John 19:13-14 “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’"
The Pavement was a judgment seat outside the Praetorium, and there Pilate presented Jesus once again to the Jewish officials. He still had nothing by which to condemn Jesus. The Jew’s accusation that He was an imposter portraying himself to be their king didn’t seem to be worthy of the death penalty. Nevertheless, Pilate made one last fruitless appeal. Behold your king.
There Jesus stood robbed in purple, crowned with thorns, blood steaming down His face and torso. The blood of the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son had begun to be spilled. Every drop that hit The Pavement declared the love of God for His people—an everlasting love, sustained by the will of God through the incomprehensibly brutal beating. The will of God the Father authorized it, and the will of God, the Son, received and endured it. In this the definition of the love of God is revealed: the sustained direction of the will, toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost.
This kind of love flows out of the lives of those in whom Jesus lives. And in a way, very different from what Pilate meant that morning, we say to the world, “Behold my King!”
Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
