In the weeks leading up to Easter, Christians the world over spend time reflecting on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death. We are spending several weeks looking at what the gospel writer John says about the last hours of Jesus’ life. Jesus has been up all through Thursday night, and now Friday morning brings no relief. He’s been betrayed, deserted, and abused. He’s ALREADY endured trials of the high priests, the Sanhedrin, and Herod’s mockery. Now, the Roman soldiers will have their turn at Him.
Find John 19 with me, if you will.
The mighty Roman Empire stretched from North Africa around the Mediterranean Sea to Spain. And the worst outpost for soldiers was Israel. The Roman soldiers stationed there were used to dealing with rebellion. They would have been desensitized to violence. So, the soldiers who tortured Jesus were some of the most wicked and brutal in the Empire.1
John thinks these 24 hours in Jesus’ life are crucial. John devotes 1/3 of the entire gospel to just two days in Jesus’ life: the night He was betrayed, and the day He was crucified. John devoted 257 verses of 879 verses to just these 24 hours. When Scripture slows down, we should pay attention.
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1) The Flogging of Jesus
2) The Illusion of Control
3) The Dangers of a Mob Mentality
1. The Flogging of Jesus
“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him” (John 19:1-4).
The date is Friday, April 7, 30 AD or Friday, April 3, 33 AD. Pilate has already told the mob that he thinks Jesus is innocent, but in his attempt to appease the crowd, Pilate vacillates.
1.1 Pilate
Pilate is a powerful, but tragic figure – even a pathetic figure. He appears in all four Gospels in the account of Jesus’ trial.
1.1.1 Doubting Pilate
You know, it’s fascinating to watch people’s skepticism of the Bible. Many automatically assume the Bible is wrong without giving a second thought. That’s exactly what happened with Pilate. People thought the biblical writers invented Pilate to tell the story of Jesus’ death at the hands of the Romans. No administrative records survived with Pilate’s name. There were no genuine letters of his that have been preserved. The Bible must have made him up out of thin air! Then in the summer of 1961, everything changed. Prior to that summer, there was no archaeological evidence that Pilate existed. It was then that they discovered what is now called the Pilate Stone. For a long time, archeologists missed it. After all, it was nothing more than a block of limestone, and excavators could have easily missed it and discarded it as rubble. All the way back to the 300s, people had put this important discovery into a set of stairs in a theatre at Caesarea by the Sea. Thankfully, they placed the stone face down, preserving the writing, or else it would have been worn away over the centuries.2 The inscription includes the words, “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judaea.” This was apparently Pilate’s reserved seat at the theater.
Why is this important? “…it is impossible for God to lie…” (Hebrews 6:18). If the Bible has one lie in it, it is not God’s book.
If things calm down in the Middle East, we will be seeing the Pilate Stone later this year. I invite you to come with me, and more information is at the ministry gallery.
1.1.2 Quick Bio of Pilate
Back to Pilate. Passion plays, Easter sermons, and films about Jesus almost always include Pilate. Pilate’s name is spoken weekly in churches that recite the Apostles’ Creed: “He was crucified under Pontius Pilate.” Roman sources tell us that Pilate came from the upper crust of Roman society. He came from a class just below the senatorial class of families in ancient Rome. He even married the granddaughter of Caesar. He’d been given governorship of Judea, an unstable region prone to uprising and rebellion. He likely saw his time there as a stepping stone to something grander, such as oversight of a more appealing part of the empire.”3 He served as prefect for Judea for ten years, when most typically served in the position for two to three years.4
He spent his days commanding Rome’s military force in the region when he wasn’t serving as the magistrate in civil and capital cases. Now, we know Pilate could be ruthless because Luke’s Gospel tells us that Pilate killed Jews right in the middle of the act of worship (Luke 13:1-2). By the time Jesus was before him, Pilate had earned a reputation with the Jews, who especially hated him for acts they viewed as provocative and deliberate.
Pilate conducts a trial for a foreigner as Jesus isn’t a Roman citizen. Remember, Pilate has already declared Jesus innocent once (John 18:38). He then orders Jesus to be flogged, thinking this will set Jesus free. The flogging will meet with the demand that Jews want Jesus punished and may evoke some sympathy.
