John 18:30-31
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.”
Do the people around you shock you in their irrationality? Does society cause you to pull your hair out of your head in frustration? Do you mourn the sins you see everywhere, in every institution, and in every office? Well, blessed are you who mourn and weep (over sin), for you shall be comforted. Jesus is here on trial but in a few days He is risen! It’s upon this truth that the Christian lives.
We must also be careful. The Enemy will often use against us our righteous anger. He does this by taking our anger just a little bit farther than it ought to go. Where is that exactly? Well, the answer is that when we see sin around us, when we need to confront it, or pray over it, or simply endure it, we must go to the gospel. We must go to Jesus. To go anywhere else is likely to lead to self-righteousness, which is where the sin comes from in the first place. And we need to come to the Word where we learn of situations like this.
In our passage today, Pilate finds himself embroiled in a Jewish spat and wants the Jews to level the charge in clear language. They don’t because they can’t. Their response is illogical. “Execute him because if he hadn’t done something worthy of execution, we wouldn’t tell you to execute him in the first place.” This is the gist of their argument and Pilate is struggling to make sense of it. He has a mob before him and potential civil unrest. These Jews and their weird customs are bothersome to him. Thus, logically, he tells the accusers to judge Him by their own law.
Today’s Christian church too often looks like this to the outside world – the Pilate’s and the Romans. Here is Pilate asking for the reason for Jesus’ arrest and he’s frustrated by their seeming bloodthirstiness and irrationality. Indeed, it’s the so-called pagan unbeliever, that unwashed heathen, Pilate, that seeks to have a fair trial. The Jews want Jesus dead. Period. And in their rush to be rid of him they haven’t tied up all the loose ends of their arguments. This looks too much like the contemporary Christian that clamors for morality in Washington and in public life but is ruthless at home or work. We are commanded by Scripture to let our reasonableness be evident to all men and to outdo each other in showing honor and to repay no one evil for evil. We fail…we fail…we fail in a thousand ways. But thanks be to God that Jesus Christ is our Rock and He never fails!
What does the Roman hear when the Jews say that it’s not lawful for them to put anyone to death? Does the Roman think of this excuse when later they – the Jews – stone Stephen? Perhaps the word of their attempt to stone Jesus previously has reached their unbelieving ears. What would they make of this except that these men were the most vile of men – always preaching to others and condemning their neighbors, but never themselves. Yes, yes…because of them the name of God most certainly was blasphemed among the Gentiles.
If a Christian worker is late or lazy or a poor, careless performer of tasks, how is not God’s name dragged low? And who has not heard of the allegedly Christian boss that assiduously watches his employees performance but not his own? This is so much worse. If a Christian has any power in the world, any authority, and he abuses it, or wields it inhumanely, he will make an enemy of Christ better than Satan ever could.
This is the result, naturally, of false faith or, in the least, the doctrinally weak faith. Such behavior is the outworking of the professing Christian who doesn’t truly know that he is a sinner and thinks of Jesus as his badge of goodness. Without true and beauteous repentance, and its resulting transformation by the Spirit of God, man isn’t brought humbly before the Word and when he isn’t brought there, he thinks himself higher than his rivals. But a Christian cannot hate. It’s impossible because the truth has come to him and the truth tells him that it’s only by grace that he isn’t worse than that person he would otherwise despise. A Christian might struggle with the hot passions long and hard but the fires of hatred are quenched on the cross when he considers the sweet undeserved mercies received.
A Roman stands over against the injustice of God’s chosen. When we see this we shouldn’t marvel, but repent. Refusal to be humble will lead us into so many varied passions and we will dash ourselves to pieces on the rocks of logic. Sin always plays the sinner for a fool and here the Jews look so foolish as to be unaware of their own Scripture. They know full well that they can use capital punishment. It was these same men that brought the adulterous woman to Jesus and were set to obliterate her for her sin. They know their law. The Jews of this time were far better men of the book than are Christians today and if this madness could overtake them – despite their substantial knowledge – it will overtake us too unless we are forever humbled by God’s great mercies.
We should never think that unbelievers around us can’t be more just and compassionate than us solely because we are Christian. In fact, the opposite should be working in the heart of the converted. The truly saved soul is the one that is never comparing itself to neighbors but to God. This will stamp out arrogance in short order and create a true and repentant heart that runs – no, sprints – to the cross for mercy at every turn in the way. This is our means of endurance. Christian life isn’t stoicism. It isn’t saying, “it is what it is.” It isn’t fatalism. Faith isn’t grit. Faith is love and trust in the beautiful God that is Jesus Christ who died for us. Christianity is a love of truth and righteousness and we know that these things aren’t from us, but are God’s attributes.
So, don’t be surprised by the sins of the world because that sin is in you too. But that sin of yours was dealt with on the cross – the cross that you and me deserve but won’t get now because of God’s gracious gift. This is the glorious truth that changes everything.
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