This week is a time to ponder the most momentous event in world history. Not only is Christ’s crucifixion the universal symbol of the Christian religion, but its long shadow has shaped the world that we live in.
The cross transformed the way that people think about human personhood, dignity, and care. The cross-shaped worldview of Christianity ended slavery, invented hospitals, and made modern science. It elevated women, protected the innocence of children, and cared for outcasts whom pagans left to die in the streets.
That Jesus was crucified might not have happened at all. Crucifixion was a Roman method of execution. Jews preferred execution by stoning. So, only by submitting to a Roman official, Pontius Pilate, could Good Friday have happened.
All four of the Christian Gospels record Jesus’ trial before Pilate. “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor” (Matthew 27:1-2).
What a strange picture this is! The King of kings and Lord of lords stood before a second-rate governor in a backwater province of the Roman Empire.
If ever there was a time to speak truth to power, this was it. And Jesus did speak truth to power. But his way of doing so was not what you would expect. He does not get into a shouting match. He does not get into Pilate’s face or threaten him with violence.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6).
Notice that Jesus did not build a wall of separation between Church and state. He doesn’t behave one way before fellow believers and another way before the pagan governor. He behaved before Pilate in exactly the same way that He teaches everyone to behave at all times.
That means that He neither grovels before Pilate nor spits in his face. Jesus could have unleashed His almighty power and annihilated the entire Roman Empire. Or, He could have floated above it all and kept Pilate out of the know.
Jesus does neither. “My kingdom is not of this world,” does not mean that His rule is irrelevant to the kingdoms of this world. Truth matters. Without it bridges collapse, economies implode, and societies turn violent. So, Jesus offers the voice of truth to Pilate.
But He speaks that truth in love.
Jesus treats Pilate like a person to persuade rather than an obstacle to obliterate. He acknowledges that Pilate sits on the judgment seat by the same authority that brought Jesus to stand before him. “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11).
As we take a pause from the howling crowd to think about Jesus’ Day of crucifixion, let us take Jesus’ example for ourselves.
No, it is not a Christian virtue to withhold the truth from the rulers of this world. And it is not Christian Nationalism to speak obvious truths in the public square.
Today’s rulers need to hear your clear confession of the truth as much as Pilate needed to hear Jesus’. They need to know it to govern rightly. And they need to know it for the sake of their own souls.
Government officials will never hear it if you don’t speak it. But neither will they know it if you speak it in a way calculated to disrespect their office or deny their humanity.
Just as Jesus did not flip the bird to Pilate, or incite his followers to riot, nobody—least of all Christians—should adopt the tactics of the raging mob.
Notice Jesus’ love for Pilate, as a person. See how He respects Pilate’s God-given authority. Observe how Jesus does not so much as raise His voice—much less use His almighty power—to blast Pilate into submission.
If the King of kings and Lord of lords rules the universe by such meekness and love, those who follow His example will rule the world with Him.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
