Chapter 50 - The Trial Before Pilate

CHAPTER 50

THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE

SHORTLY after six o'clock on this Friday morning, April 7, A.D. 30, Jesus was brought before Pilate.

Though Pilate conducted much of Jesus' examination within the praetorium halls, the public trial was held outside on the steps leading up to the main entrance.

When Jesus and his accusers had gathered in front of Pilate's judgment hall, the Roman governor came out, and addressing the company assembled, asked:

• "What accusation do you bring against this fellow?"

The spokesman for the Sanhedrist court answered:

• "If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to you."

Pilate:

• "Since you have not agreed on any definite charges, why do you not take this man and pass judgment on him in accordance with your own laws?"

Then spoke the clerk of the Sanhedrin court to Pilate:

• "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, and this disturber of our nation is worthy to die for the things that he has said and done. Therefore have we come before you for confirmation of this decree."

Pilate:

• "I will not sentence this man to death without a trial. Neither will I consent to examine him until you have presented your charges against him in writing."

When the high priest and the others heard Pilate say this, they signaled to the clerk of the court, who then handed to Pilate the written charges against Jesus.

And these charges were:

• "We find in the Sanhedrist tribunal that this man is an evildoer and a disturber of our nation in that he is guilty of:
  • "1. Perverting our nation and stirring up our people to rebellion.
  • "2. Forbidding the people to pay tribute to Caesar.
  • "3. Calling himself the king of the Jews and teaching the founding of a new kingdom."

Jesus had not been regularly tried nor legally convicted on any of these charges.

Pilate was so astonished at the unfairness of the whole proceeding and so impressed by Jesus' silent and masterly bearing that he decided to take the prisoner inside the hall and examine him privately.

In a Private Chamber

Pilate took Jesus and John Zebedee into a private chamber, leaving the guards outside in the hall, and requesting the prisoner to sit down, he sat down by his side. Pilate began his talk with Jesus by assuring him that he did not believe the first count against him: that he was a perverter of the nation and an inciter to rebellion.

Then he asked:

• "Did you ever teach that tribute should be refused Caesar?"

Jesus, pointing to John, said:

• "Ask him or any other man who has heard my teaching."

Then Pilate questioned John about this matter of tribute, and John testified concerning his Master's teaching and explained that Jesus and his apostles paid taxes both to Caesar and to the temple.

When Pilate had questioned John, he said:

• "See that you tell no man that I talked with you."

Pilate then turned around to question Jesus further, saying:

• "And now about the third accusation against you, are you the king of the Jews?"

Since there was a tone of possibly sincere inquiry in Pilate's voice, Jesus smiled on the procurator and said:

• "Pilate, do you ask this for yourself, or do you take this question from these others, my accusers?"

Whereupon, in a tone of partial indignation, the governor answered:

• "Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests delivered you up and asked me to sentence you to death. I question the validity of their charges and am only trying to find out for myself what you have done. Tell me, have you said that you are the king of the Jews, and have you sought to found a new kingdom?"

Then said Jesus to Pilate:

• "Do you not perceive that my kingdom is not of this world? If my kingdom were of this world, surely would my disciples fight that I should not be delivered into the hands of the Jews. My presence here before you in these bonds is sufficient to show all men that my kingdom is a spiritual dominion, even the brotherhood of men, who through faith and by love have become the sons of God. And this salvation is for the gentile as well as for the Jew."

Pilate responded:

• "Then you are a king after all?"

And Jesus answered:

• "Yes, I am such a king, and my kingdom is the family of the faith sons of my Father who is in heaven. For this purpose was I born into this world, even that I should show my Father to all men and bear witness to the truth of God. And even now do I declare to you that every one who loves the truth hears my voice."

Then said Pilate, half in ridicule and half in sincerity:

• "Truth, what is truth -- who knows?"

In Front of Pilate's Judgment Hall

After questioning the Master, Pilate went back to the chief priests and the accusers of Jesus and said:

• "I have examined this man, and I find no fault in him. I do not think he is guilty of the charges you have made against him. I think he ought to be set free."

And when the Jews heard this, they were moved with great anger, so much so that they wildly shouted that Jesus should die.

One of the Sanhedrists boldly stepped up by the side of Pilate, saying:

• "This man stirs up the people, beginning in Galilee and continuing throughout all Judea. He is a mischief-maker and an evildoer. You will long regret it if you let this wicked man go free."

