John 19:17-27

So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign over him that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did.

25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

The priest had just finished saying that they have no king but Caesar and then turns around and says - "I am the king of the Jews" take the sign down.

Are you kidding me - I guess it just reveals the heart of this man - his entire plot was over his jealousy about Jesus - this man wanted the sole admiration and respect of people so much that he would kill to get it. I wonder if he knew that Jesus was the Son of God - I think that he had to have known, what a hypocrite.

Three things about this -
A - I think there are a lot of people who want admiration, respect and acceptance more than anything else on earth.

B- I don't want to be a hypocrite - I will say things like - those people judge me unfairly, and they are stuck up - but then I am judging their motives and avoid them so what does that make me? I once had a teacher tell me that you can not pretend to know another person's motives - to do so it to presume you are on the same level as God. Ouch.

C - The only way out of this is to be humble - it would be better to be an unappreciated servant, than the man who kneels at the altar thinking - I'm so glad I am not as bad as all these other sinners.

It is really hard for me to love people. I look at this passage and I think - how is it that you could command all of Heaven's armies - and give that up to live a poor humble life, because you love people so much. Then to have those same people beat you, spit on you and kill you out of jealousy for the crappy life you have now. That just demonstrates how much God loves me, that He would do that for me is beyond my understanding.
I think it is necessary to love people - but I also think it is necessary to be humble - love is a feeling - I think humility is the action. Sometimes you have to do something until you feel like it is the right thing - I think this is one of those things.

Amanda