Who Do You Represent? IV

John 19:9 “and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.”

The Word of God allows us to get a glimpse into the civil trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate (John 18:28-38). Pilate wraps up the proceeding by asking the question, “What is Truth?”. It is not the question that puzzels me, but Pilate’s action after asking the question, "What is Truth?”. John 18:38b “And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.” Pilate asks the right question, “What is Truth?”, but then turns his back on the answer. Pilate then makes the statement, “I find no guilt in Him”, and sends him to Herod. Pilate didn’t have the courage of his conviction that Jesus Christ was innocent and he sent Him to Herod to make a descision (Luke 23:6-12).

Pilate passes the “buck” like so many of us do. We find no guilt in Him, we know that He is the Truth, we know that he is the Christ; yet we rely on everyone else to “do something with Him”. In this case Pilate is relying on Herod to do something with Jesus, because Pilate is a coward and doesn’t have the courage of his conviction “NOT GUILTY!”

Herod sends Jesus right back to Pilate with the same verdict, “NOT GUILTY!”. We pick up the 3rd Civil Trial of Jesus in which He is back before Pilate (John 18:39-19:6). In this section, Pilate offers a substitue (Barabbas), has Jesus scourged, presumes Him innocent a second time, listens to the shouts of the Jews, “Crucify Him!”, and buckeled under the pressure. This series of events leads us to verse John 19:9, “and he entered into the Praetorium a second time and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.”

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth.”

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Pilate asks this question from human viewpoint. Jesus knows the attitude of the heart, Jesus knows the motivation behind the question, and fullfills prophesy by keeping silent. In the same way Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”, Pilate asks the question here, “WHERE ARE YOU FROM?” Jesus had already told Pilate in John 18:36 that His Kingdom was not of this world, and he goes on to say that His kingdom was not of this realm. Pilate already had the answer, and so do we.

Do we understand that Jesus Christ is from the Father? Do we understand that because of God’s love, He sent Jesus Christ to die for us? Do we understand that He (Jesus Christ) came to earth in human form, died as an innocent man on a Roman cross, rose from the grave three days later, conquered sin and death, ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God? What are we doing with the answer? What are we doing with Jesus?

John 6:33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."

John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Are we like Pilate buckeling under the pressure of what to do with Jesus? Are the shouts that come from the “world” affecting our descision? Who do we represent? Pilate? Or Jesus Christ?