Lent Reflection #36: John 19:12-16

¹² From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic^[b] Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.^[c] He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ¹⁶ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

I have written at length elsewhere about John the Apostle's love-hate relationship with his own people. "The Jews" is problematic in John, meaning any number of groups, but usually the leaders who oversaw his friend's execution. Most people would not have fond memories of such. If John emotionally used "the Jews" in a sometimes negative way (not always, sometimes it just means his co-religionists and countrymen), we do not have to interpret it the same way. We do not hold people responsible for what their ancestors did, and it was not the Jewish people who asked for the crucifixion, but corrupt leadership who felt threatened. Even still, the words "we have no king but Caesar" considering how hated Rome was, is chilling, heart-stopping.