as we now look back at the scene, are the places
reversed! It is Pilate who is going to be tried--Pilate and Rome,
which he represented. All that morning Pilate was being judged and
exposed; and ever since he has stood in the pillory of history with the
centuries gazing at him.[6] In the old pictures of the Child Christ by
the great masters a halo proceeds from the Babe that lights up the
surrounding figures, sometimes with dazzling effect. And it is true
that on all who approached Christ, when He was in the world, there fell
a light in which both the good and the evil in them were revealed. It
was a search-light, that penetrated into every corner and exposed every
wrinkle. Men were judged as they came near Him. Is it not so still?
We never show so entirely what is in us as by the way in which we are
affected by Christ. We are judging ourselves and passing sentence on
ourselves for eternity by the way in which we deal with Him.

Pilate asked Him, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" referring to the
third charge brought against Him. The reply of Jesus was cautious; it
was another question: "Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell
it thee of Me?" He desired to learn in what sense the question was
asked--whether from the standpoint of a Roman or from that of the Jews;
because of course His answer would be different according as He was
asked whether He was a king as a Roman would understand the word or
according as it was understood by the Jews.

But this answer nettled Pilate, perhaps because it assumed that he
might have more interest in the case than he cared to confess; and he
said angrily, "Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have
delivered Thee unto me." If he intended this to sting, the blow did
not fail of its mark. Ah, tingling shame and poignant pain! His own
nation--His own beloved nation, to which He had devoted His life--had
given Him up to the Gentile. He felt a shame for it before the
foreigner such as a slave on the block may feel before her purchaser
for the father and the family that have sold her into disgrace.

Jesus at once proceeded, however, to answer Pilate's question on both
sides, both on the Roman political and then on the Jewish religious
side.

First, He answered negatively, "My kingdom is not of this world!" He
was no rival of the Roman emperor. If He had been, the first thing He
must have done would have been to assemble soldiers about Him for the
purp