
“They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”
Therefore the soldiers did these things.
Devotion
The opening verse of today’s text refers to the Jews’ threat toward Pilate with the taunt that if he does not condemn Jesus he is no friend or supporter of Roman authority. Pilate tests their resolve to reject God and His chosen Christ with the proclamation, “Behold your King!” With this challenge Pilate speaks more truly than he, by his mocking words, intends. The Jewish leaders and the crowd show their resolve to resist God and His Word with, “We have no king but Caesar.”
The powerfully ironic truth expressed in this exchange is that they have rejected the true heavenly God of their fathers in favor of the earthly idol of the pagan world around them. This is the sad rebellious confession that continues among so many today. Worshiping the proverbial golden calf continues, as will the judgment of God upon such idolatry.
The people rejected any suggestion that they were rebels against Rome, but freely expressed their true spiritual condition. However, Pilate’s “What I have written I have written” presented God’s governance of history; Jesus was rightly identified as the King. The stubbornness of the Roman governor, weary of altercations with the people, ensured the proclamation of the truth. Nathanael’s confession at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry finds a strange echo at its close: “You are the King of Israel!”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, multiply Your mercy on us that, with You as our Lord and Redeemer, we may be founded on the solid Rock, and thus pass through things temporal in such a way that we lose not the things eternal. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
