The Title on the Cross

As a Christ follower the details of his death, burial, and resurrection should be of the utmost importance to us. In John 19 we see the account of Christ's trial and death on the cross. His death while gruesome  has a major significance to us. Without Christ's death on the cross our sin debt would not have been satisfied. Sin would not have been defeated once and for all.

On route to his death however Christ encounters Pilate. Pilate makes several feeble attempts to free Christ, he didn't believe his accusers any more than he believed Christ was the Son of God but the priests and leaders of the day wanted nothing of it… in fact they were so anxious to see Jesus executed they were willing to forsake their national heritage… proclaiming they have no king except Caesar… 

So it’s only fitting that when Pilate handed Christ over to the execution squad the sign he had created read "Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews" nailed up on the cross for all to see…We see in vs 21-22 that as the chief priests read it they pleaded with Pilate to change it, feeling betrayed by Pilate they wished him to soften the statement or at least explain it – but Pilate stood his ground and said what is written is written thus the title was just one more example of the mockery that Jesus was to endure that day…

In comparison with the mocking of Herod’s men, Pilate’s soldiers, the robe, crown and scepter,  the brutal scourging, the hate of the priests and Pharisees, the cries of the mob…  this mocking title was quiet in tone with all the rest…

We can take the Roman’s words of mockery and read them calmly, truly ourselves. Little did Pilate dream how true those words of his were… He is the King, Sovereign, Ruler in a higher, wider, greater realm that Rome or Israel ever dreamed of…

Let our prayer be that He would make us true and loving subjects in His realm, to be owned in the new heaven and the new earth, as having followed His banner and upheld His Kingdom.

Have a great weekend see ya Sunday!