Authority with Restraint

Pontius Pilate, governor Roman province of Judea, talks with Jesus after receiving the charges against Jesus:

“Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” ¹

Pilate told the Jews that he could find no guilt in Jesus but to appease the politics of the situation and to excuse himself of finding Jesus guilty of some Roman issue, Pilate offered up a traditional resolution which was the release of a prisoner during the Passover which was at hand. The crowd chose a criminal for release and Jesus to be guilty and crucified. ²

Pilate then had Jesus flogged and abused by the Roman cohort who served him in executions and then presented Jesus to the crowd again and again the masses called for Jesus’s crucifixion during which another claim reached Pilate’s ears. When Pilate heard the Jew’s claim that Jesus ought to die because ‘He has made Himself the Son of God’, Pilate again questioned Jesus:

So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” ³

Authority. Now Pilate knows he is way out of his comfort zone. Pilate serves at the will of the Roman Emperor and understands that he has no authority that has not been given him but Jesus talks of an even higher source above Rome. “From then on Pilate sought to release Jesus…” but the masses protested that release would oppose Caesar’s delegation of authority to him. He gave in. ⁴

Jesus is to be led away to be crucified, taken out to the hillside outside the city walls and nailed to a Roman cross where everyone can see the power of Rome, the will of the religious elite, and the desire of the masses carried out. Then comes the ultimate confrontation. Remember, the LORD is still LORD, has all authority given Him by Father God and as He had mentioned earlier, the ability to end this at any point, to call legions of angels and escape this crime against the LORD. The crowds taunt the ability of God the Son Incarnate:

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” ⁵

“Save yourself and come down from the cross.” “He saved others; he cannot save himself… let him come down from the cross that we may see and believe.” Do you see the commitment of Jesus to see the purpose of the LORD all the way through rather than give in to self-vindication as to who He truly is? Yes, He could save Himself, He could come down, He didn’t have to die, BUT if He stopped the sacrifice, He couldn’t save others. He was part of the determination from the foundation of the world that committed to fulfilling what would be necessary to provide the means of redemption when we failed to stay in agreement with Him.

All four Gospels record the fulfillment of His commitment to see it through the hard way and His willingness to the end:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. ⁶
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ⁷ 
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ⁸ 
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ⁹

Jesus was present and in control of Himself all the way through the crucifixion, knew what was happening around Him, was fully aware even to the point of being able to end the event when all was fulfilled, all of His sacrifice made, the Way to the LORD established, the price of redemption paid—then ‘He committed His spirit to the Father and breathed His last.’

It is Finished. Jesus has been fully faithful to the purpose of the LORD no matter what!