[rogerthedodger]

I'm not sure what we are debating anymore--maybe you can clarify for me. While I do not believe that Jesus was contemptous of Pilate's authority as a civil ruler, I do believe Jesus felt and knew that Pilate had no spiritual authority over Him, that whatever Pilate did, he was doing it becaue it is what God wanted, and that whatever Pilate said or did to Him, it didn't really matter because He was destined to die anyhow and nothing Pilate could or couldn't do was going to impinge on the message that was to emanate from His life and death.

My analogy may not have been correctly presented. I would reword it this way: I think Jesus graciously abided by the laws of man during His time on earth. Thus, in the analogy, He would be the parent of the scout who both 1) willingly submits to the edicts of the scouts' board, but 2) at the same time, feels as if the power and order of the scouts' board of inquiry was essentially meaningless in His day to day mission or message.

[Alberta's Child]

I think Jesus graciously abided by the laws of man during His time on earth.

I think that's a good way to put it. St. Thomas Aquinas postulated that Christ did not come to earth simply to redeem mankind. His rationale was that an all-powerful God could have redeemed mankined simply by willing it -- so there must have been another reason for Christ to become man and spend 33 years on earth. St. Thomas' theory was that Christ's mission involved not just the redemption of the human race, but was aimed at providing a perfect example of the human virtues for all of us to follow.

In that regard, I'd say it would have been pointless for Christ to assume a human nature only to go around making it clear that human rules did not apply to him.