Bible Verse for Good Friday: Then the leading priests said to Pilate, "Change it from 'The King of the Jews' to 'He said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate replied, "… It stays exactly as it is" (John 19:21-22). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 4:31-5:2

The chief priests, like most of us, aren't above qualifying their words to put themselves in a good light and to discount others. Especially now that they're feeling humiliated by the governor's placard. They want him to change the inscription. "Get it modified or we'll be laughingstocks!"

Unfortunately for them, they've pushed and pushed Pilate, gotten him to execute a man he thought innocent and made him publicly concede to a demanding crowd. "You don't like what I wrote?" he tells them in effect, "Tough! Get outta here."

God has made sure that Jesus is identified correctly as he dies. He is using Pilate (who thinks he's nose-thumbing at these annoying religious rulers) to proclaim Jesus' coronation. As Jesus is raised to die, he's acquiring his royal kingdom. It's there for all to see, in three languages, no less!

The apostle John affirms in his Revelation what these Jewish leaders have missed. This really is the King of the Jews who is hung out to die. Jesus, "the lion of the tribe of Judah" (5:5), the "King of kings and Lord of lords" (19:16), is a God who can't be contained and is beyond qualification. But here is a king whose coronation comes through death.

—Marty Ballis in The Passionate Journey

Thought for Good Friday: "He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion." —C.S. Lewis (in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)

Adapted from The Passionate Journey (Regal, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

I need Your Spirit's power, Lord, to defend the truth of Your Word while I live out the love of the gospel.

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