Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 27:37

"And they set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." — Matthew 27:37 (ASV)

And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

What a marvelous providence it was that moved Pilate's pen!

The representative of the Roman Emperor was little likely to concede kingship to any man; yet he deliberately wrote, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews, and nothing would induce him to alter what he had written. Even on his cross, Christ was proclaimed King, in the sacerdotal Hebrew, the classical Greek, and the common Latin, so that everybody in the crowd could read the inscription.

When will the Jews own Jesus as their King? They will do so one day, looking on him whom they pierced. Perhaps they will think more of Christ when Christians think more of them; when our hardness of heart towards them has gone, possibly their hardness of heart towards Christ may also disappear.

What a marvelous providence it was that moved Pilate’s pen! The representative of the Roman emperor was little likely to concede kingship to any man, yet he deliberately wrote, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS and nothing would induce him to alter what he had written. Even on His cross, Christ was proclaimed King in the sacerdotal Hebrew, the classical Greek, and the common Latin, so that everybody in the crowd could read the inscription.

When will the Jews own Jesus as their King? They will do so one day, looking on Him whom they pierced. Perhaps they will think more of Christ when Christians think more of them, when our hardness of heart towards them has gone, possibly their hardness of heart towards Christ may also disappear.

And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And so he is. When will the Jews acknowledge him as their King? They will do so one day. Perhaps they will do so when Christians begin to think and speak more kindly of them than they usually do. When the hardness of heart on our part towards them passes away, it may be that their hardness of heart towards Christ will also pass away.

Long have they been despised, and oppressed, and persecuted in many lands, so that, by some means, they might be brought to look, in penitence, upon him whom they crucified, and to acknowledge him as their Lord and Savior!