I.N.R.I.

It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. Mark 15: 25-26

An inscription was written on whitened board and placed upon the Cross, probably by or above His sacred head now, indeed, painfully wounded. It was intended to give the reason for the execution, the crime that had led to this sorry end. According to Luke (23:22), Pilate had had the charge written up. In a final act of defiance against the chief priests, he wrote that Jesus was guilty of being ‘Rex Ioudaeorum.’ Four letters summarized both His name and the charge: I.N.R.I., which means, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. This was the crime of which Jesus was found guilty.

Pilate had taken his petty revenge upon the chief priests by affixing to the Cross the very words to which they had objected. He might have done better to have upheld the Law. The inscription was even in three different languages (Aramaic, Latin and Greek) so that no one might miss the point (John 19:20). The chief priests were outraged (John 19:21), but Pilate would not change what had been written. So they began to taunt the Savior with the words, daring Him to come down from the cross if He was, in fact, King of the Jews (Matthew 27:42).

The temptation must have been great for Jesus. All He had to do was to ask and legions of angels would have leapt to His command, but He knew that to do so would be to fail. Christ had not come in order to defeat evil and foolish men; He had come to defeat the entrenched power of sin, Satan, and death. He knew that to do the greater deed He would have to be obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Yes, He was a king. He was the King, but one such as they had never imagined.

What do we do when people ridicule us? Do we seek revenge? Do we become angry? Or do we leave judgment in the hands of God and stay focused on why God has us here – to reflect Him and tell others about Him. To love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, to be like Jesus.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me always to see beyond my current moment and to see You and Your will in all that I do. Help me to return evil with good, hatred with love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen