No King but Christ |
“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.’” (John 19:15)
I have read the Crucifixion account many times. The Easter season draws us to that history, as expected, and yet we find ourselves moved in a new manner by the same eternal words.
This year was the first time that I read John 19:15 with a new insight, and I cried.
What a sad fate for the Jewish leaders to reject their king and to give in to the hostile secular authorities. “We have no king but Caesar.” Why would anyone settle for a pagan ruler with no regard for the customs and traditions of your fathers?
And some king, indeed! This same Caesar had taxed the whole world, requiring everyone to register in their home towns, the same Caesar had to commission one quarter of the Roman army to Judea, in order to suppress the rebellions of the inhabitants; the same Caesar who allowed the corrupt trials against Jesus of Nazareth; and the same Caesar who would destroy the Temple and disperse the Jews throughout the world 40 years later. Such is the fate for everyone who puts their faith in a fallen, deceptive, secular order, who calls any ordinary man a king.
More than the hollow betrayal of this Caesar, the chief priests’ bitter statement of rejection of Jesus was unbiblical in a general sense. After all, pious, patient, and persevering Jews (like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea) were waiting for the coming Messiah. They knew that He would come as their King, since Isaiah 9:6-7 clearly foretold this royal coming. How strange indeed, that a Roman governor, dismissive of the Hebrew customs and traditions, commanded more Biblical truth than........