Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Jesus had power and authority over death, sin, Hades, sickness, pain, and suffering. None of these could withstand Him, but all gave way to the kingdom of God. Yet, interestingly, He didn't exercise authority over men. "Who made Me judge over you?", He asked when people requested His adjudication. See e.g. Luke 12:14.
It seems to me that people who lord it over others are trying to hide their inadequacies. So they want an earthly covering, instead of one which comes from above. Jesus said of such, "They have their reward. They seek the glory of men" See e.g. His extended homily in Matthew 6. Ultimately, WL got a gravestone more ornamental than his fellows, and got his testimony read into the Congressional Register (no doubt paid for by a fat donation to a Representative's re-election campaign). So WL got his reward, and he got what he was after.
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I think you bring up a good point. The authority that Jesus possessed was not expressed through controlling or domineering others. This is in contrast to how humans usually use authority. With Jesus, it was quite the opposite, yet people still recognized him as a man having authority (Matt 8:9).
I was considering the following passage in John 19:10-12 -
Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”
Between Jesus and Pilate, Jesus was the one who possessed far greater authority, however, he didn't see the need to make any particular display of that authority. In fact, he had remained silent to Pilate's questioning, and that bugged Pilate. Once Jesus did speak, I think that Pilate realized he was messing with something entirely out of his league. How did Pilate recognize Jesus' authority? It certainly wasn't because Jesus had been going around promoting himself as an authority figure.