Under Gods Command
Jesus Stands Trial before Pilate
John 19:6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
19:12-17 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.
When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place know as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
This veiled threat by the Jewish leaders pressured Pilate into allowing Jesus to be crucified. As Roman governor of the area, Pilate was expected to keep the peace. Because Rome could not afford to keep large numbers of troops in the outlying regions, they maintained control by crushing rebellions immediately with brute force. Pilate was afraid that reports to Caesar of insurrection in his region would coast Pilate his job and perhaps even his life.
When we face a tough decision, we can take the easy way out, or we can stand for what is right regardless of the cost. If we know the good we ought to do and don’t do it, we sin. (James 4:17)
The Jewish leaders were so desperate to get rid of Jesus that, despite their intense hatred for Rome, they shouted, “We have no king but Caesar.” How ironic that they feigned allegiance to Rome while rejecting their own Messiah! Their own words condemned them, for God was to be their only true King and they had abandoned every trace of loyalty to him. The priests had truly lost their reasons for existence-instead of turning people to God; they claimed allegiance to Rome in order to kill their Messiah.
Under Gods command 