Who Is Really On Trial?

Who shot John F. Kennedy?  As for that matter, some of you will remember the question from the hit drama series, Dallas, “Who shot J.R.?”  Who actually killed O.J. Simpson’s wife?  Was Abraham Lincoln’s assassination part of a larger conspiracy?  

Questions like these make great books and movies.  They create opportunities for high school debates.  And for the most part, nobody can give a completely clear, undeniable answer.  

In the case of Jesus, there are many questions that are not answered clearly when discussing who was guilty in His death.  Was it the Romans who pronounced the sentence?  Was it the Jewish religious leaders who seemed to be the catalyst towards Christ’s death on a cross?  

The reality is that God Himself caused this all to happen.  Because Jesus was supposed to take upon Himself the sins of all humanity, there had to be the appropriate punishment.  Jesus came for this purpose.  It has been said that “It was my sin that put Him on the cross.”  That is true only in a sense; just as the responsibility of His death lies with the Romans and the Jews.  However, Jesus willingly went to the cross and willingly gave up His life.  This was all part of God’s divine plan.

But we dare not let anyone off the hook; neither should we let ourselves feel guiltless.  Everyone is responsible for their own actions.  The Romans, the Jews, and all of humanity are responsible for our actions.  

Yet, as we look at this not so civil trial, we have to ask ourselves, who was really on trial?  Ultimately, that leads all humanity to a life-changing question. 

The question everyone must ask themselves is, "What have I done with Jesus?"

Brutal Attacks - 18:39 - 19:7

“But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”  So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.  Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him.  And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face.  Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”  Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”  So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” 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 by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

We know from other passages, as well as from our last time together, that Pilate wanted to get this matter out of his hands and back to the Jewish religious leaders, since it had nothing to do with the Roman government, nor was Jesus actually a threat.  If Pilate had any backbone, he would have released Jesus right then and there.  However, he was actually a coward in the face of such intense religious hostility.  He probably figured that if he released Jesus, there would be a riot which would cause him to be relieved of his position.  So, he tried to pass the responsibility to Herod.  Sadly, Herod treated Jesus like a jester or a clown and sent Him back to Pilate, as we see in other Gospels.

Pilate was now appearing somewhat desperate.  So he comes up with an option that he must have felt would be a win-win for everyone.  Little did he know how people are when they listen to the whisperings of Satan.  Those religious leaders were not at all interested in doing what was right.  They wanted to silence Jesus permanently and retain their own power and position.  

Strangely, another Gospel stated that Pilate offered up one of the most hardened criminals he could have come up with as a trade for Jesus.  This Barabbas character was not just a robber.  From other passages, he is labeled a notorious prisoner, a murderer, and an insurrectionist.  In one of the most bizarre twists to a trial and in the most unjust manner, the religious leaders stirred the crowd up to request Barabbas.  Think about this for a second; the only possible crime against Rome they could bring against Jesus was insurrection, (which was not true); yet they want released, out into the community, a hardened criminal.  

You can almost see the sweat pouring off of Pilate at this point as he asked the people what to do.  He had Jesus beaten, (I won’t take time to go into how awful the scourging was.  Let’s just say that often a person who endured this scourging by the Roman soldiers did not survive); the soldiers made up a crown of thorns to put on His head to mock Him and to cause pain; they then mocked Jesus and slapped Him; yet the Jews were unfazed.  Pilate even came out and pronounced that even after all that torture, he found no guilt in Jesus.  When Jesus is brought out in front of the crowd, the religious leaders began their ungodly cry to crucify Him. As we look at the other Gospel accounts of this, one can only cover your eyes and turn away in shame because of those who claimed to be followers of God and what they promoted and allowed the Roman officials to do.  

The leaders would not be satisfied.  They were like ravenous wolves who’ve had a fresh taste of blood and only wanted more.  At this point, it was obvious that Pilate had lost control.  In essence, he had given the authority over to the religious leaders to crucify Jesus. There was nothing legitimate that would have caused Pilate to have a reason to crucify Him.  Now, the religious leaders once again tried to do their dastardly deed by having someone else get their hands bloody.  The Jews pounced on their legal rights and demanded that Rome stay true to their tradition and help them uphold their local laws.  

Obviously, the Jews realized that they couldn’t have Jesus executed because of actions against Rome, since there were none.  So they resorted to revealing their hand and giving the true reason they wanted Jesus executed.  It was that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God.  

Now, it seems, they had Pilate’s attention.  He dared not go against this deeply sacred belief the Jews held, lest they create an even bigger problem.

Bogus Authority - 19:8-12

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”  Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

It seems interesting that when Pilate heard their charge of Jesus claiming to be God’s Son that,

he was even more afraid. 

