John 19:21-22
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
It was both subtle…and monumental. The chief priests wanted the placard to read as a claim rather than a declarative statement while Pontius Pilate chose what he probably believed to be mockery. Certainly, the Jewish leaders did not want to add any fuel to the fire regarding Jesus’ claims of divinity, and so the words above his head on the cross mattered greatly. It’s one thing to say, “Jesus said” and quite another to say “Jesus is.” It was a classic case of He Said/She Said, and it has continued to this very day.
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS
The placard served as an announcement of the criminal’s name and crime. It was written in three different languages—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. “In Hebrew, for the Jews who gloried in the law; in Greek, for the Grecians who gloried in wisdom; in Latin, for the Romans who most gloried in dominion and power” (John Trapp). It was a global message, and one dripping in Truth. Earlier in the day, Pilate arrogantly mocked the truth (“What is truth?”), but by the end of the day he was writing it out in universal form for all the world to see. Jesus of Nazareth—The King of the Jews—always has the last word.
“Do not write…”
The chief priests rejected the claim—I don’t know that they disbelieved it. Nicodemus was one of their best and brightest, yet he came to the Jewish carpenter by night with some serious and heartfelt questions and later by day to help Joseph of Arimathea take his body off the cross for a proper burial. Both of these men were devout, Jewish authorities…and both of these men loved Jesus. However, unlike their Jewish contemporaries, they chose to believe the claims of this amazing man from Nazareth. Like the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross when Jesus died, they had no choice but to recognize that, “Surely he was the son of God!” (Mt 27:54).
“What I have written, I have written.”
Finally, the Roman Governor chose to stand his ground against the Jewish leaders…and in doing so, he ironically declared the same Truth that he mocked just hours before. This brief interlude in the Gospel narratives always reminds me of what Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians:
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11)
Every human being will find himself before the crucified Nazarene one day, and every human being must decide what to do with him before that moment arrives. The recognition of Jesus’ deity will be universally accepted—from the Pope to Pontius Pilate—and every soul will either be cast into darkness or brought into the eternal light. No more “He Said/She Said” but only God Said…and what you said in reply.
