John 18:38-40 After this initial interrogation Pilate went back out
to talk to the accusers. (Parallel passages Matthew 27:15-21, Mark 15:6-11,
Luke 23:13-19) This conversation
centered around the custom that Pilate had of releasing a prisoner at Passover
as a goodwill gesture to appease the Jews. What was he thinking? The Jewish
leaders had brought Jesus to him to be condemned to death. Perhaps he thought
that the crowd did not agree with the priests and Jewish leadership. He
underestimated them; they had planted people in the crowd to whip up a response
that they wanted. Perhaps Pilate often tried to separate the people from the
leaders and the leaders expected this ploy. In any event, the crowd cried out
for Barabbas to be released.
John 19:1-3 At this point, Pilate had Jesus flogged and gave the
soldiers permission to abuse Him. Most likely this was common - a side benefit
of entertainment for the soldiers who were stationed in a backwater province.
They mocked His statement that He was the king of the Jews with the crown of
thorns and purple robe and hailing Him as king, while simultaneously physically
abusing Him. The odd thing is that Pilate had not yet pronounced judgment; that
does not occur until verse 16.
John 19:4-7 The abuse by Roman soldiers must have been inside the
Praetorium because Pilate then brought Jesus out to the Jews and said to them,
"See! I am bringing Him out to you so that you will know that I find no
fault in Him." At this point, Barabbas being no longer the point, the Jews
cried out for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate of course knew that the Jews could
not do that legally, but he told them to do it anyway. When they reminded him
of that, they also repeated the charge from the religious court, which they had
not previously brought up to Pilate that He had claimed to be God, which was a
capital offense in Jewish law. Most likely this was a reference to Leviticus
24:16 which called for stoning anyone who blasphemes the name of The Lord. Of
course, since Jesus really was the Son of God, this was not blasphemy, but the
Priests and Pharisees could not accept this. But why would Pilate care about
that aspect of Jewish law? He was Rome's representative, and Rome generally
tolerated a multitude of religions; besides which, Pilate worshipped power, and
clearly Jesus had none.
John 19:8-11 Pilate then returned into the Praetorium for another
conversation with Jesus. First question: Where are You from? Jesus did not
answer. But why would Pilate ask this question? Perhaps this is the point at
which Pilate sent Jesus to see Herod on the pretext that He was from Galilee
and therefore one of Herod's subjects. This is recorded only by Luke, in
23:6-12. Herod quickly returned Jesus to Pilate's court.
In any event, Pilate's next question
was whether Jesus did not know that he had the authority to release or crucify
Jesus. Which, from an earthly perspective, he did. But Jesus' response, from
the perspective of authority in the Kingdom of God, acknowledges only human
authority that has been given from above. God had chosen to give Pilate
authority in human affairs, for His purposes. (Romans 13:1) The guilt of Judas
and the priests is greater than the guilt of Pilate because Judas betrayed
trust, the priests used authority given to them by God to commit sin, and
Pilate was only attempting to administer governmental authority in accordance
with human rules and principles.
John 19:12-16 It almost seems as if Pilate was bothered by this
statement about his sin, because he tried to release Jesus. But he was caught
in the trap that the high priests had set. Going back to the earlier charges,
when they accused Jesus of setting Himself up as a king, they played on
Pilate's fear of Rome, of the emperor who had appointed him, that someone
claiming to be a local king might stir up rebellion against Roman authority.
So Pilate brought Jesus outside the
Praetorium to the Pavement. Gabbatha is the Aramaic word for an elevated place,
so it must have been something like a hill the top of which was paved with
stones. Pilate set Jesus there and said "Behold your king". Perhaps
he hoped that the irony of this declaration - in effect confirming the charges
- would settle the crowd down. It had the opposite effect, in that they
screamed again that He should be crucified. Pilate had previously brought Him
out in a purple robe with a crown of thorns and said he found no fault in Him.
Nothing had changed. Pilate was out-maneuvered. In this case, the Jews,
probably with their fingers crossed, said that Caesar was their king. But they
had to say that to Pilate because they were a subject people, and that was the
whole point of the crowd trying to get Jesus to be crucified because He said He
was a king.
In the end, Pilate conceded, and
ordered that Jesus be crucified.
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