John 19:4

John 19:4 says, Pilate went forth again, and saith unto them, "Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him."  Having scourged Jesus and allowing Him to be beaten, Pilate said he was turning Jesus back over to the crowd.  Every individual is responsible for the crucifixion of Christ.  We cannot avoid this fact by saying that we find Him blameless, and then rejecting Him.  Pilate had to either acknowledge Jesus as Who He said He was, and then worship Him, or reject Him.  Pilate chose to reject Jesus.  He attempted to stay basically neutral, but there is no neutrality with Jesus.  We either accept Him totally as Savior and Lord, or we reject Him totally.  Those around us cannot make the decision for us.  Verse five adds, Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.  And Pilate said, "Behold, the man!"  Again, if Pilate thought he would appease the people by bringing Jesus out looking defeated and beaten, he was wrong.  Even when people today attempt to discredit Jesus, they are never satisfied with what seems to be a victory.  Pilate said in effect that Jesus was no threat, and the crowd still wasn't satisfied.  Verse six continues, Now the chief priests and therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."  Pilate said unto them, "Take ye Him, and crucify Him: for I find no fault with Him."  Again, the mob mentality won.  How sad for Pilate to find no fault with Jesus but to hand Him over to a mob to be crucified.  Pilate may have thought himself blameless by his actions, but he rejected both his responsibility and the Savior.  The cries of the mob cannot sway us in our decision about Christ.  We either accept or reject Him.  There can be no neutrality.  We also need to remember that many of these same people had welcomed Jesus earlier proclaiming Him to be the Messiah.  It was only a superficial proclamation though.  Some today get caught up with the crowd in a moment of excitement and proclaim to follow Christ. Soon, they find themselves back in a world that rejects Christ, and they join right in.  We must come to a real, personal relationship with Christ in order to be truly saved.