Daily Devotion for April 7, 2006

To Jerusalem with the ComPassionate Christ
Day 38

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
Jesus, help us always to see beyond our current moment and to see You and Your will in all that we do.  Help us to return evil with good, hatred with love.  Amen

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INRI: The Inscription Explained

On certain depictions of the Crucifix, both sculpted and pictorial, especially as related to the Catholic religion, one may see a stylized plaque or parchment with the letters INRI just above or below the figure of Jesus Christ. In some cases, these letters may be carved into the cross. 

 

In the Gospel of John (19:19-20) the inscription is explained: 

"Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, 'Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.' Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek." 

Latin for "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" is "Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Iudaeorvm" and the acronym for this title is INRI. Latin uses the letter "I" instead of the English "J", and "V" instead of "U" (i.e., Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum). The English translation is then "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, "Write not, 'The King of the Jews;' but that he said, 'I am King of the Jews'." Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Pilate was loathe to crucify Jesus without some strong justification. The one he used was the standing Roman treaty with the Jews which allowed them self-government. When it was complained that Jesus was interfering with that self-rule by holding himself to possess authority that He lacked, Pilate challenged him to deny that he was called "King of Jews." Jesus did not deny the accusation. 

 

Some believe that the justification for his crucifixion was that he claimed an illegitimate title. However John 19:21-22 states that Pilate rejected the charge that Jesus was crucified because he falsely claimed to be king and instead stated that the reason Jesus was crucified was because he was the King of the Jews. Thus, Pilate personally was convinced that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. This is further corroborated by the Eastern Orthodox Feast of Saint Pontius Pilate on June 25 since early church histories state that after converting to Christianity, Pilate himself was martyred by double crucifixion. 

Masonically INRI is read: "Igne Natura Renovatur Integra". The regeneration of nature by the influence of the sun symbolizes the spiritual regeneration of mankind by the sacred fire (truth and love) of Masonry, a purely naturalistic institution. 

Some Eastern Orthodox depictions of the Crucifix have a slight variation, showing instead the letters INBI, based on the Greek text of the inscription on the cross (Iésous o Nazóraios o Basileus tón Ioudaión), rather than on the Latin text. 

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