NR 23
November 23
John 19:10-16. Pilate delivers up Christ to be crucified.
These were Pilate's last efforts to obtain the release of his prisoner. We must feel compassion for this wretched governor, as he runs to and fro, seeking some new mode to extricate himself from his difficulty. The path to true happiness and everlasting glory lay open before him, but he had no heart to walk in it. He threw away the golden opportunity that was presented to him of defending the most glorious of Beings, placed for a season beneath the shelter of his arm.
How base and how absurd was his arrogant boast—"Know you not that I have power to crucify you, and power to release you." The Lord in his answer gave him a lesson calculated to humble his proud spirit. "You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above." To this humiliating declaration he added a solemn warning, "He who delivered me unto you has the greater sin." Then Pilate had some sin. He who was counted as a criminal accused his judge of sin! That judge was compelled to say of his prisoner, "I find no fault in him." But the reputed criminal found great fault in his judge. Yet not the greatest.
The high priest, who had delivered him up to Pilate, had the greater sin. There are then degrees of sin. Why was the high priest more guilty than Pilate? Because he had gone out of his way to destroy Jesus, whereas Pilate had been called to pronounce sentence in the regular execution of the office to which he "was ordained of God." (Rom. 13:1.) There were many other circumstances that increased the sin of Caiaphas; his knowledge of the Scriptures, his malicious motives, and his false accusations. God knows all the aggravating circumstances of our sins, and all the palliating circumstances also. He estimates our temptations, and forms an exact judgment of our degree of guilt. When we run to meet temptation, we are more guilty than when we yield to a temptation that overtakes us. But even then we are guilty. There is a way of escape for every tempted person. No creature is so hemmed in by temptations, that he could not escape, if he were to look to God for aid. For we have this promise, "God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13.)
Pilate might have escaped from all his perplexities; but instead of escaping, he became each moment more entangled in the net.
It is melancholy to view him making his last struggle against his fatal temptation. He left the judgment-hall accompanied by his prisoner, and took his seat on the "Pavement." It is supposed this was a covered balcony, the floor of which being covered with Mosaic work, it acquired the name of the Pavement. From this high seat he appealed for the last time to the furious multitude, saying, "Shall I crucify your King?" The reply was, "We have no king but Caesar." Then Pilate gave up his innocent victim, and the soldiers took him and led him away. What must have been the feelings of the unjust governor, as he beheld the enemies rejoicing over their prey! Can the events of that day have ceased to haunt him during the remainder of his life? But his calamity was near to come, and his affliction hastened fast. (Jer. 48:16.) Two years afterwards he lost the favor of the emperor, and was banished into a distant province, where, it is said, he put an end to his own life. It is to be feared that it would have been good for him if he had never worn a royal robe—if he had never seen the Son of God.