City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

Jesus Before Pilate

¹ Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate.² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” ³ And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” ⁵ But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

Luke 23:1-5 ESV

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own,^{[Greek to his own things; that is to his own domain, or to his own people]} and his own people did not receive him.

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side,^{[Greek in the bosom of the Father]} he has made him known.

John 1:10-11, 18 ESVUK

Reflection

After the farce of the previous night’s trial, the Jewish religious leaders presented their case against Jesus to Pilate with prejudice (though not all the leaders went along with the plan; see Luke 23:50-54, John 19:38-42). Jesus already knew that he would be rejected by His people, confirming what the Prophets had foretold. But when Pilate asked ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ the Lord did not hesitate to let Pilate know that he had spoken the truth.

Let that sink in.

The God of all creation claimed to Pilate that the very people unjustly seeking His death were His subjects! He didn’t deny being their King!

What kind of love and fidelity is this?

The kind that looked the powers of hell, sin, and death squarely and said for the sake of the ones who are rightfully mine, bring it on! The Lord Jesus, in His love for His Father surrendered to His Father’s eternal will, which was this:

⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT [Emphasis mine]

The Lord Jesus set His face toward the cross to reveal the deep, wide, and high love of God the Father; the kind of love, we had never ever known — until He appeared.

Application

God’s faithfulness to Israel and to humanity is from eternity past, and rests solely on God’s character and purpose because He has determined that in Jesus, we would be His.

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked…

⁴ But^{[Or And]} God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:1-2; 4-10 ESVUK [Emphasis mine]

Jesus claimed His people then and now, because He chose to do what brought His Father pleasure, which was to show us mercy. Simply by His mercy and grace, God was and is forever pleased to claim us as His in Jesus! Praise God!

Prayer

Thank You dear Father for being so merciful to me. Thank You for choosing to claim me in Your dear Son, King Jesus, simply because You chose to show me grace. Please help me to keep receiving Your kindness in faith, and to walk in obedience and trust with You from now until You return, in Jesus’ name, amen.