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So Pilate ... said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You over to me. What have You done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:33-38)
Sometimes Jesus shocks me. Because when He's talking to Pontius Pilate, the very man who is going to condemn Him to death, what is He doing? He's evangelizing him.
I mean, seriously! Look at the conversation. Pilate asks Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" and Jesus goes out of His way to make sure Pilate understands exactly what that phrase means. And then He dangles enticing statements about truth in front of Pilate, in the hopes that he will ask more.
It's so much like His conversation with Nicodemus, or with the woman at the well (see John 3-4). Jesus takes every chance He gets to draw people to Him in faith—because Pilate, too, is someone He will suffer, die, and rise again to save.
WE PRAY: Lord, You have brought me to trust in You. Bring many more people to know You as Savior. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
* Why is it Jesus can't stop witnessing, even on the brink of death?
* Do you think Pilate ever came to faith?
* Why or why not?
Lenten Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.
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