Pilate

By Guest Writer

Asking the wrong questions will usually lead to wrong answers.

When Jesus was forced into Pilate’s courtyard, surrounded by those intent on His death, Pilate didn’t immediately react; he assessed.

Question one, for the accusers: “What charge do you bring against this man?” (John 18:29).

Question two, for the accused: “Are you the king of the Jews?” (v.33).

Humanly speaking, it was a fair line of questioning, relevant to the crime Jesus was indicted for, but Pilate was not a Jew (v.31). Who Jesus was to them was irrelevant to him. By asking the wrong questions, Pilate avoided the right answer. Pilate needed to ask, Are you the king of me?

While it’s true that Pilate was uniquely caught in the crosshairs between a cultural revolution and a supernatural rescue mission, it’s also true that his position was not unique. Each of us must bring who He is and what He’s claimed to have done into the courtyard of our own hearts and minds. And the question—the real question—we can’t fully ignore is this: Is He the king of our lives? Will we bend the knee to His sovereign rule over us? Yes, at the moment of salvation, but will we then surrender over and over again as we learn to live with Him?

As long as we stay distracted by who Jesus is to others, we will miss the upending nature of the better question. And so, I ask it again: Is Jesus your king? Today? Right now?

Do you know He wants to be?

The crowd kept pressing, and Pilate kept asking.

“What have you done?” (v.35).
“You are a king then?” (v.37).

And finally, “What is truth?” (v.38). So close! The right question isn’t what but who. Jesus Himself had spoken the answer when He taught, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The answers to Pilate’s questions left him doubting that Jesus deserved death (v.38), but the answers to better questions had the power to move Pilate from death to life (John 5:24).

As we keep reading John’s gospel, we see Pilate ask another bad question.

“Should I crucify your king?” (John 19:15).

Wrong question. Wrong answer.
“Then he handed him over to be crucified” (v.16).

Jesus has given us an anchor question to keep us from missing the point. He asked it looking into the eyes of his disciples.

“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
—Matthew 16:15

To the religious leaders, the answer was a threat.
To Pilate, the answer was perhaps a nuisance.
It doesn’t matter now. They’re long gone. Their only legacy is in their affiliation with Jesus.

But you’re here, and asking the right question is the pathway to the answers your soul is looking for. Strip away the crowds. Let Pilate fade into the background. Picture Jesus, eyeball to eyeball, heart to heart.

“But you,” He’s asking through His Word, “Who do you say that I am?”

Right question. And the right answer? He’s the One worthy of your life.

New question that requires a new answer: Will you live surrendered to Him today?

Written by Erin Davis