Our scene flows along with Pilate moving back and forth to Jesus and to His accusers or the people. Eight times in this passage Pilate moves back and forth, showing how indecisive he was in this matter.
READ 18:28. Last time, we saw how Jesus was arrested in the garden, taken to Annas behind the scenes, then Annas sent Jesus to the active high priest, Caiaphas. So now Jesus is led into the palace or hall of judgment. It was early morning. Note the Jews didn’t enter. The hall was a Gentile palace and it was the Sabbath of the Passover season. To enter the judgment hall would have polluted and contaminated them ceremonially. They wouldn’t have been allowed to participate in the Passover. This was kind of a trivial matter considering this was the trial for a man’s life, especially the life of God’s own Son, but nonetheless they followed the rules.
Quick note: Too often “religious” people attack others, arguing over their religion and church and its plans, over ceremonies, rituals, rules, regulations, and practices. They forget the MEAT of the truth: love, joy, peace, care, understanding, and ministry.
READ 29-32. The first thing Pilate did was hear the charges of Jesus’ accusers. The religionists were full of hatred and pride. We know they rejected Jesus and set themselves up as judges. They felt their verdict and judgment shouldn’t be questioned. Pilate tried to evade his responsibility. The hearts of the religionists were closed; and that was their problem. They were mentioning death even before the trial.
The Jews had to force the Romans to crucify Jesus, because the Jews weren’t allowed to execute a criminal on the Sabbath or on feast days. From God’s perspective, it had been prophesied that the Christ was to be crucified, and crucifixion was the method of execution used by the Romans. So, events had to be providentially shifted so there could be a Roman execution by crucifixion.
READ 33-38. The next thing Pilate did was to hear Jesus’ defense. Note Jesus’ challenge to Pilate in v. 34. In judging Jesus, a person is responsible for his own verdict. Everyone has to make his own choice. Everyone must proclaim that either Jesus IS or IS NOT the King of the Jews. Jesus tells Pilate His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is heaven.
READ 38-40. Pilate’s third move was back to the people. He wanted to clear Jesus’ name and to declare His innocence. Pilate hoped to satisfy the Jews’ cry for blood by substituting a real criminal and revolutionary for Jesus, but the Jewish leaders were determined to murder Jesus. So, they chose a man of worldly power and fame over the Man of peace.
READ 19: 1-3. Pilate’s fourth move was back to Jesus. He had Jesus flogged. Flogging - Jesus was stripped and beaten with a whip. The whip was made of leather straps with two small balls attached to the end of each strap. The balls were made of rough lead or sharp bones or spikes so that they would cut deeply into the flesh. Jesus’ hands were tied to a post above His head, and He was flogged. It was the Roman custom for the prisoner to be lashed by the presiding centurion until He was near death (Jewish trials allowed only forty lashes.) The prisoner’s back was nothing more than an unrecognizable mass of torn flesh when they were through.
This is how the world treated Jesus and that same treatment is heaped upon Jesus by people of every generation. People persecute and attack, crudely mock and scoff at His name, His person, and His Word. They heap mistreatment upon His followers. What I’m saying is that people live hypocritical lives, professing to know and follow Him: but when out in the world, they live as the world.
READ 4-7. Pilate’s 5th move is back again to the people. He offered a compromise. Pilate was hoping the crowd would pity Jesus when they saw Him so beaten, battered, and bloodied. He hoped the flogging would serve as a compromise and satisfy them. Compromise isn’t the way with Jesus. Pilate needed to declare him innocent because Jesus wasn’t guilty of any wrongdoing. But the Jews charged Jesus with claiming to be the Son of God. That was their grounds to have Jesus crucified.
READ 8-11. Pilate’s 6th move was back again to Jesus. He investigated the possibility of a supernatural being. Note Pilate’s fear. History tells us that Pilate was an extremely superstitious man. When he hears that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, he thought Jesus was claiming to be the son of a god. The picture in his mind was that of a half-god and half-man, a god-like being that filled the popular literature and beliefs of that day. The possibility of his condemning a god struck fear in Pilate.
Today, people shouldn’t fear the astrological charts and fortune signs and evil powers of this world. What people should fear is Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. There is only one Truth and that is Jesus Christ Himself. Verses 10-11 remind us that power is not in the hands of earthly authorities. It’s in the hands of God.
READ 12. Pilate’s 7th move was back again to the people. He wanted to release Jesus. He had to make a choice; choosing either Jesus or Caesar. When the Jews cried out “You are no friend of Caesar” Pilate faced a serious problem. They were threatening to send a report to Caesar. He was now forced to choose, and he did. Tragically, he chose the world and its way.
READ 13-15. Pilate’s 8th move was to the judgment seat before everyone. He gave the verdict of crucifixion. Pilate’s fatal choice was that he feared Caesar more than he feared God. He proclaimed the truth but only as a mockery. “Here is your King.” So, Pilate was afraid. Afraid of losing the people’s favor, of causing problems for himself, and losing his position and security.
The Jew’s, too, made a fatal choice and chose the world, the way of Caesar. This was shocking because God had supposedly been the God of the Jews for centuries. He was said to be the sovereign Lord of their nation. But now, at this very moment, they were rejecting God as their sovereign Lord. They were choosing Caesar and the way of the world. How easy it is for us to do the same. How easy and enticing it is for us to choose security, position, power, acceptance, livelihood, selfishness, friendship or even religion over Christ.
But Jesus reminds us, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2: 15-16)
