SECTION 12: THE trial – death –
and resurrection of the king
CHAPTER 64
JESUS BEFORE PILATE
OR
A GREAT PRISONER EXCHANGE
Scripture To Consider:
“When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”
“Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ And they said, ‘What is that to us? You see to it!’ Then Judas threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
“But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.’ And they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore, that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.“
“Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the LORD directed me.'” Matthew 27.1-10
Something To Consider:
The Jewish people had been deprived by their Roman conquerors of the right to inflict capital punishment. When therefore, their chief counsel had decided Jesus was worthy of death, the so-called rulers brought Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, that he might pronounce judgment and execute the cruel sentence of death by crucifixion.
As Jesus stood earlier before Caiaphas, there was sketched by Matthew a pathetic companion picture of Peter denying his Lord as Jesus stood before Pilate. Matthew painted the tragic scene of Judas hastening to his dreadful suicidal doom. Some claim Judas had repented of his sin of the betrayal of Jesus. If so, it is an example of extreme importance revealing what not to do after repentance.
The sin of Peter was not like that of Judas, nor was his subsequent sorrow. The fall of Peter was an act of cowardice in a career which became of great service to Christ and His church. The treachery of Judas was the final step in a downward declining course. Peter repented; but Judas felt the pain of hopeless remorse, something that is still widespread in our 21st century generation. His remorse without repentance led Judas to disclose his crime and his hatred of the pitiful price of his treason, and yet, to end his life in suicide or self-murder.
How pitiless were the so-called religious rulers who used Judas as their tool of deception. How scrupulous were these murderers as to the proper use of the blood-stained silver. And how unconsciously were they in fulfilling the words of ancient prophecy! The guilt of these hypocritical leaders was more fully revealed as they appear before Pilate to accuse Jesus of false accusations and to secure His death sentence. They distorted the charge upon which their counsel condemned Jesus into one of treason against the Roman emperor and empire.
More Scripture To Consider:
“Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Jesus, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ So Jesus said, ‘It is as you say.’ And while Jesus was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Jesus, ‘Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?’ And Jesus answered him not one word, so the governor marveled greatly.”
“Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And they had there a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For Pilate knew that because of envy they had delivered Jesus. While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.'”
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release to you?’ They said, ‘Barabbas!’ Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’ Then the governor said, ‘Why, what evil has He done?’ But they cried out all the more, saying, ‘Let Him be crucified!'”
“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult [uproar] was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’ Then Pilate released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.” Matthew 27.11-26
Something Else To Consider:
These so-called religious rulers’ insincerity is so obvious as to be evident to Pilate who perceived that their motive was envy. They were crafty and skillful enough to turn the multitudes against Jesus who had been their popular idol for a season and then to persuade them to ask for the release of Barabbas, a robber and murderer, in place of Jesus, whom they asked Pilate to crucify.
It was thus due to the influence of the religious leaders that the people finally called down upon the nation the curse by their cry, “His blood be on us and on our children.” And there the guilt for the death of Jesus has rested. In the destruction of Jerusalem, and through the centuries, the Jewish people have suffered the agonies and anguish which can be traced to obeying their false leaders and to rejecting their rightful King Jesus.
The center of this scene is occupied, however, not by the Jewish rulers but by the Roman governor. Pilate presents the contemptable picture of a man who lacks courage of his own convictions, and who is afraid to do the right thing in the present, because of faults committed in the past. From the first Pilate was convinced that Jesus was innocent, but he was fearful lest the Jews would find some occasion for reporting to Rome his own previous crimes. He was compelled to disregard his conscience and to obey the subject Jews whom he despised.
Like all men who trifle with their conscience, Pilate first attempted to compromise. He offered to release Jesus in place of Barabbas. This he thought would delight the rulers for it would discredit Jesus and brand Him a released criminal. He thought it would please the people who have called Jesus their King. So, Pilate planned; but while he waited for the response of the multitudes he received an ominous message from his wife, asserting the innocence of Jesus, and warning Pilate against offering to Jesus any injury.
