Reflective Bible Study

Last week, we talked about Luke’s description of Jesus facing Pilate. In Luke’s gospel, we read that Pilate had two separate encounters with Jesus, with these two separate encounters being divided by Pilate sending Jesus to see Herod, and Herod sending Jesus back.

However, none of the other gospels include Jesus’ visit with Herod, and John’s gospel includes greater detail of Pilate’s conversation with both Jesus and the religious leaders. While we can only speculate where Herod’s visit occurred in what the gospels share about Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we know that what happened that morning was more detailed and nuanced than any of the gospel writers had space to include.

Last week, I speculated that John’s conversation between Jesus and Pilate could have occurred before Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, or it could have occurred after Jesus was sent back. But regardless of when Jesus was sent to visit Herod, let’s read what John’s gospel tells us about Jesus’ trial before Pilate and the conversation that takes place between Pilate and Jesus.

Our passage is found in the gospel of John, chapter 18, and we will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 28, John transitions away from Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders and onto His trial before Pilate by saying:

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰ “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

In this passage, I see something amazing take place. Up until Pilate references the Jewish custom about releasing a prisoner, Jesus is presumed to be innocent. While the religious leaders only brought Jesus to Pilate on the claim that He is guilty, Pilate has just stated his conclusion that there is no basis for a charge against Jesus, and we could add that there is no basis for a charge that is worthy of death.

However, Pilate, perhaps unknowingly, switches assumptions after sharing His conclusion. Up to this point, Pilate assumed and concluded that Jesus was innocent, but now Jesus is presumed as guilty and in need of being freed. Perhaps this switch in assumption is because a small group of religious leaders and temple guards bring Jesus to Pilate, and the assembly of Jews present Pilate believes are impartial observers.

But this is unlikely, because only 12 hours prior to this, Jesus was walking around as a free man. For most Jews present in Jerusalem, they would have gone to sleep believing Jesus to be free, and they would have woken up and headed into Jerusalem at around the point when Jesus was being led with a cross to Golgotha. The only Jews present for the trial before Pilate are the ones who were handpicked to be awake for Jesus’ trial in front of the religious leaders, and they would have logically followed Jesus to Pilate’s palace to aid in Jesus’ judgment.

Pilate incorrectly assumed Jesus’ guilt after stating that he did not find the case against Jesus was valid, and he incorrectly assumed the neutrality of the Jews present in his court to help him decide his case.

However, within Jesus’ conversation with Pilate is an interesting idea that Pilate doesn’t fully understand. Jesus avoids the description and title of king, while also describing Himself as having a kingdom. Like most people would, Pilate equates the possession of a kingdom as being equal to being a king, but Jesus separates the two.

Jesus also separates His kingdom from both the Jewish leaders and this world as a whole. This is worth paying attention to because it runs counter to everything we believe about earthly kingdoms, countries, and empires.

In this conversation with Pilate, Jesus reveals several profound ideas. First, Jesus has a kingdom, but this kingdom is from a place that is not this world. This revelation should both ease tension between Christians and those focused on holding political power, but while doing so, it should also raise tension between Christians and other people who do not want to acknowledge a world other than the one we live in.

Jesus did not come to upset the political powers of the empire He lived in, and He did not call His followers to do this either. The idea that Christians should seek political influence is not found in the teachings of Jesus. While Christians can be promoted to political offices, this should always be secondary in relation to their service to Christ.

However, with this idea shared, Jesus also shares that His mission into this world is to testify to the truth. Jesus says that those who are interested in learning truth will listen to Him. Pilate, like many people living the post-Christian, post-modern world today, scoffed at Jesus claiming to have a handle on truth, especially when the concept is so subjective to so many people.

However, this is what Jesus claimed, and while Pilate rejected Jesus’ claim that He was on the side of truth, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus, we should be willing to side with the truth that Jesus taught above everything else that people living today claim is truth. As followers of Jesus, His Word should supersede any claim of truth from anywhere else in culture, regardless of how loud, dominant, or widespread a theory or claimed fact is. If Jesus validates an event, idea, or fact, we can trust in it regardless of what culture says.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to place His truth above truth that the world claims it has, and to trust in His promises regarding our present lives, and the future, eternal lives He has promised to those who place their faith, belief, and trust in Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, be sure to seek God first and use Jesus’ Word as the filter for everything you see in the world today. Don’t let any idea, assumption, or secular idea take the place of the foundation of Truth that Jesus has called His followers to accept. When we side with Jesus, we accept the truth that He teaches, and this truth is as true today as it was yesterday and as true as it will be tomorrow. Jesus’ truth is truth for eternity.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself, personally, and let God, through the Holy Spirit, teach and lead you into the truth He wants you to learn. Open the Bible with a prayer requesting for the Holy Spirit to teach you, and then let the Holy Spirit open your mind to the truth about God. Don’t let anyone get in the way of you learning from God through the pages of His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let the world push you away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we move through the week leading up to the cross in Matthew’s gospel, we come to a challenging parable Jesus shares with some powerful implications. In this parable, we discover how one group of people gives up their privileged status, and another group gains the invitation to step into the first group’s place.

