SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2024 9:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
"The Accusations of the Jews"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:11-12a
Message of the
verses: “11
Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying,
"Are You the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is
as you say." 12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests
and elders,”
I want to continue quoting from MacArthur’s
commentary as I begin this SD. “In order
to satisfy Pilate’s demand for a specific charge and to secure Jesus’
conviction under Roman law, the chief priests and other leaders fabricated the
allegation of sedition. That charge, of
course, had nothing to do with the supposed blasphemy for which they had just sentenced
Jesus to death. ‘We found this man
misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar,’ they lied, ‘and
saying that He Himself is Christ, a King’ (Luke 23:2). They charged Jesus with being an
insurrectionist, of undermining Roman taxation, and even of claiming to be a
competing political ruler.
“Had Jesus been guilty of any one of
those allegations, Pilate would have known of it and would long since have
arrested and executed Him. As virtually
every Jew and man Gentiles in Palestine well knew; however, Jesus was a man of
peace and was in total submission to Roman political authority. He willingly paid taxes and taught His
followers to do likewise. He even taught
that if a soldier commanded a person to carry his gear for a mile, which by
Roman law he was permitted to do, the person should carry it two miles (Matt.
5:41). Jesus not only did not reble
against the emperor but had publicly declared that citizens should ‘render to
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’ (Matt. 22:21). And when His admires had wanted to make Him
king by force He had disappeared from their midst (John 6:15). The accusations against Jesus were such
obvious lies that one wonders what sort of fool the Jewish leaders though Pilate
to be.
“In response to the indictments, as Jesus
stood before the governor,…the governor questioned Him saying, ‘Are You the
King of the Jews?’ Pilate knew full well
that the charges were spurious, and his question to Jesus was merely
procedural. In light of Rome’s absolute
intolerance of insurrection, Pilate’s indifferent reaction served to
dramatically underscore his awareness of the preposterousness of the Sanhedrin’s
allegations.
“Jesus’ Erst (not sure what this
word means) response to Pilate was a counter question: ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative,
or did others tell you about Me? (John 18:34).
Surprised and taken aback, the governor retorted, I am not a Jew am
I? Your own nation and the chief priests
delivered You up to me, what have You done?’ (v.35). To which Jesus replied, ‘My
kingdom is not of this world. If My
kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might
not be delivered to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm’’
(v. 36).
“It was perhaps at this point that
Jesus said, ‘It is as you say.’
Commenting further about the true nature of His kingship, He said, ‘You
say correctily that I am a king. For
this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness
to the truth. Everyone who is of the
truth hears My voice’ (John 18:37).
Although he admitted to having no comprehension of what Jesus meant by ‘truth’
Pilate ‘went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no guilt in Him.’’(v.38).” I guess that Pilate did not really want to
find out what “truth” was, otherwise he would have stayed and listened more to
what Jesus had to say.
Look’s like one more SD on this
section, and I will probably continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary in
order to make sure that all who read this can understand exactly what is needed
to understand these verses.
7/22/2024 10:41
AM
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