“Shall I crucify your king?” pilate asked.
“We have no king but caesar,” the chief priests answered.  - John 19:15 NIV

“You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one
who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” - John 19:11 NIV

“But this is your hour - when darkness reigns.” - Luke 22:53 NIV

Luke 22:66-71 NIV
Jesus Before Pilate and Herod

66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

Questions:
Jesus submits quietly and peacefully.
Jesus is condemned by religious leaders.
What was their fear?

Meditation
Have you ever pondered at how many Biblical characters spent time in jail in the Bible?

Paul and Silas, Jeremiah, Joseph, John the Baptist, the Apostles, and Daniel to name a few.
And what were the reasons for being arrested?
Were these imprisonments justified?
Were these cut throat criminals? Or were they pushing up against something else… something
with power… that felt threatened by their message?

Have you ever been falsely accused of something?
How did that feel?

Jesus partook in consequences he did not earn

He was condemned in an unjustly
He was put on trial by a religious establishment that felt threatened by his message.

He had false witnesses testify against him.

Even when they brought Him to Pontius Pilate and asked for Him to be executed, Pilate asked
“What has he done?”

You know... when they shouted “crucify him!”... that meant in a few hours they all got to watch
him die right in front of them.
Not on screens.
Not from stadium stands.
Just on the side of the road as they ran some errands.

I believe in our capacity for kindness and goodness. But I also know that hiding in the shadows is our immense capacity for cold bloody murder.

Here’s a quick summary of some of Jesus’ crimes (Luke 7:22-23):
The blind can see
The crippled can walk
People with diseases are healed
The deaf can hear
The dead are raised to life
The Good News is preached to the poor

 “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1: 29 NIV