Introduction: John chapter 18 records the arrest of Jesus while He and the disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane. In one of the most illegal trials of history, Jesus was questioned by several different people including Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
Pilate, being a pagan Roman, seems to have never really understood just Who this Jesus, standing before him, really was. The last part of John 18 records some of the questions Pilate asked and the replies Jesus gave to him. Pilate had told the Jews assembled before him, “I don’t find any fault in this Man” but for them, that wasn’t enough. Now what would Pilate do?
Full disclosure: this has been one of the most difficult messages I’ve ever prepared. To think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would humble Himself to endure maltreatment like this, it’s beyond anything I can think of. He did all this, and endured all of this, because He loved us.
Additional material is available in any of the conservative commentaries on John’s Gospel such as works by Arthur W. Pink, John R. Rice, Oliver Greene, plus other on-line resources. I have not intentionally used any of these for this message. Please take advantage of any and all good resources in order to help understand and explain the Word of God to as many as you can.
1 Pilate announced, “Behold the Man!”
Text, John 19:1-7, KJV: 1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. 5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in 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.
Pilate had asked Jesus four questions according to John 18:33-40 and even though he was satisfied with the replies of Jesus, Pilate still was facing a difficult choice. He clearly didn’t want to crucify an innocent man but he still had to do something to please the mob. He appealed to the custom of releasing a prisoner at the Passover season. He may have thought this would satisfy the mob who had been clamoring for Jesus to die.
But he was oh, so wrong.
The crowd demanded Barabbas, a robber (!) and a murderer (Luke 23:19)!
Now what would Pilate do with Jesus?
Pilate had Jesus scourged. This most likely means that Pilate didn’t do this himself but had some of the soldiers nearby do this. They were probably more than willing to do this. Bullies and tyrants usually look for the weak and defenseless in order to do whatever they feel like or feel like doing. Clearly they hadn’t heard Jesus Himself say that He could ask the Father for twelve legions (a legion was around 6000 soldiers) of angels to deliver Him (Matthew 26:53), or if they had, they didn’t care. This was their time, and they were going to make the most of it.
Scourging was even worse than it sounds. If Jesus was scourged with a Roman whip, this was most likely a “cat of nine tails”, nine leather strips (usually) each with pieces of flesh-cutting materials. Some Bible teachers noted that these could have been bone, rock, or anything else that would cause pain to the victim. In addition, the Jews could only inflict 40 stripes or lashes (Deuteronomy 25:3) but the Romans didn’t seem to have any such limit.
Even worse, the soldiers “platted” or wove a crown of thorns and as John says, “put it on His head”. I doubt they did this gently. The exact genus or species of these thorns is not known but we can be sure they were long enough and sharp enough to cause as much pain as possible.
As an aside, part of the curse placed on the ground when Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3), Adam was told the ground would bring forth “thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18).” As part of the redemption from that sin and that curse, the very Creator would be mistreated with some of the very items He had made!
Finally the scourging was done and, miraculously, Jesus survived it. We cannot imagine the pain He went through, during and after this. John does not say when the crown of thorns was placed on His head but that was another serious pain that was inflicted on our Lord. The soldiers were not done yet, however, as after all of that, they smote (slapped or punched) Him with their hands. But one of the greatest pains of all had to be the insults they aimed at Jesus. I mean, “Hail, king of the Jews!” when they had just finished, or even were in the process, of tormenting Him. Someone once observed that harsh words hurt more than harsh blows.
Once all of that was finished, Pilate seems to have received word (or, he may have observed it; the text does not say) and then went out to address the crowd again. He told them first, “Behold, I bring Him out to you to prove I find no fault in Him (why, then, did Pilate have Jesus scourged if he really felt that way?)”
And soon after that, Jesus appeared, whether He was able to walk (after the abuse He had suffered) or was “assisted” still wearing the crown of thorns and a purple robe (purple was the color of royalty but where that robe was obtained is nowhere specified).
Pilate then uttered three words, “Behold the man!” The reason why he said this has been debated for many years and the real reason—and only he knows for sure. Did Pilate hope that showing a helpless, wounded, man, would make the anger go away? Did he think the Jews would begin to show compassion on one of their own? Whatever he hoped to obtain, it simply didn’t work.
The Jews began to cry out even louder, “Crucify Him!”
Pilate’s hopes now disappeared. He then said, “You people crucify Him! I didn’t find any fault in Him! He didn’t even complain when He was scourged (implied)!” He was still at least trying to solve his own problems, though, incredibly, he still didn’t release Jesus from his custody (such as it was) after all the mistreatment Jesus had endured.
But the Jews added something not mentioned before. They told Pilate Jesus “made Himself the Son of God”!
Now what was Pilate going to do? How would he react to this new charge or accusation?
2 Pilate asked, “Whence art Thou?”
Text, John 19:8-12, KJV: 8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
Pilate heard the new charge or statement from the Jews, that Jesus “made Himself the Son of God”. Being a pagan, Pilate had no doubt heard any number of stories (myths?) about how the “gods” and “goddesses” would interact (!) with humans. The epics of Homer such as “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad” were full of this. If a human offended one of the “deities”, the person would be risking any kind of wrath. Some of these myths told how people could be turned into animals (Arachne, a spider, for example).