1.2 Sonny Burton
Maybe you saw it as I did in recent weeks. Charles “Sonny” Burton was not the trigger man who murdered an AutoZone employee in Talladega, Alabama, in a 1991 robbery.5
He wasn’t even in the store at the time as the employee was shot. He had already exited the building when he heard the gun go off. So, when he was scheduled for execution, many wondered about the justice of killing such a man. Gov. Kay Ivey said she could not in good conscience continue with the execution knowing that Burton was not the shooter. The governor of Alabama granted clemency to a seventy-five-year-old inmate at the last minute. Now, some thirty years later, Burton is content to die in prison rather than be executed for his crime. Much like Governor Ivy, Pilate has a difficult decision on his hands.
1.3 Flogging
It’s Mark’s gospel that informs us that Pilate tells the people his plan: he’s going to flog Jesus and then set Him free. Pilate would not have scourged a prisoner. Instead, he would order officers, and they would carry out his order. Now, when you compare Mark’s Gospel account to Matthew’s, you might think they conflict in how they tell the story: “So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified” (Mark 15:15).
“Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26). The Romans used three forms of corporal punishment, in increasing degrees of severity: 1) what they called beating, 2) flogging, and lastly, 3) severe flogging, or scourging.6 It’s probable that Jesus was beaten twice.7
Jesus was likely given the first beating as described here in Mark’s gospel before the sentence of death was handed down. Beating could be, on occasion, a punishment in itself, but the more severe forms were reserved for those who would undergo a capital sentence as a prelude to crucifixion. So, this first beating was simply a warning. Romans were known to do this kind of thing, even to innocent people. If beating someone meant maintaining public order, Roman officials would keep the peace at the expense of someone.8 Now, once Pilate handed down the sentence of death, he likely then ordered the severe scourging of Jesus after he sentenced Him to death. This most severe one was known as flogging, or scourging. The Romans didn’t limit the number of lashes like the Jews, who set the maximum at 39 (Deuteronomy 25:3). The victim was stripped and tied to a post, and then beaten by several torturers until they were exhausted, or their commanding officer called them off. All this was done in public to humiliate and shame the person. You should know that some people died by simply being flogged this way. Witnesses who wrote down their accounts tell us that it was frequently severe enough to rip a person’s body open or cut muscle. Eyewitnesses tell us this was so savage that you could often see a person’s organs exposed. It was carried out with a whip that had fragments of bone or pieces of metal bound into the tips.
700 years before this, Isaiah the prophet predicted: “I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6).
1.4 They Mocked Him
Now, after the first beating only, Pilate once again steps back out to the “front porch” (if you will) of his headquarters. Here he presents a sorry sight – a swollen, bruised, and bleeding Jesus. It’s likely the crown of thorns they put on Jesus came from the long spikes of the date palm, which can reach up to twelve inches. Blood would be running down His face. After they stripped Jesus of His clothing, the soldiers jeeringly threw a purple robe on Him. They mock Jesus by striking Him in the face. Matthew’s gospel tells us they knelt in mock adulation before Him to add to their charade (Matthew 27:29). According to verse 3, they mockingly hail Him as the king of the Jews. They played with Jesus, making Him to be a clown.9
Years before, Isaiah tellingly foretold: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 54:2b-3).
1. The Flogging of Jesus
2. The Illusion of Control
“When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin” (John 19:8-11).
2.1 Who’s in Control?
Pilate is back and forth and back and forth. All of a sudden, a chill runs down his back.
“The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God’” (John 19:7). We don’t know if he was superstitious, but it’s easy to see the priest’s words alarmed Pilate. Pilate asks, “Who are you? Where did you come from? Jesus’ silence irritates Pilate. Jesus stared at Pilate with a gaze that could have frozen his blood.10 Pilate says, “Are you seriously not going to speak to me? I have the authority to crush you.”
Eventually, out of cracked and bloodied lips, Jesus looked up and said, “The only power you have is the power given to you from above.”