Pilate was hard pressed to know what to do with Jesus.

Pilate, calling the guards, said:

• "This man is a Galilean. Take him forthwith to Herod, and when he has examined him, report his findings to me."

Jesus Before Herod

When they brought Jesus before Herod, the tetrarch was startled by his stately appearance and the calm composure of his countenance. For some fifteen minutes Herod asked Jesus questions, but the Master would not answer. Finally, being convinced that Jesus would neither talk nor perform a wonder for him, Herod, after making fun of him for a time, arrayed him in an old purple royal robe and sent him back to Pilate.

Jesus Returns to Pilate

When the guards had brought Jesus back to Pilate, he went out on the front steps of the praetorium, where his judgment seat had been placed, and calling together the chief priests and Sanhedrists, said to them:

• "You brought this man before me with charges that he perverts the people, forbids the payment of taxes, and claims to be king of the Jews. I have examined him and fail to find him guilty of these charges. In fact, I find no fault in him. Then I sent him to Herod, and the tetrarch must have reached the same conclusion since he has sent him back to us. Certainly, nothing this man has done is worthy of death. If you still think he needs to be disciplined, I am willing to chastise him before I release him."

Just as the Jews were about to engage in shouting their protests against the release of Jesus, a vast crowd came marching up to the praetorium for the purpose of asking Pilate for the release of a prisoner in honor of the Passover feast. As the crowd surged up on the steps of the building, Pilate heard them calling out the name of one Barabbas. Pilate stood up and explained to the crowd that the chief priests had brought Jesus to him to be put to death on certain charges, and that he did not think the man was worthy of death.

Said Pilate:

• "Which, therefore, would you prefer that I release to you, this Barabbas, the murderer, or this Jesus of Galilee?"

And when Pilate had thus spoken, the chief priests and the Sanhedrin councilors all shouted at the top of their voices:

• "Barabbas, Barabbas!"

And when the people saw that the chief priests were minded to have Jesus put to death, they quickly joined in the clamor for his life while they loudly shouted for the release of Barabbas. Pilate was angered at the sight of the chief priests clamoring for the pardon of a notorious murderer while they shouted for the blood of Jesus.

He said to them:

• "How could you choose the life of a murderer in preference to this man's whose worst crime is that he figuratively calls himself the king of the Jews?"

Pilate knew Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him, and had he been a just and courageous judge, he would have acquitted him and turned him loose. But he was afraid to defy these angry Jews, and while he hesitated to do his duty, a messenger came up and presented him with a sealed message from his wife, Claudia.

When Pilate opened this letter from his wife, he read:

• "I pray you have nothing to do with this innocent and just man whom they call Jesus. I have suffered many things in a dream this night because of him."

This note from Claudia not only greatly upset Pilate and thereby delayed the adjudication of this matter, but it unfortunately also provided considerable time in which the Jewish rulers freely circulated among the crowd and urged the people to call for the release of Barabbas and to clamor for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Finally, Pilate addressed himself once more to the solution of the problem that confronted him, by asking the mixed assembly of Jewish rulers and the pardon-seeking crowd:

• "What shall I do with him who is called the king of the Jews?"

And they all shouted with one accord:

• "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

The unanimity of this demand from the mixed multitude startled and alarmed Pilate, the unjust and fear-ridden judge.

Then once more Pilate said:

• "Why would you crucify this man? What evil has he done? Who will come forward to testify against him?"

But when they heard Pilate speak in defense of Jesus, they only cried out all the more:

• "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Then again Pilate appealed to them regarding the release of the Passover prisoner, saying:

• "Once more I ask you, which of these prisoners shall I release to you at this, your Passover time?"

And again the crowd shouted:

• "Give us Barabbas!"

Then said Pilate:

• "If I release the murderer, Barabbas, what shall I do with Jesus?"

And once more the multitude shouted in unison:

• "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Pilate was terrorized by the insistent clamor of the mob, acting under the direct leadership of the chief priests and the councilors of the Sanhedrin. Nevertheless, he decided upon at least one more attempt to appease the crowd and save Jesus.

Pilate’s Last Appeal

Being afraid to defy the clamor of this misled mob that cried for the blood of Jesus, he ordered the Jewish guards and the Roman soldiers to take Jesus and scourge him. This was in itself an unjust and illegal procedure since the Roman law provided that only those condemned to die by crucifixion should be thus subjected to scourging.

