By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Today we’re going to learn about the trial of Jesus before Pilate. This trial, though held before a secular ruler, was as unjust, if not just as illegal, as the trial before the Great Sanhedrin. It was certainly procedurally deficient. The amazing thing is that Jesus held His peace while at the same time He worked for the soul of Pilate while He was being tried.
Let us begin with prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your presence as we discuss this topic of the trial of Jesus before Pilate. We realized that we are facing similar times in the very near future. So please help us to prepare for this time. And please send your Holy Spirit today to enlighten us. In Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 27:2.
“And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”
The central figure in all of history was arraigned by the two mightiest jurisdictions of earth, the Great Sanhedrin, which was the High Court that held religious jurisdiction over the most important people in history to that time, and the Roman government, which had secular jurisdiction over the whole world. They both assumed the right to judge Him, and ultimately, they both condemned him. Rome, the mother of laws, and Jerusalem, the destroyer of the prophets, sat in judgment upon Jesus’ life before He descended into the tomb. That tomb was the grave of the old world and the cradle of the new, the flux point between the old dispensation and the new.
As the Jewish trial was brought to a close, there was one incident that exposed the Great Sanhedrin for what it really was.
Matthew 2:3-7, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders…”
The Desire of Ages presents a compelling picture of what happened. “Suddenly a hoarse voice rang through the hall, sending a thrill of terror to all hearts: He is innocent; spare Him, O Caiaphas!
“The tall form of Judas was now seen pressing through the startled throng. His face was pale and haggard, and great drops of sweat stood on his forehead. Rushing to the throne of judgment, he threw down before the high priest the pieces of silver that had been the price of his Lord’s betrayal. Eagerly grasping the robe of Caiaphas, he implored him to release Jesus, declaring that He had done nothing worthy of death. Caiaphas angrily shook him off, but was confused, and knew not what to say. The perfidy of the priests was revealed. It was evident that they had bribed the disciple to betray his Master.
“‘I have sinned,’ again cried Judas, ‘in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.’ But the high priest, regaining his self-possession, answered with scorn, ‘What is that to us? see thou to that.’ Matthew 27:4. The priests had been willing to make Judas their tool; but they despised his baseness. When he turned to them with confession, they spurned him.”
By binding Jesus the Jews attempted to convey the idea that Jesus was a convicted criminal, and thereby secure Pilate’s approval of their death sentence. Jesus of Nazareth stood charged with blasphemy and with treason against the enthroned monarchs represented by these two courts; blasphemy against Jehovah who, from the lightning lit summit of Sinai, proclaimed His laws to mankind; treason against Caesar, enthroned and uttering his will to the world amidst the pomp and splendor of Rome. History records no other trial conducted before the courts of both heaven and earth; the court of God and the court of man; under the law of Israel and the law of Rome; Before Caiaphas and Pilate, as representatives of these courts and administrators of these laws.
Treason was defined by the Romans as any offence against the Roman Commonwealth that affected the dignity and national security of the Roman people. Treason was an insult to the dignity and an attack on this sovereignty and security of the Roman State.
At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, treason was a particularly hypersensitive accusation. The reigning monarch was Tiberius Caesar, a morbid and capricious tyrant, whose fretful and suspicious temper would kindle into fire at the slightest suggestion of treason in any quarter. A law was passed about this time that created an enormous development. It gave rise to a class of professional informers, whose infamous activity against private citizens helped to blacken the name of Tiberius. The most harmless acts were at times construed into an affront to the majesty or into an assault upon the safety of this miserable despot.
Not even women were exempt from danger. They couldn’t be charged with attempts to usurp the government. But their tears were an excuse to accused them of sympathy with treason. One woman for example, was executed in her old age for bewailing the death of her son. This was the political tone and temper of the times when Christ was crucified. So, you can see that Pilate was in an exceedingly delicate and painful position when sitting in judgment upon the life of a subject of Tiberius who claimed to be a king.
One of the provisions of the Roman law of treason was that an accusation must be made in writing. Both the Sanhedrin and Pilate failed to require a written charge or indictment against Jesus. Therefore, their proceedings were illegal under Roman law.
