Pilate & The Spin Doctors

SCRIPTURE: John 19:19-22 NLT And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

THOUGHT: Newsflash. Marketing spin has been around at least two thousand years. The chief priests, who had made a lifetime pursuit of studying law and Scripture should have recognized Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Instead, they were the marketers of their era, trying to manipulate the crowds and the messages to achieve their own ends. Jesus called them blind guides (Matthew 15:14; 23:16 and 23:24), said they burdened people with fine print (Matthew 23:4), and put on a show designed to make themselves rich and comfortable while hiding truth (Matthew 23:25-26). Does any of that sound familiar?

Pilate, the Roman leader who finally turns Jesus over to them, has seen something in Jesus that reaches to his core. He feels fear in Jesus’ presence, even though he is the ultimate fear-causer typically responded to with kowtowing. He has looked the King of the Jews in the eye and felt his power. So, he won’t allow the word alteration suggested by the spin doctors, and to their elitist dismay, they must stand at the cross, reading the truth in not one, but three languages.

I wonder what happened to that little billboard?

PRAYER: Oh Jesus, you once said that if people didn’t praise God, the rocks would cry out, and here is an ironic example – a sign above you as you died, proclaiming your kingship in three languages. The spin doctors tried their lies, their vitriol, their invective – but in the end, the truth won over spin. May it ever be so!