Read John 19 – You are going to want to look away, but don’t. You are going to want to read this lightly the way one does when the characters seem foreign, read it twice, maybe three times. Read it until you are able to see your own need for a Savior. Read it until you see how far you are from worthy to be in the presence of our Holy God.
Are you a “good person”? Read it again. Pilate tried to be a “good person”. He knew Jesus was innocent so he thought maybe a scourging would satisfy the angry, blood thirsty crowd…. It was his weak and deranged compromise. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, surrendered his life to the cruelest abuses man can conceive. Why were they so cruel – a crown of thorns, slapping Jesus, who swung the whip that tore his flesh? When one person is cruel, it is very bad, yet when a frenzy of cruelty erupts, it is inhumane.
Jesus was innocent. He bore my sins on that cross. He bore your sins on that cross. Feel the magnitude of it. “It is finished.” :30 Jesus paid our atoning sacrifice. It was more than we can afford – our sin deems us unworthy. It was more than we deserve. “Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Judy in the Sky 