So, it’s no wonder that Pilate would be “the more afraid” if he had inflicted “corporal punishment” on a deity! If he was “the more afraid” now, surely he was afraid of something or someone before this. Now, perhaps wonderingly, he asks Jesus, “Whence art Thou?” or “Where are You really from?” Did Pilate wonder if Jesus had come from Heaven, or Olympus (home of the Greek “gods”), or somewhere else? What was he thinking? What kind of answer did he expect to hear from Jesus? Remember, his wife (!) had told him, “Don’t have anything to do with just man—I suffered in a dream because of Him (Matthew 27:19)”
He was in for the surprise of his life, though, when Jesus gave Pilate no answer.
Not a word.
And this made Pilate move from afraid to aggressive. He then asked Jesus, “You don’t have anything to say? Don’t You know I have the power to crucify You or to release You (and don’t You forget it—implied)?”
Jesus turned it right back around and said, “You wouldn’t have any power at all against Me unless you got it from above.” Pilate may have thought that by rising through the ranks or attending the best schools or however Roman government officials were appointed, he would have all the power he wanted. Of course he would need some power or authority to keep his assigned territory peaceful and orderly. Sadly, Pilate would never have known that all human government began back after the Flood (Genesis 9:1-6) and that Paul would later write to the Romans (chapter 13) that all government authority eventually comes from God.
Now Pilate, for whatever reason, tried—sought—to release Jesus but the Jews in the mob played their trump card: “If you let this man go, you aren’t Caesar’s friend and anyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar”! They seemed to have conveniently forgotten that Jesus Himself had commanded people to render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17)!
The charge of not being Caesar’s friend was not lost on Pilate. He now knew he had to make a decision of some kind.
That decision was to condemn Jesus to be crucified.
3 Pilate asserted, “Behold your King!”
Text, John 19:13-16, KJV: 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
Now that Pilate had heard this pair of “revelations”, that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (He truly was, is, and always will be!) and that if Jesus was released, then Pilate wasn’t Caesar’s friend, he finally took some decisive action. The first thing he did was to bring Jesus out to the mob (not certain if this was the only time or a second time). Jesus was still in horrible physical shape, what with having been scourged, a crown of thorns jammed onto His brow, and wearing a purple robe (wherever that came from is nowhere specified). Pilate may have wanted to show the crowd that nobody in that kind of condition—battered, bleeding, near death, physically—could ever be a threat to them or anybody else; certainly not Rome nor Caesar.
He may have also appealed to any spark of humanity or compassion remaining in the hearts of the Jewish people. How could they stand and watch one of their own be so mistreated and do nothing to stop it, not even protest? And Pilate had at least twice declared Jesus innocent!
Then, after bringing Jesus out to them, Pilate sat down on the judgment seat. This was decision time and Pilate was ready to—what? Pronounce sentence? Release Jesus, an innocent man? One wonders if the crowd was still crying out for Jesus to be crucified when Pilate, who apparently had been standing when he talked with Jesus, finally sat down.
And his words to the crowd?
“Behold, your King!”
What did Pilate think would happen? Was he making one last appeal to the Jews and their religion? Or was he trying to show that any man who would allow himself to be treated like this was no threat to anybody, as mentioned earlier. The crowd, however, had already demanded Jesus be put to death, and they had also tried to blackmail Pilate by saying he was no friend of Caesar, which was a serious charge in those days.
So, now, Pilate asks one last question, “Shall I crucify your King?” This meant Pilate would delegate that task to a group of soldiers to do that task, not that Pilate himself would do this. At the very least, Pilate had made one last appeal to the accusers.
He had lost.
The chief priests answered, probably yelling, “We have no king but Caesar!” Incredible. They had seen the legitimate King of the Jews riding into Jerusalem just days before, and for the last three years they had seen Jesus teach, preach, and perform miracles, but they still refused to accept Him as their King. With that, they rejected God’s plan and God’s best for them.
And with that, Pilate gave up. Matthew 27:24 mentions that sometime during this “trial”, Pilate washed his hands with water and said, “I’m innocent, now you people take care of it yourselves.”
John closes this account by saying, maybe sadly, Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified; they took Jesus and led Him away.
For the mob, this was a time of triumph, maybe: they were about to be rid of a significant problem, in their eyes and now maybe things would go back to their definition of normal. There would be no “prophet” to call out their sins, no one to accuse them (rightly) of their hypocrisy, and nobody to stand in their way of maintaining a grip on their fellow Jews. Pilate may have thought he would receive recognition or maybe a promotion for stopping a riot from happening. At any rate, they thought Jesus—whatever they may have thought of Him—was gone for good and things were about to go back to “the good old days” before He came on the scene.
But even though Jesus was led away and crucified shortly afterwards, the story doesn’t end here.
There’s a lot more to come!
Conclusion:
Pilate was faced with a dilemma: should he try to please the crowd who accused Jesus, or should he release an innocent Man? Pilate had already said to them “Behold the Man!” as in “Look, here He is!”, but that didn’t satisfy the crowd. When Pilate heard them say Jesus was the Son of God, he questioned Jesus saying, “Whence art Thou” or where do You really come from? When Jesus refused to answer, Pilate said, “Don’t You know I have power to kill You or set You free?” Jesus reminded him that governors and governments have no authority except what God allows them to have—but each official is of course responsible for his or her actions. Finally Pilate, after Jesus had been scourged and physically mistreated (badly), brought Him out to the crowd and asserted, “Behold, your King!” and the chief priests showed their true colors when they said, “we don’t have any king except Caesar”.
With that, Pilate gave Jesus to others. Jesus was led away, and crucified. They thought “that takes care of that”, but in a few days, they would receive the surprise of their lives!
JESUS WAS ALIVE AGAIN!
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
