Reflective Bible Study

During Jesus’ trial before Pilate, John draws our attention to some interesting wordplay that was used, and onto a startling declaration that the chief priests state. Following Jesus’ conversation with Pilate about where Pilate’s power over Jesus came from, Pilate knew Jesus was different and John tells us that from that point, “Pilate tried to set Jesus free.” (v. 12a)

However, John tells us that the Jewish leaders had one other trick up their sleeves to twist Pilate’s arm into sentencing Jesus to death. They respond to Pilate’s attempts to free Jesus by saying, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is against Caesar!” (v. 12b)

In a single statement, the Jewish leaders challenge Pilate on where his allegiance lies: Does Pilate side with the self-proclaimed King Jesus, or does he side with Caesar, the Roman emperor?

But Pilate does not seem fazed by their remark. Instead, John seems to say that their remark gives Pilate an idea. “When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out. Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat.” (v. 13)

Pilate is clearly Roman, and Jesus is clearly Jewish. So Pilate, seated on the judge’s seat, challenges the crowd by saying, “Here is your king!” (v. 14b)

But the people shouted back, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” (v. 15a)

Pilate responded by asking, “Should I crucify your king?” (v. 15b)

Then the chief priests give their most revealing response: “We have no king but Caesar.” (v. 15c)

The chief priests, who technically should have no king but God, directly state that Caesar has replaced the role of God in their lives. While they might claim to be following God, they have lowered God out of the role of king and instead placed Him in the box of their religion.

In this conversation between Pilate and the chief priests over the fate of Jesus, these Jewish leaders clearly ally with Rome over the Messiah who God had sent. While they may have not liked Rome, they choose Rome over God.

The choice these religious leaders had is the same choice each of us has. When we are prioritizing our lives, will we place God in the number one position, or will we place a human authority, system, or set of beliefs as first in our lives? Will the God who placed us ahead of Himself win our hearts, or will we choose something else instead?

The Jewish leaders chose to reject Jesus, but we don’t have to make the same decision.

The gospel of John is an interesting gospel. Not only does it give us a unique perspective on Jesus’ life, John seems to paint a picture for us about who Jesus is, instead of who He was. The other gospel writers dig into an assortment of events that give us an overview of Jesus’ life, His ministry, His death, and His resurrection, but John strategically pulls events together to paint a picture of Jesus as not just a prophet or famous person, but as the Messiah who God had sent.

Luke opens his gospel by sharing that his gospel is a collection of interviews with people who were eyewitnesses. Mark may have been one of Jesus’ followers who was not part of the group of 12 disciples, so his gospel is likely put together by talking with Jesus’ disciples themselves. Matthew was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, and he paints his gospel around how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy.

But in the events surrounding Jesus’ death, while Matthew is probably the most detailed writer at the moment Jesus died, it is John who draws our attention to a set of prophecies that Matthew missed or chose to not include. In John, following Jesus taking His last breath, the Jewish leaders convince Pilate to expedite the men’s deaths by breaking their legs.

However, because Jesus was already dead, they skip breaking His legs, and instead thrust a spear into His side to confirm His death. John tells us the significance of these two details of Jesus death: “This happened so that the Scripture would come true: ‘None of his bones will be broken.’ Another Scripture passage says, ‘They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.’” (v. 36-37)

This is one of the very few places where a gospel writer includes a prophetic detail of Jesus’ life that Matthew does not include. Perhaps this was because John was the only eyewitness who connected these dots, or maybe Matthew didn’t include it because He was not present for it.

What this tells me most importantly about the four gospels is that all four gospels are important and each of the four gospels has a place in helping us understand who Jesus was, who He is, and who He came to be. All four gospels can teach us something distinct about Jesus, and by including all four gospels, we can see a much better picture of Jesus the Messiah.

If you have ever been used as an illustration in someone’s sermon/presentation, or if you feel as though someone based their sermon on something you did or something you said, you are not alone.

Prior to studying this entry’s passage, I had not ever noticed verse 9, which sets up this entire teaching: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable”.

I wonder if those in the audience did something that prompted Jesus to conclude this, or if this was simply another time when the Holy Spirit shared people’s thoughts with Jesus. We may never know, but we do know that this verse clearly sets up the theme and foundation for Jesus’ upcoming parable.

 Jesus parable has two characters: one who represented a person who was overly confident in his righteousness, and one who was humble and who acknowledged his need for forgiveness.

The opening verse clearly draws a parallel between the confident people in the crowd and the confident man praying in the temple within the parable. Without saying it directly, Jesus pulls back the curtain on how God views our actions and what He thinks of our attitude.

When I read this verse, the idea of “confidence” challenges me. I don’t think confidence in itself is the problem. After all, we can be confident in many positive things.

What I think is the root problem is these people’s attitude: they believe they have arrived and have achieved a “God-like” righteousness, and they look down on all those who haven’t made it here.

These two ideas stand in contrast with each other because God doesn’t “look down” – He steps down. The confident people in the crowd may have been really close to “God-like” standard, but without the love necessary in their lives to step down to help those in need, they failed.

However, God’s goal for us is not to live to the standard. History has made it very clear that this is impossible for a sinful race. Instead, God sent Jesus to live that life for us, but that brings with it a second challenge – we must accept God’s gift by acknowledging that we need Jesus’ life to replace ours.

The second man who prayed – the one who humbled himself and asked God for forgiveness and help – received the approval He asked for.

This leads to Jesus’ big idea in verse 14: “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In all the commotion surrounding Jesus’ arrest in the garden, every gospel writer shares something unique during this key point in Jesus’ night before His crucifixion. However, out of all the gospel writers, Mark shares with us a detail that is incredibly unique.

This detail actually is even more interesting because it is one of the very, very few places that Mark shares something that at least one of the other gospel writers don’t.

At the very end of Mark’s version of this event, we read, “Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.” (v. 50-52)

While all the gospel writers include the disciples fleeing the scene, only Mark includes a detail about a young man barely escaping – only able to do so naked. Some people believe this detail to be from Mark himself, who was the author of this gospel. If this is the case, then with Jesus at the garden may have been more followers than just the twelve disciples.

However, Mark the gospel writer may have included this detail about one of the lesser famous members of Jesus group of twelve.

What this detail tells me about Jesus is that His promise and statement was true. Mark includes the closest that any of the mob came to arresting one of Jesus’ followers, and even then, they were not successful.

In this odd detail for Mark to include, my faith in God’s protection is strengthened. Sure, our enemies may get the shirt off my back, but Jesus has promised to keep me safe for eternity! And this is a promise that means way more than a piece of clothing that can be replaced!