It’s interesting if you were to survey the scene. If you’d ask the priests, they would have told you, “We’re in control.” If you’d ask the crowd, they would have told you, “We’re in control.” If you’d ask Pilate, he would have told you, “I’m certain I’m in control.”
2.2 The Greater Sin
Jesus continues, “Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin” (John 19:11b).
Jesus doesn’t exonerate Pilate. But Jesus points beyond Pilate as one has a GREATER guilt. Jesus says, “he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Who is he referring to? On one level, you think of Judas, don’t you? After all, the fake disciple Judas kissed on the cheek in betrayal. But Judas may have gotten things rolling, but he played little part in handing Jesus over to Pilate. Jesus is likely referring to Caiaphas, the high priest, here. Caiaphas was over the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel. Caiaphas was outside of Pilate’s headquarters, whipping up the crowd in a frenzy. And, Caiaphas was the one who was doggedly determined that Jesus would be crucified and not just beaten and released. There is such a thing as real evil. And Pilate was staring straight at a man filled with the devil himself that day. Caiphas was hell-bent on getting Jesus crucified that day.
2.3 Quick Summary
Jesus stands there beaten, silent, and bleeding. And yet, He is the only one in the entire scene who is actually in control. Jesus was not swept up by the mob. Jesus was not overpowered by Pilate. Jesus was not trapped by circumstances.
1. The Flogging of Jesus
2. The Illusion of Control
3. The Dangers of a Mob Mentality
“So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.
From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.’ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:5-7, 12-16a).
Crowds have their psychology.
And multitudes have their own mind.11
3.1 Pilate’s Miscalculation
Pilate’s program here is to beat Jesus up to a bloody pulp and then parade him out before the people to try to get some sort of sympathy. But Pilate totally miscalculated the crowd’s reaction. Pilate was driven by his misguided optimism. Perhaps he felt that most people were generally good and that collectively, humans would do the right thing.
Listen to Pilate tell the crowd: “Behold the man!’” (John 19:5b). Pilate said more than he would ever know.
3.1.1 Ecce Homo
This moment has been captured in a well-known painting that goes by the same title as Pilate’s words in John 19:5. Painted more than a century ago, the painting is featured in Florence, Italy, today. [Show Antonio Ciseri's Ecce Homo Painting on the Screens] The scene has been painted by dozens of artists over the centuries. Can you picture the scene in your mind’s eye? The painting on the screens is beautiful, but it’s unrealistic of the scene John is showing us. Jesus would have been bruised and bloodied by the time Pilate paraded Him out for sympathy.
3.2.2 The Uneasiness of Pilate
The Gospel of John paints a picture of Pilate as uneasy, to say the least. Pilate makes at least four trips between the outer court, where he meets with the Jewish priests, and the inner chamber, where he questions Jesus. Plus, Pilate’s unwillingness to act on Jesus’ case is easy to spot throughout the ordeal. Pilate pronounces the prisoner innocent of any crime (John 18:38). Pilate seeks to release Him in accordance with the annual custom of pardoning a prisoner at the Passover (John 18:39). Pilate tried to placate the priests with a halfway punishment and a pathetic presentation (John 19:5). Lastly, Pilate pleads with the crowd (verse 12) and sarcastically asks, “Shall I crucify your King?” (verse 15).12 All the back-and-forth movement shows Pilate’s inner restlessness. The whole thing was a gruesome carnival, and Pilate could not escape his responsibility, though he tried.
2.3 Mob Mentality
Again, crowds have their psychology. And multitudes have their own mind. A French psychologist and sociologist was among the first to publish a study on crowd behavior. He writes: “Isolated, he may be a cultivated individual; in a crowd, he is a barbarian.”13 He says that individuals often change when they become part of a crowd. The French psychologist argues that people take on a “collective mind” that overrides their usual personal reasoning and behavior. Even the Bible described a time when Moses was away for a long time, and people thought he had died. The Hebrew people came to Aaron and said, “We need a god like the people of Egypt have.” And the next thing you know, Aaron is melting down gold jewelry to make a golden calf (Exodus 32). The mob was guilty of panic, as well as idolatry, in Moses’ day.14 In a mob, a wrong can seem right.
