Scripture - John 19:9-15

He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”

Meditation - St. Oscar Romero

How many would offer up their life for another person? As Saint Paul says, “For a good person, one might find the courage to die” (Rom 5:7), but to give one’s life, for God to offer his own life, for a sinner—that is the foolishness of love, the foolishness of God’s love. God is not disgusted with us, great sinners that we are, or with those who want to expose our many faults. But they are worse sinners because they do not see the beam in their own eye and yet want to remove the garbage from their neighbor’s eye (Matt 7:3-5). We are all sinners, and we all have to turn toward God. This is the call that the church extends to everyone, to all her children; she calls the holiest and also calls her sinful children; she calls those who are not of her kingdom, which means everybody. For the sake of all of them, the church wants to imitate the Lord, who gives his life even for those who are his enemies and yet are converted. This is Christ’s love.