John 19:9 “And he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are You from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer.”
So it helps to see what’s happening. It appears that Jesus was brought out of the Praetorium and presented to the Jews. Then upon hearing that He might be the Son of God, Pilate took Him back into the Praetorium to question Jesus along that line. He asks Jesus a great question, “Where are you from?”
That is the right question when considering the claims of Christ. If He’s from Nazareth, then no biggie. But maybe Pilate remembered that Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world and he thought he should double check. Fear of offending God should cause us to double check ourselves.
In this verse we see that Jesus didn’t immediately answer Pilate’s inquiry, so we will wait for the rest of the story. But for now let us ask ourselves this same great question. If Jesus is from God, shouldn’t it change everything in our lives?
If Pilate could have this moment back to do over, I think we would see him fall on his face before Jesus and say, “Have mercy on me, the greatest sinner, dear Son of God. I’m so sorry for what I have done. Forgive me!”
What about us? We have this moment. We are seeing that God is love, and that love is the sustained direction of the will toward our highest good no matter what the cost. Have we fallen prostrate before Him and confessed our sorrow for what we have done to Him? If not, do we really know where He is from? And if we do know that He is from God in heaven, shouldn’t we trust Him who has sent and sacrificed His Son for us? Shouldn’t we surrender all to Him who surrendered all for us? And shouldn’t we understand that we are not of this world, but are sons and daughters of God, sent into this world by God to live to love with Jesus as He lived to love with His Father?
Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
