Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, thank you for the blessing of an everlasting Kingdom and a triumphant King, your Son and my Savior, Jesus. May his truth and his Kingdom come to complete triumph in my life. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Then the guards took Jesus from Caiaphas' house to the {Roman governor's} palace. It was early in the morning. The Jews there would not go inside the palace. They did not want to make themselves unclean, because they wanted to eat the Passover meal. So Pilate went outside to the Jews. He asked, "What do you say this man has done wrong?" The Jews answered, "He is a bad man. That is why we brought him to you." Pilate said to the Jews, "You Jews take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." The Jewish leaders answered, "But your law does not allow us to punish a person by killing him." (This happened so that what Jesus said about how he would die would be true.) Then Pilate went back inside the palace. Pilate called Jesus to him. He asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "Is that your own question, or did other people tell you about me?" Pilate said, "I am not a Jew! It was your own people and their leading priests that brought you before me. What have you done wrong?" Jesus said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it belonged to this world, then my servants would fight so that I would not be given to the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is from another place." Pilate said, "So you are a king!" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. That is true. I was born for this: to tell people about the truth. That is why I came into the world. And every person that belongs to the truth listens to me." Pilate said, "What is truth?" When Pilate said this, he went out to the Jewish leaders again. Pilate said to them, "I can find nothing to charge against this man. But it is one of your customs for me to free one prisoner to you at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to free this 'king of the Jews'?" They yelled back, "No, not him! Let Barabbas go free!" (Barabbas was a rebel.)

Related Scripture Readings

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea. He was born during the time when Herod was king. After Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. The wise men asked people, "Where is the new baby that is the king of the Jews? We saw the star that shows he was born. We saw the star rise in the sky in the east. We came to worship him." King Herod heard about this new king of the Jews. Herod was troubled about this. And all the people in Jerusalem were worried too. Herod called a meeting of all the leading Jewish priests and teachers of the law. Herod asked them where the Christ would be born. They answered, "In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this {in the Scriptures }: 'Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are important among the rulers of Judah. Yes, a ruler will come from you, and that ruler will lead Israel, my people.'" Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men from the east. Herod learned from the wise men the exact time they first saw the star. Then Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem. Herod said to the wise men, "Go and look carefully to find the new baby. When you find the baby, come tell me. Then I can go worship him too." The wise men heard the king and then left. They saw the same star they had seen in the east. The wise men followed the star. The star went before them until it stopped above the place where the baby was. The wise men were happy to see the star. They were very excited. The wise men came to the house where the baby was. They saw the baby with his mother Mary. The wise men bowed down and worshiped the baby. The wise men opened the gifts they brought for the baby. They gave the baby treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But God warned the wise men in a dream. God warned them not to go back to Herod. So the wise men went home to their own country a different way.

During Elizabeth's sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin girl that lived in Nazareth, a town in Galilee. The girl was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, "Greetings! The Lord (God) is with you. You are very special to him." But Mary was very confused about what the angel said. Mary wondered, "What does this mean?" The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, because God is very pleased with you. Listen! You will become pregnant. You will give birth to a baby boy. And you will name him Jesus. He will be great (important). People will call him the Son of the Most High (God). The Lord God will make him king like his ancestor David. Jesus will rule over the people of Jacob forever. Jesus' kingdom will never end."

It was now almost noon on Preparation day of Passover week. Pilate said to the Jews, "Here is your king!" They yelled, "Take him away! Take him away! Kill him on a cross!" Pilate asked them, "Do you want me to kill your king on a cross?" The leading priests answered, "The only king we have is Caesar !"