Who Has the Power?

John 19:10-12 “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 Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
 
PILATE must have felt quite helpless. Even though he said he had the power to free Jesus crucify him, he really didn’t. Nothing he says has an impact on either Jesus or the Jews. He is caught in a cosmic battle. Pilate is not the governor here. He is being governed by God’s sovereign purpose to fulfill his salvation promise to mankind begun in Genesis.
   Jesus’ statement, “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” is a bit difficult to understand. In essence, he told Pilate that   Pilate was less guilty of Jesus’ circumstances than Judas, Caiaphas and the Jews. Their betrayal, rage and hatred against Jesus was a direct assault on God from his own chosen people. This is an outrage against God’s gracious love for the Jews.
   Then once more Pilate attempted to release Jesus. John 9:13 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 Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “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.
   The chief priests spoke against the law they pretended to defend. To call Caesar their king is to unseat the King of Glory from his throne. They confess to preferring Rome’s authority over the LORD God’s authority. The pompous law defenders rejected the laws, traditions and promises God had given to them. How deeply sin ran through their hearts and minds to fulfill their evil intentions.
   But then Pilate had enough. The raging Jews wore him down. John 19:16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
          Evil seemed to win that day. But the Father was about to fulfill his plans for Jesus as prophesied long before then: Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.