John 18:34

John 18:34 says, Jesus answered Him, Sayest these things of thyself, or did others tell it to the of Me?  Jesus wanted to know why Pilate was asking the question.  Jesus had done nothing to imply that He was attempting to overthrow the government, as the question to Him implied.  Jesus wanted to know if others had brought these charges if Pilate had considered their motives.  We may be accused of many things as followers of Christ, and many times they are based on lies or rumors that have no basis in facts.  Verse thirty-five adds, Pilate said, Am I a Jew?  Thine own nation and chief priests hath delivered Thee unto me.  What hast Thou done?  Pilate did not want to be identified as a Jew, and certainly not as a follower of Jesus.  There are people today who may not really understand what Christianity teaches, but they would be very offended to be identified as a Christian.  Pilate then tells Jesus His own people brought Him to Pilate.  That was a sad estate for God's people to be in.  They were so caught up in religion that they did not recognize the Messiah.  We today need to be careful that we do not become the same.  We need to ensure that we know what God really teaches, and not what we want Him to teach.  We cannot wrap our own beliefs in Christianity and claim that is God's will.  We need to study God's word under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to make sure we do know what His word says.  We sometimes let tradition be more important than what the Bible, God's word, actually teaches.  For example, we have Christmas plays based on three wise men, but there is no mention of three wise men in the Bible.  Some even go so far as to name them, but again, there certainly are no names given.  Though numbering the wise men at three does not change the Gospel, when we become so caught up in the tradition that we will not admit that the Bible doesn't say this, then it is a problem.  We need to make sure that what we teach about God is what His word teaches.