John 19:15

John 19:15. They therefore cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Instinct tells them that the last moment when they may accomplish their object is arrived: and, roused to the utmost pitch of fury by the words of Pilate, they cry out, with a quick repetition of words corresponding to their feelings, Let him be hurried off to crucifixion. But Pilate will still further provoke them, still further pour out his contempt upon them.

Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? Then follow those words evidently so full of meaning to the Evangelist.

The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar. The chief priests, the heads of the Theocracy of Israel, give the answer, which thus comes upon us with a more terrible force than it could otherwise have done. What an answer is it! It is the utterance of self-condemnation, the renouncing of the chief honour of the chosen people, the casting away of what had most distinguished them in the past, of what they hoped most from in the future, ‘We have no king but Cæsar.' God is rejected; Messianic hope is trampled under foot. In the moment of securing the death of their true King, ‘the Jews,' by the mouth of their leaders and representatives, plunge themselves into the lowest depths of guilt and shame.