John 19:12
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.”
Pilate sought to release Jesus. The Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly why he sought to release our Lord. Perhaps his heart was heavy with the moral drama of it all: his wife’s dreams, the notion that they were saying he claimed to be the Messiah, and, indeed, Jesus’ holy demeanor throughout the whole ordeal. And then, we presume, Pilate made known to the Jews that he wanted Jesus released. They responded with this charge.
To be a “friend of Caesar” was a formal Roman title, one that offered its holder sure placement in Roman politics, business and life. But that is not all. Pilate’s teacher had been, Sejanus, who had been very close to the emperor, Tiberius and it was at the behest of Sejanus that Pilate came to his current post. But Sejanus, who had carefully maneuvered himself into power, becoming Tiberius’ most trusted ally, suddenly lost favor around 31 A.D., suspected of conspiracy and executed. This may be exactly what the Jews were reminding Pilate of with their charge. “Be careful not to rock the boat or you could be next,” they seemed to be saying.
How unseemly it is, then, for the people of God – the Jews – to resort to the mechanizations of world power to achieve the things of God. Yes, how dreadfully upside down and backwards this is. When even Rome’s man declares Jesus guiltless, they contrive, in their bloodlust and hatred, to use politics to achieve their evil aims. If they were humble they might have stopped to think about the irony of Pilate wanting Jesus’ release. If they feared God they might have been scared off of their vile course.
It is like this that we see unconverted men try and move the things of God. They don’t resort to prayer and seek the Lord’s will; they assume what they want is righteous and seek to bend all to their own will. And this is the mark of the devil too – a threat of force and death behind every plea. The Jews never win an argument with Jesus and his open works – his miracles – and his mighty words were converting many. This was intolerable to them. These teachers and leaders of the Law were bested by this lowly son of backwater Nazareth, so they bribed a follower to secure his betrayal, arrested him in the dark of night, and tried him against their own codes. Then, when even the Roman ruler of Judea found their charges baseless, they threaten him with ruin and death. This is always the vital difference between the men of God and the men of evil. God’s gospel, which is His righteousness and His salvation for sinners, is never advanced by force but always by the preaching and hearing of His word. Satan’s minions, though, always resort to force. Behind every plea of “there oughta be a law” is the desire to control others and usurp God’s moral authority. There is, ultimately, never a middle ground.
True Christianity is afraid of nothing because it has peace with God through Christ. Therefore, the faith has been advanced through freedom and through debate. Jesus never lost his debates, nor did Paul, or Peter. The enemies of the cross don’t win through logic because they have none to stand on. The great minds of Athens, when confronted by Paul in Acts 17, had no rebuttal, only scorn. And if scorn won’t work, the enemies of Christ, as we see here, use the brute force of politics. “Where is the debater of this age? Where is the philosopher (1 Corinthians 1:20)?”
The sinful world will never tell the truth about Christ or Christians because they aren’t of the truth, but truth suppressors (Romans 1:18-21). It’s for this reason that we shouldn’t be surprised by how this world works and how it maligns Christ and His followers, how it uses political means to intimidate and coerce. The way of Christ is freedom and peace; the way of the world is force and the art of politics. Men and women cry that there’s too much politics around but it’s that way precisely because they won’t turn to the truth and repent.
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