Historians suggest that many of the Romans carried with them a great deal of superstition.  If that were the case, he may have wondered what lay in store for him if things didn’t go the right way.  If you consider the fact that he had just had Jesus beaten within an inch of His life, then you consider that you’ve possibly done this to an all-powerful person, that just might cause you to wonder what’s going to happen to you.  We also know from Matthew 27, that Pilate’s wife had a dream about Jesus and strongly urged her husband to remove himself from that situation.

Pilate’s next question is an interesting one.  “Where are You from?” He already knew that Jesus was from Galilee.  It is almost as if Pilate was asking Jesus if He was someone from another world.  Here, we begin to see that, in spite of all that had been done to Jesus, He was still in total control.  He would not be fazed or coerced.  Jesus was silent.  As Wiersbe states:  It is a basic spiritual principle that God does not reveal new truth to us if we fail to act on the truth we already know.

If I may, I want to give a bit of a warning. When a person chooses to reject Jesus, there comes a point in time when God rejects that individual.  Pilate, the religious leaders, and many others today, have heard the Good News and have even participated in worship and service, but have chosen not to surrender their lives to Jesus.  We don’t know when, but there will be a point when God will no longer provide any more chances for salvation.  

This gets under Pilate’s skin, at this point.  Pilate exerts himself, and in a threatening way, tries to remind Jesus that Rome, and Pilate in particular, had authority over Jesus’ life.  If this were indeed true, then Pilate was condemning himself, since he did not release Jesus.  However, that was not the reality.  Here, Jesus, in essence, answered Pilate’s question, as Jesus reminded Pilate from where ultimate authority comes.  Yes, Pilate was responsible for all that He did.  However, He could not control anything when it came to God’s perfect plan.  God was and still is absolutely sovereign in all of life.  

Then Jesus pointed out a truth which ought to frighten anyone who claims to be a servant of God or a spokesperson for God.  The Jewish religious leaders, most likely Caiaphas, in particular, carried the responsibility for the bigger sin.  You see, the Jews had all the prophecies pointing to the Messiah and had seen Jesus fulfill all the Scriptures.  Knowing that information, and clinging to his false piety, Caiaphas and the other religious leaders, intentionally brought Jesus to Pilate to have Jesus crucified.  

Still, Pilate continued to try to release Jesus.  The Greek literally states: 

he kept seeking to release Him. 

Yet, the crowd shut him down.  They played their trump card.  If Pilate wouldn’t do what they wanted, they were going to make sure he paid the price and would lose everything he held dear in the position he occupied.  You can almost taste the irony as these Jewish religious leaders, who hated the Romans, now found themselves acting as allies with Caesar. 

Bad Adjudication - 19:13-16

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”  So 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 then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

We can almost sense Pilate’s spine turning to jelly.  Pilate brought Jesus out and sat down to pronounce judgment.  Little does he realize that he would be the one under judgment of the One True Righteous Judge, Jesus Christ.  

John begins to set the stage for the last part of Jesus’ life in verse 14.  He speaks of it as the day of preparation for the Passover which would take place that evening.  The time was close to noon, the sixth hour.  Then, before the final judgment, Pilate cries out to the Jews,

Behold, your King! 

If you place yourself mentally in this space and time, this would have seemed so out of place.  Here was Jesus, who was probably exhausted, bloodied, and bruised, standing before the jeering crowd of self-righteous Jewish leaders.  Jesus did not look like a king. The sarcasm is obvious.  The people were not amused by Pilate’s comment.  They wanted Jesus done away with completely.  Then Pilate asks a chilling question that ought to have haunted those leaders for years.  However, I doubt that it did from what we see in the rest of the New Testament concerning them.  Shall I crucify your King?

Then they responded with their own condemnation: 

We have no king but Caesar. 

How true that was!  They had rejected the King who would give them brand new lives and a home forever with Him.  They had rejected the very God whom they said they served, even though it was themselves they were serving.  Truly, their kingdom was of this world.  Thus, they were more correct in what they said than they realized.  They, who had accused Jesus of blasphemy, had just committed blasphemy of their own.  For Jesus is the King of the Jews.

At this point, Pilate resigned himself to the will of the Jewish religious leaders. 

Conclusion

I want to jump back to Matthew 27:22, a parallel passage to this, where we find this question by Pilate: 

Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? 

This is a question that faces every person who has lived since.  What will you do with Jesus Who is called Christ?

There are only two possibilities.  One would be reject Jesus and do your own thing.  The promise is that if you do reject Jesus, you stand condemned because you have not believed in Him. 

The other possibility is to recognize and agree that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and accept the free gift of salvation.  

Some would suggest there is a third possibility; that of waiting to see how it all turns out in the end.  My friends, there is no fence straddling; there is no middle ground; there is no third option.  According to Matthew 12, if you are not with Jesus, then you are against Jesus.

What have you done with Jesus who is called Christ?  If you have not sought forgiveness for your sins and humbly believed in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I invite you to do so, even now.  Do not be like Pilate who allowed pride to be his guide.  Do not be like the priests who loved their position and power.  Give it all up and turn to Jesus.