Hail, King of the Jews!

 

 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. 

 

- Matthew 27:24-31 

 

On Saturday, we read about Jesus brought to trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.   Jesus stood before the governor.  And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."  And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.  Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"  But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.  And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.  Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you  want me to release to you?  Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"  For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.  While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him."  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"  They said, "Barabbas!"  Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"  They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"  Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"   

 "When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  My study Bible has a comment on verse 25, regarding the people's answer, "His blood be on us and on our children."  It notes that this verse has been used by certain groups to try to justify persecuting Jews, which is a grave and terrible sin.  It notes that what was seen by many as a curse is in fact a blessing which is invoked unwittingly, for Christ's blood is the source of everyone's redemption.  These words are implicitly spoken by anyone who sins.  My study Bible adds that St. John Chrysostom teaches that even those these particular Judeans under the coercion of the religious leaders "acted with such madness, so far from confirming a sentence on them or their children, Christ instead received those who repented and counted them worthy of good things beyond number."  Additionally, St.  Chrysostom goes on to note the thousands who were converted in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41) as evidence of Christ's mercy.  

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.  My study Bible states that every king is proclaimed by his soldiers.  Although the intention here is mockery, it is again prophetic that Jesus should be crowned and hailed as King by soldiers of the governor (see also John 11:49-51, where Caiaphas unwittingly prophesies of Christ's redemptive work).  This mockery shows Christ as the One despised and rejected by human beings and bears the iniquity of all of us (see Isaiah 53:3-9).  My study Bible notes also that Jesus is clothed in scarlet, which represents both His royalty and also the sins of humanity which He has taken upon Himself. 

My study Bible comments on verse 25, containing the curse "His blood be on us and on our children."   First noting that it's a great and terrible sin to use this as an excuse to persecute Jews, it adds importantly that this is an unwitting blessing.  It's important, to begin with, that we understand the important thing here is not exactly who is to blame for crucifying the innocent Christ.  Pilate seeks to wash his hands of the mess, but he can't evade his responsibility as governor for this decision.  Neither can the people who shout for Christ's crucifixion nor the religious leaders who exhort them to do so, and have presented Jesus to Pilate as a kind of fait accompli to have Him executed as a criminal.  All of them know that He is, in Pilate's words, a just Person.  What becomes really important is, first of all, everyone's capacity for repentance and thereby the receipt of Christ's saving grace.  What is also strikingly notable about this passage is a sort of crazy inversion of truth -- or perhaps we might call it truth hiding in plain sight.  What is meant as a curse is actually an invocation of a blessing, an unwitting statement of the power of Christ's blood to redeem and to save, to cast away sin and grant life.  His is the blood of the Passover but magnified to an eternal and truly universal sense of saving life.   The mocking scarlet robe given to Christ, and also the soldiers' ridiculing salute, "Hail, King of the Jews!" are also examples of the strange inversion of truth.  What is meant in derision is actually profound truth, again hiding in plain sight, obscured by terribly evil circumstances.   And the horrific evil we witness, of the ultimate Innocent knowingly unjustly condemned, abandoned, and given to torture and the most heinous form of punishment, is also a kind of strange inversion of truth.  For if we take it at its face value, and without the Resurrection that will follow, then all we see is a terrible monstrous evil.  But God will use even this as the foundation for the salvation of an entire created order, a whole universe, and grace abounding in all and through all things, and for all time.  This Christ knows and so willingly has gone to His death, with full knowledge He may be a stumbling block, and knowing the free will of people to reject what He has done and so reject their salvation.  But where He goes, He goes for us -- and in so doing, He proclaims the love of God for all.