The sign Pilate had placed on the cross of Jesus read, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This was not by accident, just as nothing in God’s perfect plan is ever an accident. The Jewish leaders wanted the sign to read that He claimed to be the king of the Jews, but in John 19:22, Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” While Pilate did not change the sign because he was probably just being stubborn, this was all part of God’s plan to make sure all who witnessed the crucifixion Christ knew they were killing the King, the highest and holiest they had ever known.

Hypocrisy is pretending to be something you are not and have no intention of ever being. And just like our churches today, the Pharisees of Jesus’ day were no different. Mark 7:6-7, 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ “ There is a great note in my Bible that states: “We become hypocrites when we (1) pay more attention to reputation than character, (2) carefully follow certain religious practices while allowing our hearts to remain distant from God, and (3) emphasize our virtues but ‘others’ sin.”