I Find No Case Against Him

John 18:30 “‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’”

That was the argument used against Jesus when Jesus was brought before Pilate. Their argument for asking Pilate to condemn him to death was that they had arrested him, which is sufficient evidence in and of itself. They wanted him gone, so they arrested him. His arrest was not evidence of his guilt, but that doesn’t matter when powerful people want to have their way.

His arrest was not evidence of his guilt, a fact that Pilate recognized, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” Pilate, representative of the oppressor, saw the flimsy rationale and told them that Jesus was their problem. Unless something changes, this man should not be brought before me. “Judge him according to your law.” That was the demand. Unless you can prove a crime beyond, “We arrested him,” then don’t bother showing up again.

But the local powers knew that wasn’t an option, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” We want to punish this person who we arrested without due process, but our laws don’t allow it. Our system is set so as to prevent us from killing this innocent man, so we need you to do it.

Even still, Pilate refused. Pilate was not a man acclaimed for his mercy. Even Pilate knew how wrong this was.

Pilate foreclosed this loophole. They would not execute an innocent man solely because you say he did something bad. But that resolve didn’t last long, “‘I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit.” Even when given another chance to make right what they had done, those in power had already decided he was guilty.

We arrested him, so he must be a criminal.

"While it is true that many of the [Tren de Aragua gang] members removed under the AEA do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time. The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat," – Robert Cerna (Reference).

Our laws protect him, so we need an outside power.

“We are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador” – Karoline Leavitt (Reference)

You say we need to return him to his freedom, but we won’t allow this to happen.

“We're already in international waters. We're outside the borders of the United States. I'm the border czar. Once you're outside the border, you know, it is what it is.” – Tom Homan (Reference).

We will not relent until this innocent man dies.

“I have been authorized to represent that if Abrego Garia does present at a port of entry, he would become subject to denention by DHS. In that case, DHS would take hium into custody in the United States and either remove hium to a third country or terminate his withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13, A designated foreign terrorist organization and remove him to El Salvador” – Joseph Mazzara (Reference).

Peace,

Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline

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