John 19:10

John 19:10, says, Pilate said unto Him, "Speakest Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have the power to crucify Thee, and have the power to release Thee?"  Pilate was in effect telling Jesus that He had better answer him, if not out of respect, then out of fear.  Pilate, like so many leaders or rulers was full of self-pride.  He had just declared that he found no fault in Jesus, but now said he had the power to crucify Him.  No ruler truly has the right to put the innocent to death, though they may have the authority to do it.  The more powerful the individual, the less the reason needed to put someone to death.  They, like Pilate, feel that everyone should be grateful to them for just allowing them to live.  Verse eleven adds, Jesus answered, "Thou could have no power at all against Me, except it were given unto Thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin."  That was most likely not what Pilate was wanting to hear.  He had just declared how much power he had, and Jesus said he only had the power that God gave or allowed.  Pilate had become arrogant, since he felt he was in a position to either crucify or free Jesus.  Jesus said he was guilty of sin.  This had to have made Pilate angry, I would think.  We may feel that the way we react to Jesus today gives us a certain power over Him, but this is never the case. We do not have any power over God.  We are simply called to serve. Jesus said Pilates sin was not as great as those who brought Him to Pilate.  Does this mean that some sins are worse than others?  In our separation from God because of the sin, I don't think so.  We can start to justify our sins as being less important than the big sins, usually those of others, if we start to classify some sins as greater.  Any sin is great, because it separates us from God.  When we start to feel God should forgive our sins, but not those of others, we have made ourselves more righteous than them.  This is not what we are called to do.  If we decide that we can be forgiven and restored to a right relationship to God, but that others may be forgiven but still not good enough to be restored to a right relationship to God, and to His followers, we are not following what God teaches. Sometimes, we might even feel that our sins make us unworthy, but again, this is not what God teaches.  We are either fully forgiven and restored when we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, or we are not restored at all. This is true for every person.  I think this means that they had a greater understanding of what they were doing than Pilate did.  We who understand the teachings of God and go against them have a greater responsibility than those who do not know.  Any sin brings with it the penalty of death, but Jesus provides forgiveness for all sins, if we accept it.  We need to remember that Jesus said that just the thought of sin is as great as the actual committing of the sin in the eyes of God.  Pilate, for all his feeling of power, was a secondary player in the crucifixion.  The Jews, God's people, were the ones who bore the main responsibility, so were more accountable for their sins. We, as followers of Christ, bear a greater responsibility when we fail to follow Him than do those of the world.  God's people, then and today, should know His truth and follow in it.