Thursday, August 28, 2014

The repetition of a word or phrase often helps us understand a portion of the Bible. I call such words or phrases, insight words. You’ll notice when reading Mark 15 the phrase, “the king of the Jews,” mentioned six times and affirmed once. Pilate mentioned it three times. Once he said the Jewish leaders called Jesus the king of the Jews. They also, in mocking Jesus while He was on the cross, referred to Him as the king of Israel. The soldiers mocked Him by putting a crown of thorns on His head and a purple robe on Him and calling out to Him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” They also nailed a written notice on the cross which read, “The King of the Jews.” This was no doubt ordered by Pilate. As you review these references in their context you could say that Jesus affirmed He was king of the Jews. Pilate questioned whether Jesus was king of the Jews. The Jewish religious leaders antagonistically accused Jesus of claiming to be king of the Jews and the soldiers mocked Jesus as being the king of the Jews. You could also conclude, there were those who believed that Jesus was king of the Jews by their comments and actions. After reviewing these references, which category would best describe your position regarding Jesus? Read Mark 15 over a few times and reflect on this question. In our next few visits we will look at each of these responses to the question: Is Jesus Christ the king of the Jews? I trust as we do this study you will come to the deep conviction that Jesus is who He claimed to be and can be trusted to be your Savior, Lord and King.