And then, to Pilate’s disgust or dismay, came the report that he has been outwitted by the Jewish rulers. They have persuaded the people to request Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. And though Pilate hesitated, before the rising storm of opposition he yielded. He ceremonially washed his hands as a sign that he claimed he was innocent of the blood of Jesus; but guilt is not so easily shifted. And therefore, the blood of Jesus stained the hands of Pilate.
The Roman governor was one with the Jewish rulers and the people in crime, in guilt, and in infamy. Before them all stood the divine King of the universe and beyond. It is never easy to be loyal to Jesus. Yet it is impossible to be neutral in His presence. This Pilate attempted; but all who lack the courage of their convictions and who are afraid to take a stand on the side of Christ are ultimately found in the company of Pilate who released Barabbas, but Jesus he scourged and delivered to be crucified.
Something More To Consider:
Pilate thought he had outsmarted the religious establishment by offering Jesus as a great prisoner exchange which was the custom during Passover. But these so-called religious leaders proved that there is no greater hatred in all the world than religious hatred brought about by envy and or jealousy. Jesus threatened the very existence of these religious appearing rulers’ power and position, and that is something unrighteous religious leaders of all generations cannot allow.
In the case of our Scripture to consider, the religious opposition to Jesus demanded nothing less than the cruel and suffering death of Jesus by way of crucifixion. Their agenda was no different than the enemy of our souls, Satan, who seeks on a daily basis those of who he may devour through religious envy and jealousy. Satan seeks to steal, kill, and to destroy the spiritual relationship between every born-again believer and their Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, God the Father has graciously established His own great prisoner exchange and has placed each one of us in control of either accepting or rejecting His terms. Either we accept the biblical fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or we reject the written and preserved truth brought as sufficient evidence in the Word of God. Whatever we decide, our decision will never diminish the truth of the living Word of God. Jesus was and remains God’s great prisoner exchange for the world.
A Few Final Words:
Yes, Jesus gallantly stood before Pilate and experienced tremendous cruelty and much violent opposition from the religious puppets in Satan’s spiritually darkened campaign against mankind. And yet, Pilate attempted in his human weakness to negotiate a prisoner exchange. As so many attempts to appease the ever-changing attitudes of humankind, Pilate’s attempt failed. As Jesus declared in Matthew 19.26, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Pilate’s prisoner exchange program failed miserably, at least in the mind of Pilate. But according to Scripture, all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called by God, when God is involved. Therefore, God’s great prisoner exchange of Jesus for all of mankind’s sin, worked according to God the Father’s plan from the foundation of the earth as foreseen and predicted by the prophets of old.
According to God’s end goal plan there was no need for panic or for conjuring up a hurried back-up plan. God the Father, as usual, was then, and still is in complete control. How does that biblical fact facilitate our going about our daily mundane existence? How does that one truth, that God the Father is always in complete control of all of our circumstances and situations that are beyond our control? Jesus said, in John 14.27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
So, where does that leave us as potential pawns or possible spiritual puppets in a great world-wide tug of war between good and evil? How do we honestly answer the all-encompassing question of Pilate? “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ [the Messiah]? Will we like Pilate, foolishly and falsely acknowledge, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person [Jesus Christ]!” Will we be found guilty as were the early disciples who when hate filled opposition reared its ugly head, we either flee away or attempt unsuccessfully to follow Jesus from afar?
In Closing:
We cannot, we must not, leave this planet without answering these most important eternally altering questions. We cannot, we must not, attempt to avoid making sure we have fully accepted and agree with God’s great prisoner exchange program. If we refuse to do so, our own blood and the blood of others that we are responsible for, will be upon us as was upon those rejecting Jesus in our Scripture to consider. All eternity does indeed hang in the balance regarding the answers we honestly decide upon as it relates to these questions of great eternal importance!
Let’s Pray:
Our Father in heaven, thank You for the record of the difficult for us to imagine scene of Jesus before Pilate. Thank You for the truth of Your Word being expressed in such a way that the facts can be clearly seen by the youngest and even the weakest of minds. Forgive us of our sin that drew Jesus to the cross at Calvary like a magnet draws pure steel. Thank You Father for Your great prisoner exchange, of which we are the condemned and of which Jesus is our Redeemer. In Him Always! Amen.
According to Jesus 