John 18:28 They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”
31 Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,” 32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
Humans are great rationalizers. We are adept at twisting the truth and making excuses to achieve the results that we are looking for. Notice the twisted logic. On the one hand, the Jewish leaders refused to enter into an unclean Gentile place, the Praetorium. They didn’t want to become unclean, defiled, so they could still participate in the Passover meal. Yet, on the other hand, they had no reservations about bringing false accusations against the true Lamb of God for whom the Passover was to be celebrated.
In this they demonstrated that they actually feared man more than they feared God. They came to Pilate because under Roman rule the Pharisees were forbidden to put anyone to death. For fear of reprisals from Rome, they would not, themselves, put Christ to death. But they had no qualms about insisting that Rome execute the Son of God, Jesus Christ, knowing full well that Roman execution meant crucifixion: signifying by what kind of death he should die. Without realizing it, the Pharisees were actually urging Pilate to fulfill the prophecy which Christ had spoken of, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” John 3:14
John 18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Pilate is a Roman political appointee. He is not interested in Jewish law or in Jewish religion so long as the Jews don’t interfere with the Roman occupation. So when Pilate enters the room he gets right to the point. “Are you King of the Jews?”
Because anyone claiming to be a king would be a threat to the Roman occupiers, such claims were taken seriously and dealt with swiftly. To Pilate’s question about his political motivations, Christ stated that he had no aspirations for an earthly throne. Christ’s kingdom was not of this world, so Pilate need not worry about Christ’s followers fighting Rome. But Christ would later make it crystal clear in saying to Pilate that, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.” John 19:11
Seeking clarification Pilate again asks, “Are you a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
John 18:38a Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Jesus is the Truth incarnate. Jesus had known all along that in a world that had institutionalized demonic lies there would be a cost to truth telling. In fact, that is why he warned his followers to count the cost, Luke 14:28, because they too would become martyrs for exposing the world’s delusions. Having the knowledge of the truth and the courage to speak it, confronting lies, is the only way that light overcomes the darkness. It is the only way to walk in true freedom. John 8:32 Real freedom is costly, but to live a free men in Christ’s kingdom is well worth the cost.
And that is precisely why Christ’s trial wasn’t about truth. Like so many trials today his trial was about power. Because the Jewish authorities had a measure of power, they tried to use it to silence Jesus and when all of their arguments fell far short they used their power to murder him, enforcing their own delusional autonomous truth. They had believed the lie of their father, Satan, the same lie that has echoed down through the ages, “Might makes right.” But moral truth is transcendent, revealed by our Creator. It is not whatever those in power say it is. As the prophet Amos thundered:
There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. Amos 5:7
In contrast to those who would make a mockery of truth, Jesus declared, “I Am the way and the truth”, John 14:6, coming to bring light into the world darkened by evil deeds. John 3:19
John 18:38b When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
40 Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
Knowing that the trial was a sham and finding no basis for a charge against him Pilate wanted to release Jesus. He asked the Jewish crowd, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” To his surprise, the crowd demanded the release of an incarcerated thief, Barabbas. In what was, unbeknownst to him, a fulfillment of prophesy, perhaps in an attempt to convince the crowd to reconsider, Pilate ordered Jesus flogged.
John 19:1 So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him. Isaiah 52:14 2 The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment. 3 They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him. Psalm 22:7-8
4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”
6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”
7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
8 When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid. 9 He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”
Pilate ordered Jesus to be flogged with leather straps studded with metal. Such severe beatings tore apart the skin exposing the bones. Then mocking Jesus as King of the Jews, the soldiers forced a faux crown with sharp thorns that grew up to twelve inches long into his head, tearing into his skin, and draped a purple cloth over him simulating a royal robe, all the while in derision chanting, “Hail, King of the Jews.”
After enduring this cruelty, Pilate again presented Jesus to the crowd, saying, “Behold, the man!” In other words, how can you people see this beaten, bloody, and broken man and believe that he could be a threat to you? But the chief priests and the officers stirred up the crowd, shouting, “Crucify, Crucify,” insisting that Pilate honor the Jewish blasphemy law and put Jesus to death. The unruly demands of the crowd frightened Pilate. He didn’t want an insurrection. As the Roman governor, he could not afford to lose control of his territory to a mob.
He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”
Pilate desiring to release Jesus appealed to the crowd again, to which the religious leaders threatened him saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend… Away with him! Away with him! We have no king but Caesar!”
And isn’t that just the point of mobs, even today, to intimidate those in power so that they can get their way?
Whatever they are about, mobs are not about truth.