Good Friday (April 3). We have no king but …

Prepare to Listen.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
 
Prayerfully Read John 19:5-16a
5So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.  Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’  6When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’  7The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’  8Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever.  9He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’  But Jesus gave him no answer.  10Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?  Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’  11Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’  12From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’  13When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha.  14Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon.  He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’  15They cried out, ‘Away with him!  Away with him!  Crucify him!’  Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’  The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’  16Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“We have no king but the emperor,” the Jews told Pilate.  It’s a shocking denial of their usual daily chant: “We have no king, but the Lord.”  If you’re living in the U.S. today, your cry might simply be: “No king.”  Period.  But if you’re a Christian, following Jesus, your daily chant should be: “No king but Jesus, the King of kings.”
 
It’s easy to be blinded by lies and distortions and unwittingly live, if not actually chant, “We have no king but the President.”   Lies are one thing.  Believing them is another.  Those who believe the lies will, like the Jewish priests, reject faith in God’s Sovereign Rule, for faith in a human ruler.
 
The Jews believed they controlled the narrative of Jesus’ end.  Their rejection of God as their only king proved they’d lost control.  But neither was Pilate in control.  He too thought there was no king but Caesar and that Caesar’s power rested on him.  Imagine his shock when Jesus said, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.”  God, the Supreme Power, was in control.  Therefore, despite finding Jesus innocent, despite his boast to have power to release him, Pilate was forced to hand “him over to them to be crucified.”
 
The Jews got what they wanted.  But at what a cost.  When they celebrated Passover later that day, did they dare claim as usual, “We have no king, but the Lord”?  I wonder.  For the Christian, there is no king, but Jesus.  We must resist all humans who aspire to that role.
 
How will you complete: We have no king but…?  How is that made obvious in your life?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, you are our King and Lord, ruling over all things, fully in control.  Help me truly say, and truly live: I have no king but Jesus.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Have no king but Jesus.