When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.  John 19:13-16

This passage is an exemplar for dead religiosity.

The Jews speaking with Pilate are very religious. They know all the temple rules and adhere to them. They know all the laws of cleanliness and do them twice over.

They are the type who volunteer for this and that at church, and know the bible verses by heart, and are always on time. On a surface level, you can’t fault them. But dig a little deeper and it’s horrifying.

Pilate presents them with Jesus, the king of the universe. And they give the most human response ever:

“Take him away!”

They claim to be spiritually superior but it’s a most primitive response.

Do they want God in their lives? No they do not.

All that religious posturing counts for nothing when the truth behind the masks is revealed. And the truth is so ugly that even Pilot questions it: Shall I crucify your king?

It’s a ludicrous question really, if you think about it. He may as well ask them, “Do you want to commit treason?” Because that’s what they’re doing.

Treason against God. And love for everything outside of Him. They basically say it, just not in as many words.

They completely reject God as their king.

You know, it’s very possible to sit in church, year after year after year, and not actually have any interest in God running your life. It’s very possible.

Maybe someone just likes the ritual aspect of the service style they often attend.

Maybe they get a sense of purpose and self-fulfilment from being involved in serving the church.

Maybe they have lots of friends at church and they like to stay and chat after the service.

But this isn’t Christianity.

Your identity as a Christian rises or falls based on your response to Jesus. No amount of SRE teaching, public prayer and bible reading, and even running training sessions at church will get someone into heaven.

The only way is through trust in Christ.

The Pharisees are an exemplar for dead religiosity. A total model response of everything you shouldn’t do.

Yours praying that you will having a living faith,

Alison