S – And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³ They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands… ⁶ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” ⁸ When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ 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?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.

John 19:2-3, 6–11.

O -A:  Commentary:

Jesus is identified three ways in these passages and all of them elicit a response from others.  The soldiers mocked him by rightfully calling him, “King of the Jews.”  He was their eternal king – the one above all kings.  To soldiers not of the Jewish faith, it was a title of disdain.  The Jewish leaders rightfully said he made himself the Son of God.  Correct again and yet with all their tradition and history, the rejected him.  Finally, Pilate, in fear, unpacks  the authority of God by trying to establish his own.  This allows Jesus to rightfully share what God gave him in John 13 when it says, “All authority was given to Jesus by God.”  

All this happened – Jesus fulfilling his true identity with full authority…and He still went to the cross.

R- Heavenly Father, you are King, God and have authority over all things.  Thank you for being all of those things as we walk in relationship with you.  We want to embrace all that you are in our lives today.