3.4 Pitiful Jesus
Surely, Pilate thinks they can see that Jesus is harmless. “Here’s the man you find so dangerous! Here’s the man you find so threatening!” Pilate thought of Jesus as a pathetic human being, an excuse for a man. “He is nothing at all like a king!” John’s gospel anticipates this moment, for in the very beginning, John wrote: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).
3.5 No Friend of Caesar
Behold, the hate-filled Satanic-inspired actions of the high priest: “When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’” (John 19:6).
The response was bold and unanimous. And Pilate’s miscalculation is quickly seen. The people will not be satisfied with anything less than the death of Jesus. Now, because the Messiah was thought to be both a political and a spiritual leader, the people emphasized the political nature of the Messiah to get Pilate to crucify Jesus. Now, the Jews seek to hold Pilate’s feet to the fire: “From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar’” (John 19:12).
Surely, Pilate is as committed to Rome’s rule as they are. Caiaphas and his friends knew that Caesar was a paranoid recluse, living on the Isle of Capri, who responded savagely to any hint of unfaithfulness. If such a charge were brought against Pilate, he would stand a good chance of losing his title, even his life.15 Anyone who was not a Roman citizen and was guilty of sedition should expect crucifixion.
Pilate says you take Him and crucify Him. Pilate came out and, for the third time, tried to release Jesus. That’s when the mob turned on him. They yelled that if he released Jesus, he was no friend of Caesar’s. That got his attention. He was appointed to Israel by Caesar. Caesar was the big boss. All of Pilate’s attempts to escape responsibility for Jesus had now failed. He delivered Jesus to the cross.
3.6 Conclusion - The Verdict Is In (optional)
Jesus’ trial continues even though Pilate has already declared Jesus innocent. Almost everyone who came in contact with Jesus in His last days spoke of His innocence.
A quick survey of the trial of Jesus will find one person after another declaring Jesus innocent. After Judas betrayed Jesus, he deeply regretted it, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4a). Pilate’s wife sent word to her husband in the very middle of the trail saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream” (Matthew 27:19b). Herod found nothing worthy of executing Jesus (Luke 23:15).
Even Pilate himself told the priests, “I find no guilt in him” (John 18:38b). The thief who spent the last hours of his life on the cross next to Jesus said, “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). The Roman centurion who was in charge of crucifying Jesus said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” (Luke 27:48b). Lastly, the crowds who witnessed Jesus die amidst an earthquake “were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54b). The verdict was in!
Prayer
If you want to be saved, you can get it settled right where you are seated. Pray this prayer.
Dear God.
I know that you love me, and I know that you want to save me. Jesus, you died to save me. And, you promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you, Jesus. Right now, with all of my heart, I trust you. I turn away from my sin. My life is broken, and I cannot fix my life. I open my heart to you. I receive you now as my Savior and Lord. Come into my life. Forgive my sin and save me.
Lord Jesus, thank you for saving me. I trust you to do it. Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. And, help me never to be ashamed of you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
EndNotes
1 Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 2:253-254.
2 https://www.deseret.com/2018/5/3/20644446/the-pilate-stone-in-israel-s-caesarea-by-the-sea/; accessed March 16, 2026.
3 https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/03/steep-price-of-pilates-fame-easter-ambition/; accessed March 16, 2026.
4 Paul Barnett, The Trials of Jesus: Evidence, Conclusions, and Aftermath. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024), 108.
5 https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/10/us/sonny-burton-execution-alabama-governor; accessed March 16, 2026.
6 Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005).
7 D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 597.
8 Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 6.304. See also, Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 1118.
9 Edward W. Klink III, John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 777.
10 I owe this phrase to Pastor David Dykes. https://gabc-archive.org/wp-content/uploads/s081620.pdf; accessed March 17, 2026.
11 John Gilmore, The Trials of Christ (Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2001), 101.
12 Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 260.
13 Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, trans. T. Fisher Unwin (1896; repr., Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2002), 13–14.
14 I am grateful to David Dykes for connecting Aaron’s story to the mob in Jesus’ day. https://gabc-archive.org/wp-content/uploads/s081620.pdf; accessed March 17, 2026.
15 R. Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 434.
