‘We have no King but Caesar’

   Today is Palm Sunday. On this day Jesus entered Jerusalem as a hero, the Messiah, the One would deliver Israel from the Roman empire and the people threw down palm leaves at His feet and glorified Him.

 At least the people thought Jesus would deliver them from the Roman empire but the people did not understand that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world  (John 18:36) because they did not understand scripture and they turned against Him. 

  It always strikes me at how quickly the people turned against Jesus at the behest of their leaders after the Triumphal Return. The leaders saw Jesus as a threat to their power and they wanted Him dead by any means necessary. (I might argue they wanted His death to be as painful, degrading, and as humiliating as possible to set an example.) The willingness of the Jewish leaders to say anything it took to condemn Jesus, in my opinion, comes to a head in John 19:15.

  But first let us set up the story:

  Jesus was arrested and tried illegally by the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, the chief priests, and the elders. They condemned Him to death but Roman law forbade the Jews from administering corporal punishment so they appealed to Pilate. Pilate could find no grounds for condemning Jesus so he in turn appealed to Herod but Herod basically told Pilate to deal with it.

  Pilate was in a tough situation, he did not want another Jewish insurrection because he was already on shaky grounds with the Roman empire so he tried to appease the Jews without condemning Jesus to death. Pilate had Jesus flogged, ridiculed, and tortured but it still was not enough to appease the chief priests and the elders.

  Pilate then asked the Jewish people to choose between Jesus and a murderer, hoping they would choose Jesus.  But listening to the chief priests and the elders they chose Barabbas.

  This must have shaken and shocked Pilate so he made one last plea to the Jewish leaders and this takes us to John 19:15: “But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

   This is an astounding passage! The Jews deeply resented Roman rule and when they had the choice to either abide by Caesar’s law or follow Jesus they chose the former over the latter. This hypocrisy cannot be understated! Suddenly they were friends of Caesar! This was the ultimate betrayal and as Jesus told Pilate upon being condemned to death,  “therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” (John 19:11 KJV)

  Caiaphas, the chief priests, and the elders acquiesced to the empire they despised and rejected the eternal kingdom standing right in front of them. This reminds me in a way of the rich man in Mark 17:21-22 who was unwilling to give up his riches to follow Jesus, but in this case they were unwilling to give up their earthly power to follow Jesus.

  These Jewish leaders thought that by killing Jesus they would secure their power, but in actuality they fulfilled scripture and unknowingly ended their power and sealed their own fate because they were not condemning Jesus but rather they were condemning themselves. 

  I feel this is still happening today: too often we put our trust and, dare I say it, our faith in our political leaders, hoping they will save us from the evils and misfortunes of the world when the true answer is still standing in front of us.

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5 KJV)