We know that the Lord Jesus was turned over to the Romans by the Jewish leaders because of envy. Pilate had been around political posturing long enough to be able to detect it when he saw it. Pilate wanted to release Jesus, in part because he could see what was going on. “For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy” (Mark 15:10).

We have come to the point in the story of the expansion of Christianity where the Spirit-blessed kingdom was starting to provoke the same kind of response. This is as it should be.