Mark 15:10,39 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy…And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the son of God.
Let Jesus Speak for Himself
If I were to ask you about all the people you’ve told about the Lord Jesus in the last year, who was the most difficult to convince? Probably, it was a person who was religious. They knew something about the Lord Jesus. They were hard to convince because it’s better to know nothing about Jesus than to know the wrong things about Him.
When Jesus was brought to Pilate, He was brought by a group of very religious Christ-rejecters. The most clear thinking people were the pagan Romans. They seem to have had a grasp of what was happening more clearly than anyone else.
Let me give you two examples. Pilate represented Rome. He cared nothing about the Jews religion. In turn the religious leaders hated Pilate, and wanted nothing to do with him. But the story they told Pilate was that Jesus was worthy of death because He was promoting insurrection against Rome. In actuality, nothing could have made them happier than an insurrection against Rome, but the story they told Pilate was that Jesus deserved to die because He was a rebel. The real problem was the religious leaders were against God’s Christ. Pilate sees this very clearly. Mark 15:10 says, “For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.” Pilate was smart enough to see through their story and know the truth.
Another example of a clear thinking Roman is found in Mark 15:39. After Jesus gave up the ghost, the centurion (a pagan) says, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” What this illustrates is that the more religious you are, the more difficult it will be to see Jesus as He is. A person can be religious and not be spiritual. Most people are religious, yet have rejected Christ because knowing something about Christ that is not true is worse than knowing nothing at all.
So here’s the lesson: be sure to let Christ speak for Himself. Is He a rebel, a revolutionary, a good man? Is He King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Is He the King of the Jews as He claimed to be? Let Christ speak for Himself, and if you have opportunity to speak for Him to others, just repeat what He has already said. At the end of the day the only thing that is eternally relevant is the truth. What Jesus has said about Himself is true. We need to take Him at His word, and share that word with others.