We live in a political world, a world where politics rules. Two thousand years ago, the world was just as political as it is today. Rome was the world’s only super-power, a dictatorship, although at times a benevolent one. If a country accepted Roman rule it was allowed a measure of autonomy. If it rebelled, it was crushed. Warfare is politics by another means, and Rome was the master of such politics. It had conquered Israel militarily, and set up a political system under Roman governance to keep the peace.

Collins dictionary defines politics as any activity concerned with the acquisition of power or the influencing of something, opinions or decisions. So when our opinions are being influenced somehow, to cause us to decide in a particular way, it can be said we are being acted upon politically. It’s scary to realise how very few of the opinions we hold and even cherish, have actually originated with us. Most likely we’ve been given our opinions from another source.

When Jesus was presented to Pilate by the Jewish leaders as a criminal and a trouble maker, Pilate was being acted upon politically. The Jews were seeking to influence Pilate’s opinions and his decisions. They wanted him to form a bad opinion of Jesus and to decide upon Jesus’ crucifixion. They didn’t have the political authority to execute Jesus themselves. But they had a lot of political influence, and they brought this to bear on Pilate, manipulating his insecurities and fears.

But Pilate was a politician himself, and a very good one. He was also an astute judge of character and quickly saw through the pretence of the Pharisees. He knew they were envious of Jesus. Jesus was powerful in word and deed. His teachings astonished, His deeds were enough to raise the dead. You didn’t need to rent a crowd when Jesus was in town. By comparison the Pharisees were boring. So, if you can’t compete, you do the next best thing: get rid of the competion. Pilate would have understood all this. He’d no doubt been keeping tabs on Jesus as well, just quietly. And the kind of crowd/media frenzy Jesus attracted would not have gone unnoticed by Pilate, the governor. Perhaps from time to time he’d received reports on Jesus - it was his job to know what was going on under his jurisdiction. Was this Jesus a rebel, a rabble-rouser inciting rebellion against Rome? One report may have mentioned that Jesus said “love your enemies”. “Hmm, that’s good news for Rome, turn the other cheek. Awesome. Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s. Hey, my kind of. guy.”

But it’s one thing to hear reports about Jesus, from the comfort of your lazyboy throne, and another to have Him in your face, confronting you personally. Let Jesus do His thing - heal the sick, raise the dead, walk on water, preach brilliantly - just as long as He doesn’t upset the status quo, and rattle my cage. Jesus had been ministering spectacularly for three years without the least opposition from Rome, because He was not perceived as a threat by Rome, and so Pilate was content to leave him be. But now, the Jewish religious/ political leadership was in an uproar, and Pilate was compelled to respond.

We move now from the external to the internal. Jesus’ encounter with Pilate is an essential part of the revelation of Himself to a fallen world. First the Jew and then the gentile. First the Jewish religious/ political system must reject Him, and then the gentile regime as symbolised by imperial Rome. Jhn18:28-34. “Are you a king then?” - Remember the beginning statement? - Politics is that which seeks to influence opinions and decisions. Jesus is checking Pilate out here. ‘Is this your own idea about me, or has someone else given it to you?’ Jesus is already making Pilate completely accountable and responsible, for any part Pilate will play in his trial and condemnation. Just as well, He was dealing with a guy here who likes to wash his hands of responsibility when the pressure is on. Whatever our opinions of Jesus are, or whatever decisions we make regarding him, He will hold us fully responsible for them. Do we know about Jesus second hand or first hand through personal relationship? Jesus bore witness before Pilate of something - the truth.

What is truth? For someone like Pilate, the truth was probably anything that best served a political end. The goal of all politics is power. When power can only be obtained militarily, then warfare becomes politics by another means - and the first casualty of warfare is usually the truth.

Thousands of years ago Eve took part in the second greatest battle in all of history. She didn’t know that’s what it was at the time - but it was desperate warfare all the same. The first casualty of that war was also the truth. She bought Satan’s lie. The second casualty was the entire human race. And now here is Jesus, the second Adam, locking horns with the prince of this world, and up for grabs once again is the Truth. Along with that, the eternal destiny of each of us. What a battle. What a conflict. All hinging on this one man, and whether He can stay with the truth. Will He make it? Will He win? He’s already won a few deadly skirmishes with the devil. Just being born and making it through to adulthood, without sin, was a huge victory. But can He go all the way? But, of course He is the truth, so all He needs to do is stay true to Himself.

