THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY AND HIS CRUCIFIXION
The Third Stage of the Roman Trial - Jesus Appears Before Pilate a Second Time
-Matthew 27:15-30; Mark 15:6-19; Luke 23:13-25; John 18:39-19:16
-Pilate, as a custom during his visit to Jerusalem during the Passover, would release a prisoner.
-“From what this custom arose, or by whom it was introduced, is not known. It was probably
adopted to secure popularity among the Jews...Any little indulgence granted to the Jews during
the heavy oppression of the Romans would serve to conciliate their favor, and to keep the nation
from sedition” (Barnes).
-The proceedings regarding Jesus had transpired unbeknownst to the vast majority of Jerusalem’s
inhabitants. However, as the morning continued, a “...multitude went up and began asking him to
do as he had been accustomed to do for them” (Mark15:8, NASB).
-In this, Pilate sought another opportunity to release Jesus.
-Among the prisoners was a “notable” (Matt. 27:16) one named Barabbas, described as a
“robber” (see John 18:40) who had been involved in an insurrection and had committed murder
(see Mark 15:6-7).
-“Josephus tells us that there had been an insurrection against Pilate’s government about that
time caused by his taking money from the temple treasury for the construction of an
aqueduct. This may have been the affair here referred to, for in it many lost their lives”
(McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 711).
-Pilate planned to present a contrast to the people: an obvious criminal guilty of serious crimes
versus a just man who had been found innocent of any and all accusations.
-Pilate probably concluded that the general multitude would show a degree of pity for our Lord -
an innocent man unjustly held. The offer of punishment (scourging) would appease the Jewish
leaders who had brought Jesus bound unto him. Therefore, the proceedings would reach their
end and this burden would no longer be on his shoulders. If indeed these were the thoughts of
Pilate, he was mistaken on all accounts.
-It seems that it was at this time that Pilate went to the judgment seat and “...called together the chief
priests and the rulers and the people” (Luke 23:13) and asked, “Will ye that I release unto you the
King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:9).
-Pilate knew that the Jewish leaders had delivered Jesus over to be tried due to their envy.
Therefore, could we say that his use of the phrase “King of the Jews” was somewhat of a
verbal jab to them?
-Pilate explained that Jesus had been found faultless by both himself and Herod. Yet, as noted
earlier, he still offered to have Jesus punished prior to His release.
-Even though Jesus had been found innocent, Pilate - who had the authority to release
Jesus outright and should have done so - attempted to appease the Jewish leadership. Once
again, we see political positioning on the part of the Roman governor.
-Pilate then asked, “Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called
Christ?”
-“Yes, the chief priests had through envy made him a prisoner, but as the release of one
prisoner was to be left to the voice of the people and not alone to the priests, it was hoped on
the part of Pilate that the people who had been so greatly benefited by Christ and whose safety
had been imperiled by Barabbas would certainly give Jesus the advantage, but these people
like many others could be influenced by designing politicians” (Dorris, pg 359).
-Notice that Pilate also used the word “Christ” - probably in an effort to appeal to the people.
-“Pilate’s error lay in not foreseeing that in giving the choice to the multitude he in a measure
lost it himself” (Boles, Matthew, pg 532).
-In the meantime, at some point during the proceedings, while Pilate “...was sitting on the judgment
seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I
suffered greatly in a dream because of Him” (Matthew 27:19, NASB).
-“Dreams were considered as indications of the divine will, and among the Romans and Greeks,
as well as the Jews, great reliance was placed on them. Her mind was probably agitated with the
subject. She was satisfied of the innocence of Jesus; and, knowing that the Jews would make
every effort to secure his condemnation, it was not unnatural that her mind should be excited
during her sleep, perhaps with a frightful prospect of the judgments that would descend on the
family of Pilate if Jesus was condemned. She therefore sent to him to secure, if possible, his
release” (Barnes).
-“But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and
destroy Jesus” (Matthew 27:20).
-“The people seem to have been willing to listen to Pilate in his proposition. They were
more just than the leaders. But the chief priests and scribes stirred them up, and
encouraged and excited them to demand of Pilate that he release Barabbas (the robber) and
leave Jesus in prison, trusting yet to induce Pilate to sign his death warrant” (Dorris, pg 360).
-The chief priests’ efforts were effective. “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this
man, and release unto us Barabbas” (Luke 23:18).
-Pressure continued to mount on Pilate. He knew that Jesus was innocent and should have been
released. He was warned by his wife. His attempts to release Jesus had been unsuccessful up to
that point. And, he faced a multitude that grew increasingly restless.
-Pilate asked again, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” (Matt.27:21, NASB).
-The crowd indicated that they wanted Barabbas released.
