Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring ye against this Man? John 18:29
It was too early in the day for Pontius Pilate to be up. His position as Roman governor, or prefect, required him to entertain in the evenings, and he seldom rose until the morning was well spent. But this was barely past daybreak when a group of Jewish religious leaders demanded his attention. They had condemned a prisoner and required his rubber stamp to have the man executed. Pilate was provoked at the early interruption, and his normal caustic mood was further soured as he hastened to deal with the situation as smartly as possible. The prisoner could expect no mercy from him, that was for sure. Pilate noted the Jewish leaders were in a highly agitated state, in a much more nasty mood than usual. Something had riled them up to a savage pitch. Their prisoner must be incredibly bad for them to be like this, he thought. Then he turned to face the Prisoner. His jaw dropped and his eyes popped in amazement! Why, This was no criminal! He could see nothing but goodness and peace on the Prisoner’s face. This surely had to be the Teacher/Healer from Galilee about whom he had heard so much. Shocked that this was the Prisoner that He must deal with, Pilate turned to the accusers and in amazement asks ‘What accusation bring ye against this man?’
This question rings down through history against all who have opposed the Lord Jesus. The religious leaders still try to get rid of Him. Oh, they invoke His name in their religious rites, but they have no time for His Gospel and His teachings. The irreligious have little use for Him but to use His name in cursing and blasphemy. To most of those around us, He is irrelevant to their lives, to their selfish, grasping plans and schemes, and to their seared consciences. Like the Jewish leaders before Pilate, they have no real answer now, and they will have no real answer when they must stand before the Judge and face the question again.
For the Christian, this question causes us to turn to the Lord Jesus and be amazed at His character. If the cruel and cowardly Pilate could be amazed that Jesus was accused, how much more are we to whom God has revealed His Son. We rejoice at the accounts of His life and His death, and praise God that the Man Pilate sent to be crucified was innocent, and the Son the Father sent to die for us was pure and holy.
As we consider our Lord and Saviour, we must ask ourselves how He could have been accused of anything. What a Saviour! -Jim MacIntosh