The guards took Jesus into the open courtyard of the praetorium for this ordeal. Though his enemies did not witness this scourging, Pilate did, and before they had finished this wicked abuse, he directed the scourgers to desist and indicated that Jesus should be brought to him.

Before the scourgers laid their knotted whips upon Jesus as he was bound to the whipping post, they again put upon him the purple robe, and plaiting a crown of thorns, they placed it upon his brow.

And when they had put a reed in his hand as a mock scepter, they knelt before him and mocked him, saying:

• "Hail, king of the Jews!"

They spit upon him and struck him in the face with their hands. One of them, before they returned him to Pilate, took the reed from his hand and struck him upon the head.

Then Pilate led forth this bleeding and lacerated prisoner, and presenting him before the mixed multitude, said:

• "Behold the man! Again I declare to you that I find no crime in him, and having scourged him, I would release him."

There stood Jesus of Nazareth, clothed in an old purple royal robe with a crown of thorns piercing his kindly brow. His face was bloodstained and his form bowed down with suffering and grief. This sight sent a mighty shudder through the realms of a vast universe, but it did not touch the hearts of those who had set their minds to effect the destruction of Jesus.

When they had recovered from the first shock of seeing the Master's plight, they only shouted the louder and the longer:

• "Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!"

And now did Pilate comprehend that it was futile to appeal to their supposed feelings of pity.

He stepped forward and said:

• "I perceive that you are determined this man shall die, but what has he done to deserve death? Who will declare his crime?"

Then the high priest himself stepped forward, and going up to Pilate, angrily declared:

• "We have a sacred law, and by that law this man ought to die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

When Pilate heard this, he was all the more afraid, not only of the Jews, but recalling his wife's note and the Greek mythology of the gods coming down on earth, he now trembled at the thought of Jesus possibly being a divine personage. He waved to the crowd to hold its peace while he took Jesus by the arm and again led him inside the building that he might further examine him.

Pilate’s Last Interview

As Pilate, trembling with fearful emotion, sat down by the side of Jesus, he inquired:

• "Where do you come from? Really, who are you? What is this they say, that you are the Son of God?"

Jesus looked Pilate straight in the face, but he did not answer him.

Then said Pilate:

• "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not realize that I still have power to release you or to crucify you?"

Then said Jesus:

• "You could have no power over me except it were permitted from above. You could exercise no authority over the Son of Man unless the Father in heaven allowed it. But you are not so guilty since you are ignorant of the gospel. He who betrayed me, and he who delivered me to you, they have the greater sin."

This last talk with Jesus thoroughly frightened Pilate. This moral coward and judicial weakling now labored under the double weight of the superstitious fear of Jesus and mortal dread of the Jewish leaders.

Again Pilate appeared before the crowd, saying:

• "I am certain this man is only a religious offender. You should take him and judge him by your law. Why should you expect that I would consent to his death because he has clashed with your traditions?"

Pilate was just about ready to release Jesus when Caiaphas, the high priest, approached the cowardly Roman judge, and shaking an avenging finger in Pilate's face, said with angry words that the entire multitude could hear:

• "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend, and I will see that the emperor knows all."

This public threat was too much for Pilate. Fear for his personal fortunes now eclipsed all other considerations, and the cowardly governor ordered Jesus brought out before the judgment seat.

As the Master stood there before them, he pointed to him and tauntingly said:

• "Behold your king."

And the Jews answered:

• "Away with him. Crucify him!"

And then Pilate said, with much irony and sarcasm:

• "Shall I crucify your king?"

And the Jews answered:

• "Yes, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar."

And then did Pilate realize that there was no hope of saving Jesus since he was unwilling to defy the Jews.

Pilate’s Tragic Surrender

Here stood the Son of God incarnate as the Son of Man. He was arrested without indictment, accused without evidence, adjudged without witnesses, punished without a verdict, and now was soon to be condemned to die by an unjust judge who confessed that he could find no fault in him. The mob cheered when he ordered the release of Barabbas.

Then he ordered a basin and some water, and there before the multitude he washed his hands, saying:

• "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You are determined that he shall die, but I have found no guilt in him. See you to it. The soldiers will lead him forth."

And then the mob cheered and replied:

• "His blood be on us and on our children."