However, while this sounds simple, perhaps even too simple, the parable we are about to read really contains only two major details we should pay attention to, and these two details are crucial for our ultimate salvation.

Our passage and parable is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read it from the New International Version. Starting in verse 22, Matthew tells us that:

¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Jumping out of our parable for a minute, I want to point out that if Jesus ended His parable here, He would have ended on a high note, at the most positive point in this illustration, but He would have only shared with us one of the two major details we must pay attention to in this parable.

Instead, Jesus then continues in verse 11, saying:

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

In this parable Jesus shared, we started on a high point with a king preparing for a celebration. Things then turn worse when we discovered how those who had been originally invited to this celebration decide to ignore or outright reject the invitation that was theirs. Things then shift back to being positive when the king extends the invitation to everyone regardless of their prior status.

Part of me is curious about how those who were present and listening to this parable responded when Jesus shared how the king opened the invitation to anyone and everyone. This major detail in this parable is vitally important for us to pay attention to. This major detail draws our attention onto a gift that God offers to each of us. While I don’t know if God would have opened this gift to everyone if those who were originally invited had accepted their invitations, because this first group rejected it, it gives anyone and everyone who wants to the choice to accept the invitation.

This parable draws our attention onto the amazing gift God offers to each of us when He invited us to be a part of His family, and to take part in the celebration when Jesus returns to bring God’s people home.

If we stopped reading here, this parable would end with the best news possible.

However, Jesus continued sharing, and things take another turn downward. When the king arrives in the banquet hall, he sees a person who isn’t wearing wedding clothes, and he throws this man out.

On the surface, this sounds both reasonable and ridiculous. The reasonable side of this is that this is the king, and he can do what he wants. If the king didn’t like how someone was dressed, he is perfectly within his right to kick that person out of his home and his event.

However, this also sounds ridiculous. When we look at how the parable progressed prior to this point, those who ultimately are in the banquet hall are those people who woke up that morning with no thoughts or plans of heading to the king’s banquet. All those present are last-minute invitees to this special event. Those present represent anyone and everyone from the rich to the poor, the good to the evil, and the well connected to the social outcasts. In this parable, those present come from any and every background, and they are all miraculously wearing wedding clothes when the king arrives.

The only way this detail makes sense, especially when reconciling this with the realization that not everyone present would have been able to afford appropriate wedding clothing, is that the king gave the guests wedding clothes on their arrival. With this detail in place, we discover how the king is fully within his rights to throw someone out who had refused the second portion of his gift. The king had given everyone an amazing gift of an invitation and he gave each person present the gift of wedding clothing.

In this parable, we discover how God gives each of us two gifts. God first gives us the gift of an invitation into His family and into His special event. If you’re worried about whether you are in the first group of invitees or the second, don’t worry about this. All you need to know is that you have been given an invitation. Everyone in this parable received an invitation to this wedding banquet!

This first gift requires a choice, and we must choose whether we will accept this gift or not.

The second gift present in this parable is the gift of wedding clothing. It is completely possible to accept the gift of an invitation but reject the gift of wedding clothing. The person who the king throws out for not wearing wedding clothes may have believed he had wedding clothes on, he had on the best clothes he had, or that the clothing one wore to this event wasn’t significant. Regardless of the reason, this man is thrown out for rejecting the second gift.

If you are concerned about whether you have accepted the gift of wedding clothing, this might be something to look into. The gift of wedding clothing is Jesus’ righteousness. The gift of clothing is defined for us in Revelation as the righteous acts of God’s people. In one of the most symbolic books of the Bible, John gives us the definition of this metaphor.

The second gift is a challenge for each of us. The second gift challenges us regarding where we place our focus and our hope. With the gift of clothing, are we going to come before God showing Him what we have done for Him with the attitude of trying to build ourselves up, or are we going to come before God thanking Him for what Jesus blessed us with and how nothing we do could ever repay His generosity?

For some reason, the man in this parable who is thrown out decided that He could appear before God with his own righteousness, and this cost him his salvation. I might be understating this when I say “Don’t be that guy!”

Instead, choose to accept God’s two gifts, both the choice and the challenge, and live your life as a thank you to God for everything He has blessed us with, both through what Jesus did for us, and through what Jesus is still doing for us each and every day!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to intentionally seek God first in your life and let Him give you the two gifts that matter the most. Make the choice to accept His invitation and accept God’s challenge to replace your life and character with Christ’s life and character. This is only possible with God’s help and it is the best way we can say thank you to God for giving us what we easily don’t deserve.

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God each and every day. God wants a personal relationship with you and He doesn’t want a relationship where you filter Him through the thoughts and opinions of others. Choose to make your relationship with God personal by choosing to spend time with Him on a regular, frequent basis.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tricked out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!