Easier said than done. Satan’s attack is always upon our assurance, upon our identity. “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread” etc. It wasn’t about hunger, it was about identity. 40 days and nights in the desert without food. Burning hot by day, freezing cold by night, and oh, the loneliness. Some of us might start to hallucinate, maybe get a delusion or two of grandeur. Are you sure you’re the Son of God? You might be, you might not be.
“You’ve been out here a long time. You feeling okay? A little woozy, little hungry, a little weak. It’s to be expected, in your state. You’re driving Yourself too hard. Taking this, this mission from God a little seriously, don’t you think? But I tell you what, if you really are who you think you are, the Son of God, why don’t we just settle this right now, and put your mind at rest. Turn these liddle ole stones to bread?”

Now Jesus didn’t respond as the Son of God, but as the Son of man. He didn’t have to prove His identity to the devil. “Man shall not live..” etc. He was including Himself here. Paradise was lost by a man, the first Adam, and it would be regained by a Man, Jesus, the second Adam. Truly He was and is God incarnate, but I don’t see Him drawing upon His divinity here, but upon the Holy Spirit, right through to His death. As it says in Heb 9:14 “Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” During His ministry He depended completely upon the Holy Spirit’s anointing, to preach, heal, deliver, recover and set at liberty. Lk 4:18. And as the Son of man He wielded the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word, to defeat Satan. Paradise was lost on the strength of words, lying words. The first casualty of warfare is the truth. And it would be regained on the strength of the word, the Word of Truth.

Pilate may have had doubts as to what the truth was, but he’s certain now that Jesus is telling the truth and is an innocent man. He says to the Jews, “I find no fault in Him.” Before the Jewish leaders, who represent the law of Moses, Jesus is innocent. Before Pilate, who represents the legal system of Rome, i.e. the Gentiles, Jesus is innocent. But still Jesus was rejected. Now Pilate has him scourged, which is another way of saying he has Jesus tortured. What Pilate's reasons were for doing this, I’m not sure.

Picture for a moment, Jesus as He is brought back, dressed in a gaudy purple robe, with dark patches of blood showing through. Blood is pouring from head wounds caused by a vicious crown of thorns, handfuls of his beard have been ripped out, both his eyes are blackened from repeated punches to his face. His lips are split open, those lips full of grace and truth. His back has been ripped open like a can, by a cat-of-nine-tails. He may be starting to go into shock, to shake and tremble from loss of blood. The soldiers had been spitting upon him, it would have been in His hair, mingled with His blood. The soldiers had been having a good time, it was not every day they got to beat up on a King. All that pent up anger that, I guess, soldiers feel at times towards those in authority over them. ‘Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir’. Now it was their turn.

Pilate stretches out his hand towards a smashed up Jesus. “Behold the Man, I find no fault in Him.” Nothing reveals one’s faults like pain. Ever wacked your thumb with a hammer, banged your head? No matter how hard Jesus was squeezed, there was still no lemon juice. He was still innocent and without sin, without fault.

How about us, how do we see Jesus? Do we see faults in Him? ‘Lord, it’s your fault I didn’t get that job promotion. It’s your fault I lost all that money and went bankrupt. How come you let my wife get cancer like that? Why didn’t you heal her? Where were you when I was being sexually abused? Why did mum and dad have to split up? Why didn’t You hold that together Lord?’

Sometimes we complain, don’t we, and blame God? Behold the Man, even after we’ve beaten Him, insulted Him, spat on Him and rejected Him, and blamed Him, He is still innocent. But we are not. Only Jesus comes up smelling like roses. Judas betrayed Him, His followers abandoned Him, Peter denied Him, the Jewish leaders hated and envied Him, and Pilate unjustly delivered Him to death. From Adam right through to the last person that will ever be born, only Jesus is without sin.

“Behold the Man”. Pilate saw Him as a good but pitiful figure. Little did he know it, but Pilate was exactly fulfilling a prophecy in Zec 6:12. So now we have God’s perspective. When God ‘beholds the Man’ He sees Him as the King and High Priest of our salvation, the Temple builder. It’s all in the eye of the beholder, like beauty. Some of us see Jesus as weak and limited, and we don’t really trust Him to be there for us in our every day lives, or in a crisis. We wash our hands of Jesus at times because we don’t see His true significance. But He is our high Priest, always interceding for us to God. Able to help us in our weakness and failure and to cleanse us from sin and empower us with His Spirit. He sits on a throne as King over every circumstance and all the power of the enemy. None of us can wash our hands of Jesus and say we are innocent of His blood, for as Isaiah rightly says

"But He was wounded for our wrong doing, our sins bruised Him! He took the punishment that brought us peace. And by his whip wounds we are healed." Chapter 53:5...