-“Him they chose instead of Jesus; and thus, by a strange irony of fate they caused to be
released a man actually guilty of the crime with which they had falsely charged Christ -
treason and sedition” (Woods, pg 390).
-So, Pilate asked, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matt. 27:22).
-“Sooner or later, every soul is confronted with the same question...The decision cannot be
avoided or transferred to another, or endlessly deferred. ‘What think ye of Christ?’ Whose
son is he?’ That question is the moral watershed down which the several streams of eternal
life and eternal death move inexorably to the wide seas” (Coffman, Matthew, pg 467).
-The crowd answered: “Let him be crucified” (Matt. 27:22); “Crucify him” (Mark 15:13);
“Crucify him, crucify him” (Luke 23:21).
-Pilate responded, “Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will
therefore chastise him, and let him go” (Luke 23:22).
-“Jesus had done nothing worthy of crucifixion. Instead of stopping to reason with them,
Pilate should have retraced his steps and acted the part of a righteous judge and released
Jesus. However, he again offered to ‘chastise him’ and release him” (Boles, Luke, pg 445).
-“Finding the mob cruelly persistent, Pilate boldly declines to do its will and turns back into
the Praetorium declaring his intentions to release Jesus. But he retires with the demands of the
multitude ringing in his ears” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 713).
-“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him” (John 19:1).
-Yes, Pilate hoped that the abusive punishment of scourging would strike a degree of
pity within the hearts of the people and therefore persuade them to agree to Jesus’
release. But, the fact that Pilate was willing to have Jesus endure such brutality (in spite
of His innocence) reveals a hardened conscience on the part of Pilate and an overall
emphasis on political goals more so than on the basics of right and wrong.
-The scriptures present the worst of Jesus’ physical sufferings - the scourging and the crucifixion
which followed - in a very simplistic, matter-of-fact manner. This is a fact which strongly attests
to the inspiration of the scriptures.
-If produced strictly by those men who opposed Jesus, the details of His sufferings would have
been carefully laid out as an indication of just punishment for what they claimed to be
deceptive acts and words.
-If produced strictly by those men who supported and followed Jesus, the details of His
sufferings would have been carefully detailed in order to emphasize the atrocious injustice
that Jesus endured while paying the price for our sins.
-“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:20-21, NASB).
-McGarvey and Pendleton wrote that “...scourging was so cruel a punishment that the condemned
person often died under its infliction. The scourge was made of thongs loaded at the extremity
with pieces of bone or metal. The condemned person was stripped and fastened to a low post,
thus bending the back so as to stretch the skin. Blood spurted at the first blow” (pg 713).
-Hardened Roman soldiers inflicted the punishment. The limitation of forty stripes imposed
upon the Jews by God’s Law (see Deut. 25:3) would certainly carry no weight in this
process. More than likely, the soldiers would have carried out the scourging with full brutality
thereby tearing away at our Lord’s flesh, inflicting as much pain, suffering and damage as
possible.
-“In the punishment of Jesus, we are reminded of the words of Ps 129:3” (ISBE).
-“With derision and feigned reverence the Roman soldiers rendered mock obeisance to Jesus. They
were aware that he was accused of making himself king of the Jews and the occasion became one of
amusement and fun to these men, as they fell in with the spirit of the occasion and proceeded to
array him with a crown of thorns and to salute him as ‘king of the Jews.’ Matthew informs us that
they put a reed in his right hand (Matt. 27:29), as a sceptre; and they threw about him a purple robe
ordinarily worn by kings. There was more merriment in their actions; their malignancy of heart is
evidenced in the fact that they struck him and spit upon him in extreme insult. It is significant that
the verbs are in the imperfect tense, they kept on deriding him and they kept on slapping him with
their hands” (Woods, pg 392).
-Pilate went back out before the crowd and addressed them once again - “Behold, I bring him forth
to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him” (John 19:4). When Jesus came forth, battered,
abused and humiliated, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate exclaimed, “Behold,
the man!”
-This time he does not refer to Jesus as king or Christ. Instead, he simply refers to him as a man.
-Pilate probably felt that the sight of Jesus in such a condition would generate within the crowd
a degree of pity which would then lead them to agree to His release. Clearly, Pilate under-
estimated the hatred of the Jewish leaders toward Jesus and the effectiveness they had upon
the crowd. Rather than exhibiting any degree of mercy, they demanded a crucifixion.
-“When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying Crucify him,
crucify him...” (John 19:6).
-Pilate responded, “Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him” (John 19:6).
-In Pilate’s statement, “...‘ye’ and ‘I’ are both emphatic; for Pilate wishes to draw a contrast
between himself and the Jewish rulers” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 715).
