A lesson about power

“‘Do You refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t You realise I have power either to free You or to crucify You?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’” John 19:10-11
Here is one of the greatest paradoxes of all time: Jesus, the Son of God, Messiah, standing trial before a man called Pontius Pilate. But in fact, it is not Jesus who is on trial at all. This was all part of God’s plan that would result in Him going to the cross, dying a substitutionary death in our place so that our sins might be forgiven.
Pilate was not in control of the situation – he was simply playing a part. The power that he thought he had, had been given to him by God, for this very moment. He wanted to release Jesus, but God knew his personality and that he would cave in to the cries of the mob calling for Jesus to be crucified. Yet although Pilate was simply a pawn in a game he could not control, he was still responsible for his sin. So too were the Sanhedrin: for the sin of rejecting and killing their Messiah, whose coming had been prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Jesus says that their sin is greater – they should have recognised who He was.
We can all learn a lesson from this. No matter what we think we have control over, we need to remember that ultimately God is in control of all things.