I have a few thoughts on Jesus answer to Pilate.

Recorded in John 18, when Pilate asks Jesus if He’s a king, Jesus’ answer seems a bit strange until we unpack the deeper context.

33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

John 18:33-37

Interesting that Jesus points back to an event that we celebrate as Christmas. He states, “For this Purpose” He was born. “For this purpose,” He came into the world.

Pilate of course was not at the manger with Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds; but this pointer back to the Nativity scene leads us to a sobering realization…

God the Father sent His Son with the “purpose” to experience this event.

That God the Father sent His One and Only Son, Jesus, to be betrayed, arrested, and in this moment, about to be sentenced to death by crucifixion. With those three words, “for this purpose” we realize that the Cross was part of God’s plan. And Jesus knew it all along.

But there’s a tag-on to Jesus’ reply. The second part of “for this purpose” is that Jesus will “bear witness to the truth.”

What’s this truth that Jesus speaks of?

The truth is that humanity has a problem that God has “purposed” to fix. The truth is that we’re not able to access a Holy, Righteous God through our own merit, nor through our good works. The truth is that our sin, as fallen human beings, gets in the way. The truth is that we are separated from God.

Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, we read that God “purposed” for us to obtain righteousness through animal sacrifice and following the Law. We read that humanity tried extremely hard to achieve this but failed over, and over, and over again.

The truth is that our sin is just too great. We have and will continue to break God’s Law, and we would never be able to sacrifice enough to fully atone for our sin.

Thankfully, God loved us.

And “for this purpose” God gave us Jesus. Jesus would be the perfect, and ultimate sacrifice to be made, that would atone for humanity’s sin once and for all.

As I was processing this account, and the deeper context, the Spirit led me to write the following poem, which I titled, “For this Purpose.”

Jesus standing before Pilate, these words reverberated throughout history,
He “bears witness to the truth” that to this authority seems contradictory.
That “For this purpose” God’s judgement would fall on His perfection.
That “For this purpose” His sacrifice would bring humanity redemption.
And in obedience to the Father, and with great affection for us,
“For this Purpose,” Jesus willingly accepted the Cross.

“For this Purpose” by Jeremy Norton