-“It was equivalent to this: ‘I am satisfied of his innocence, and shall not pronounce the sentence
of death. If you are bent on his ruin-if you are determined to put to death an innocent man-if my
judgment does not satisfy you-take him and put him to death on your own responsibility, and
take the consequences. It cannot be done with my consent, nor in the due form of law; and if
done, it must be by you, without authority, and in the face of justice’” (Barnes).
-Pilate’s words did not diminish the Jewish leaders’ determination. They were still motivated by
their hatred and felt justified in their deeds.
-“Here, finally, the Jews reveal their real reason for seeking the death of Jesus. Earlier charges,
involving violation of Roman law, were subterfuges, devices designed to achieve their purpose
of securing the Lord’s death on Roman, rather than on Jewish grounds. These efforts having
failed, they now inform Pilate of the actual reason for seeking the death of his prisoner and they
point to the law which they falsely alleged he had violated - blasphemy. (Lev. 24:16.) This
claim was the basis of their earlier accusations against Jesus and the charge, unlike that of
rebellion against Roman authority, was true. He had indeed made himself to be the ‘Son of
God.’ (Luke 22:70, 71.)...The irony of the case is obvious. The Jews had but recently accused
him of claiming to be the king of the Jewish nation, which was false; they now level a charge
against him of claiming to be the Son of God, which they believed to be false, but which was
true! It is significant that all charges against Jesus were overruled and that he was eventually
condemned and made to die for one reason only: he claimed to be the Son of God” (Woods,
pgs 393-394).
-With the backdrop of Roman mythological beliefs (which included supposed, ongoing visits from
gods) combined with Jesus’ previous words (John 18:36-37) and the message received from his
wife, fear grew within Pilate.
-Motivated by this fear, Pilate once again took Jesus within the Praetorium and spoke privately
with Him.
-He asked Him, “Where are You from?” (John 19:9, NASB) but received no answer from Jesus.
-“His silence was answer enough - that, if he did not make this claim, he would certainly have
denied it” (Lipscomb, pg 293).
-Pilate, once again amazed at the silence of Jesus, questioned, “Do You not know that I have
authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” (John 19:10, NASB).
-Of course, unbeknownst to Pilate, he was speaking to the One who had been given all
authority. (See Matthew 28:18.) “Such a misjudgment of his ‘power’ by Pilate deserved a
reply from the Master; and Jesus promptly delivered it” (Coffman, John, pg 408).
-Jesus indicated what Paul would later confirm in Romans 13 - earthly governments are
ordained/allowed by God. Of course, the rulers within those governments are accountable to
God and will be judged according to their handling of the position and role.
-“Pilate, though guilty, was not as much so as the high priest and the Sanhedrin who had vastly
more knowledge of the divine will than Pilate. Their prophecies abounded with references to
the Messiah, and pointed unerringly to Jesus as the fulfillment thereof. They sinned against
greater light than Pilate and thus were guilty of greater sin than was he. Thus, without rancor,
and with infinite patience and kindness, Jesus judged his judges” (Woods, pg 396).
-After speaking with Jesus, Pilate “...sought to release him...” (John 19:12). “The verb
‘sought’ is significant here; it is imperfect active, thus, literally, kept on seeking, from which we
learn that Pilate made repeated efforts to secure the release of Jesus...” (ibid).
-McGarvey and Pendleton state that Pilate “...may have begun by loosing the hands of Jesus,
or some such demonstration” (pg 716).
-The Jewish leaders, seeing the determination of Caesar and realizing their plan was not progressing
as they hoped, resorted to threats against Pilate.
-“Pilate...made renewed efforts to release Jesus. But his efforts were antagonized by the
Jewish rulers with threats and intimations...The punishment meted out for any officer of the
Empire on such a charge was confiscation of property, removal from office, torture by
banishment, or something even worse. Pilate was sure that the Jewish Sanhedrin would like to
send such a report to the Caesar. He quailed before the clear threat” (Shepard, pg 591).
-With his position - and perhaps his own life - on the line, Pilate failed to stand in a bold defense
of truth. Instead, justice was cast aside for self preservation.
-Pilate sat on the judgment seat “...in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha ” (John 19:13). John notes that “…it was the preparation of the passover, and about
the sixth hour” (John 19:14)
-“The ‘preparation day’ was the day preceding the beginning of the seven days’ feast of
unleavened bread – Friday…The ‘sixth hour’ was 6 a.m., according to Roman reckoning
which John followed, and is in complete harmony with Mark’s statement (Mark 15:25),
that Jesus was crucified at the third hour, by Jewish computation (which Mark followed),
was 9 a.m. Under Roman law, sentence could not be pronounced earlier than 6 a.m. and
it is therefore likely that this is the reason the time is designated” (Woods, pg 398).
