Psalm 25:1-22
Of David.
1 In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.
2 I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
11 For the sake of your name, Lord,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
12 Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
13 They will spend their days in prosperity,
and their descendants will inherit the land.
14 The Lord confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever on the Lord,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart
and free me from my anguish.
18 Look on my affliction and my distress
and take away all my sins.
19 See how numerous are my enemies
and how fiercely they hate me!
20 Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, Lord, is in you.
22 Deliver Israel, O God,
from all their troubles!
John 18:28-40
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
John 19:1-42
19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
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.”
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 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.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
The Psalmist David was seeking the Truth...He ask the LORD to show me Your ways and to teach me Your paths...Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long...Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old...Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your love remember me, for You, Lord, are good....David was asking God to lead Him into thy Truth, into all Truth...David searched for Truth and found it in His LORD and Savior...David found humility, protection, refuge, integrity, great mercy, and LOVE in Truth...David put His LORD completely in his trust...
When one is on trial, they are to search for the truth...When Jesus goes on trial before Pilate, the subject quickly goes to the subject of -is Jesus a King...Pilate wants to know if there any truth that Jesus is King?...Pilate, who is Jesus' judge and jury, does not seem to be in control of the trial and the situation...Jesus seems to be the One in control of His own trial, and even the questions...And when Pilate asks Jesus if He is King of the Jews, Jesus asks Pilate, His judge, a question...“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about Me?”...A bold question coming from One who is soon going to be convicted and die...And the question He asks His judge is a rhetorical one...Jesus is asking Pilate if he thought that He was a King, or did others tell him (Pilate) that He is a King...Jesus is asking Pilate, if he is thinking for himself, or has someone told him He is a King...
Jesus was being tried as being a King against or at least a threat to Rome...The Roman Governor Pilate was Jesus' judge...Did Jesus really pose a threat as a King against Rome?...And He was being tried by the Gentiles of Rome...Had Jesus been in a Jewish trial and found guilty, His punishment would have been -being stoned to death...A crucifixion was a Roman execution and not a Jewish one...So He was being tried as a King of Rome against Caesar...Yet, it was the Jewish leaders who brought Him to trial, and it was His teachings about the God of Israel and His relationship to God, and what He said about God and Himself that put Him on trial...Jesus admits to Pilate of being a King, but a different type of King...A type of King that very much seems non-threatening at all...Jesus said He is not a King of this world...Nor is He a King of worldly or material things...Jesus is a King of mankind...He is a Spiritual King...A King of one's heart and one's soul...So His Kingdom lies in the hearts and souls of men and women...His Kingdom is not violent or about violence...His Kingdom is about LOVE...And Truth rules over this Kingdom...Jesus is the King of Truth...Jesus is the King of Kings, and a King without fighting soldiers...And Jesus tells Pilate His Kingdom is about Truth, and everyone on the side of Truth listens to Him...With this comment -Pilate seems to be thinking, what kind of kingdom is He over, why did the Jewish leaders bring Him to me, is this really considered being a King, why do they want this man killed, and what is this big threat to the Roman Empire that the Sanhedrin sees?...So Pilate asks Him, "What is Truth?"...Those who seek God search for the Truth...And only in Him can we find Absolute Truth...The reason Jesus was born and came into the world is to testify about this Truth...He leads us to Truth, to all Truth...
Jesus posed no threat to the Roman Empire...Pilate sees this and says "As for me, I find no basis for a charge against Him."...Pilate sat Jesus down on a place know as Stone Pavement and said “Here is your King,”...But they shouted, “Take him away!...Take him away!...Crucify him!”...The Jewish leaders wanted Him crucified by Roman law...And later Pilate would place Jesus on a cross for crucifixion...And Pilate would put a sign above Jesus' head, which read Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews...Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek...The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be King of the Jews.”...The very ones who wanted Him tried by Roman law, and who just said they had no king but Caesar, wanted the sign down and reworded...This King against Caesar was what His trial was about...What Jesus claimed to be was and is that He is the Son of God...Roman law must not have covered Jewish religious laws...So Pilate had Him nailed to a cross under Roman law for saying He was a King, and He was tried as a King against Caesar...The Jewish Leaders wanted whatever wording they would come up on a sign over Jesus...They could not have it both ways...Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”...Pilate must have thought he had tried Jesus for being a King of Rome, and an instigator against the actual Roman king Caesar...
Pilate was not seeking Truth...Pilate could not see a King...Pilate could not see the Truth...Yet, Truth was standing right beside him...So I think Pilate must have felt something, felt the Truth...The Truth of the matter is that Truth and Christ are very complex matters, yet simple ones...Pilate must have know he was with Someone very special...He looked for ways to save Jesus, but wanted to please the crowd in the end...Non-believers want evidence of Truth, and miracles to believe...Pilate tried Truth two thousand years ago, but Truth still lives...Truth is eternal...Lead me to the Truth and all Truth...Trust in the Truth...Jesus is King of Truth...