-Notice, John uses a general reference to time – “about the sixth hour.” Also, it is important
to note that John’s reference to the sixth hour and Mark’s reference to the third hour are not
applied to the exact same point in the proceedings. Once again, as always, the scriptures
are in harmony.
-In response to Pilate’s statement, “Behold your king!” (John 19:14), the crowd cried out, “Away
with him, away with him, crucify him!”
-When Pilate questioned them regarding the crucifying of their king,
they amazingly responded
“We have no king but Caesar.” Casting aside any allegiance to God, they pledged their
supposed allegiance to the Roman leader under whose yoke they desperately wanted to
escape.
-“They committed themselves to the tender mercies of Rome, and one generation later
Rome trod them in the wine-press of her wrath” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 718).
-“Men maddened with wicked fury profess anything to carry their ends” (Lipscomb, pg 296).
-“These Jewish authorities, who had gloried in the Messianic expectation and who had long
looked for the deliverer to come out of Jacob and free them from the despised yoke of
Roman bondage, now publicly and boldly assert that Caesar is their only king!” (Woods, pg
399).
-Obviously, they were so blinded by their hatred that they were willing to say and do anything
to accomplish their goal – the crucifixion of an innocent man – the King of kings.
-“…And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed” (Luke 23:23). “When Pilate saw that
he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (Matthew
27:24).
-Of course, Pilate was not an innocent bystander in this process. Pilate knew that the release
of Jesus would be proper. He had the authority to do so. However, rather than making a bold
stand for truth and justice, Pilate was overcome by his weaknesses and he simply submitted
to the demands of the crowd.
-The people responded to Pilate’s symbolic washing of his hands with yet another incredulous
statement - “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25).
-This is one of the few truthful statements spoken by the Jews during the examination and
trial of Jesus - even though they didn’t realize it. Indeed, His blood would be upon them.
-As Matthew Henry stated, the Jews were basically stating, “‘...we are so well assured that
there is neither sin nor danger in putting him to death, that we are willing to run the hazard
of it;’ as if the guilt would do no harm to them or theirs. They saw that it was the dread of
guilt that made Pilate hesitate, and that he was getting over this difficulty by a fancy of
transferring it; to prevent the return of his hesitation, and to confirm him in that fancy, they,
in the heat of their rage, agreed to it, rather than lose the prey they had in their hands...”
-“What a dreadful imprecation! and how literally fulfilled! The notes at Matt 24 will show how
they fell victims to their own imprecation, being visited with a series of calamities unexampled
in the history of the world. They were visited with the same kind of punishment; for the Romans
crucified them in such numbers when Jerusalem was taken, that there was found a deficiency of
crosses for the condemned, and of places for the crosses” (Clarke).
-“At the siege of Jerusalem they answer in part for the blood of Christ, but God alone determines
the extent of their responsibility, and he alone can say when their punishment shall end. But we
know that it ends for all when they repentantly seek his forgiveness. The punishments of God
are not vindictive, they are the awards of Justice meted out by a merciful hand” (McGarvey/
Pendleton, pg 718).
-Yes, the blood of Jesus was brought upon these people and their children in the form of
punishment. Yet, how amazing it is to think that the blood of Jesus was also available to
be on them in a redemptive fashion upon their humble, obedient submission to the Gospel of
Christ! How amazing it is to think about the fact that His blood is available to us to redeem
us from our sins! Such demonstrates the grace of a loving God and a loving Savior.
-Pilate then released Barabbas and delivered Jesus over to be crucified.
-“In doing this he gave the sentence that he had tried so hard to avoid giving” (Boles, Matthew,
pg 535).
-Luke 23:23 tells us that “...he delivered Jesus to their will.” However, we know that ultimately
it was God’s will that was being fulfilled. The world needed a perfect sacrifice for sin. God
was making sure that we received One in accordance with His plan of redemption.
-Interestingly, the name “Barabbas” means son of the father. Therefore, in this case, the son
of the father who was guilty of sin was released and the perfectly innocent Son of the Father
was delivered over for crucifixion and served as a sacrifice for sin.
-The hardened Roman soldiers then renewed their abuse of Jesus. Evidently the crown of thorns
and robe had been removed from Jesus for the time of sentencing. At this point, they once again
adorned our Lord with these items, placed the reed in His right hand and commenced with hatefully
mocking Him, beating Him and spitting in His face.
-Those who bowed before Him in jest would one day bow before Him with a realization of His
true identity and glory - Romans 14:11.
-Matthew and Mark reference the scourging of Jesus at this point in the text. However, this is not a
reference to an additional scourging but a reference to the previous one endured by Jesus.