It is easy to see that the teachings of Christ were treasonable under Roman public law. And the dominating principle of that law was that the imperial state, or the empire, had the right to regulate and control the private consciences of men in religious matters. The modern idea and doctrine of the separation of church and state had no place in Roman politics at the time of Christ. Tiberius, at the beginning of his reign, adopted the principle of a state religion, and as Pontifex Maximus, the state was bound to protect the ancient Roman worship as a matter of official duty.
The most polytheistic of all nations, Rome adopted the policy of extreme toleration and liberality, even to the point of absorbing foreign religions into her own. Roman religion was a composite of nearly all the religions of the earth. Therefore, it was natural for the imperial state to be indulgent in religious manners, since warfare upon foreign faiths would have been an assault on integral parts of her own sacred system.
But the absorption of foreign religions into its own had an underbelly that was hostile to religious liberty. The religion of the Roman state was absolutely binding and was the dominant cult. The provinces were entirely free to adhere to their own rights, on the sole condition of not interfering with those of others. The Roman constitution required that a foreign religion, as the condition of its very existence, should live in peace with its neighbors, and should not make war upon or seek to convert those of other religions, and that it should acknowledge the dominance and superior character of the imperial religion.
All these things Jesus refused to do, as did His followers after him. Christianity was essentially aggressive and proselytizing. It started to supplant and destroy all other religions. No compromises were proposed, no treaties concluded. The followers of the Nazarene raised a Black Flag against paganism and every heathen god. Their strange faith not only defied all other religions, but also marked all earthly governments not built upon it. Christian propaganda, so the Romans thought, was nothing less than a challenge to the Roman Empire in the affairs of both law and religion. Here was a faith that claimed to be the only true religion, and that proclaimed a monotheistic message which was death to polytheism, and it refused to be confined to local limits. Rome was the first truly ecumenical government on earth. And Christianity became a crime, not because it was false, but because it was aggressive and intolerant of other religions.
No doubt you can recognize that we have a similar situation today. The Roman church is simply the remains of the Roman Empire. And for centuries it ruled over the Holy Roman Empire, as it was styled. Rome’s influence on governments today has made it very difficult to win souls in some places where secularism is strong. Even the Protestant churches today have been co-opted by Rome and believe in the ecumenical idea. Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 445.
“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.”
The United States and other nations of the world will resurrect much of the Roman Empire. And that government will treat dissenters, especially Sabbath-keepers, much the same way as Rome treated Christians, who were Sabbath-keepers, not so much because they think they are wrong in their doctrine, but because they are aggressive and challenge the cherished narrative. The earth beast will become like a dragon and will command all to worship the first beast or the sea beast which represents Rome, or the Roman religion. Let’s read it from Revelation 13:16, 17.
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
To really understand the trial of Jesus before Pilate, we must understand something about Pilate, his wife, and his lifestyle. Pilate was a Spaniard who lived along the Rhine and served the empire through the German campaigns. When peace was concluded, he went to Rome in search of fortune and in pursuit of pleasure.
Soon after his arrival in Rome Pilate was married to Claudia, the youngest daughter of Julia, the daughter of Caesar Augustus. The shameful contact of her mother Julia, her lewdness and debauchery, became so notorious that Augustus was compelled to banish her from Rome. It was said that he was so much ashamed of her infamous conduct that for a long time he avoided all company, and even thought of putting her to death. Augustus was wont to exclaim: “Would I were wifeless, or had childless died.” Such was the character of Julia, mother-in-law of Pilate.
While in exile Julia bore Claudia to a Roman knight. When Claudia was 15 years old she met the Spaniard, who courted her. Nothing better illustrates the character of Pilate than his union with this woman with whose origin and upbringing he was well acquainted. It was with a lustful eye rather than a noble and affectionate eye which he cast upon her. And having won the favor of Tiberius and the consent of Claudia, the marriage was consummated. Soon afterward he received his commission as procurator of Judea. Claudia was no saint. But God still used her to warn Pilate of the danger in condemning Christ.
Pilate was the sixth procurator of Judea. His character was rather reckless and tactless and he offended the Jewish sensitivities without much thought. His predecessors in office had exercised great care in the matter of the religious prejudices of the Jews. They had studiously avoided exhibiting flags and other emblems bearing images of the emperor that might offend the sacred sentiments of the native population. Pilate on the other hand, in defiance of precedent and policy, caused the garrison of soldiers of Jerusalem to enter the city by night carrying aloft their standards, blazoned with images of Tiberius.
The Jews were thrown into wild excitement. The people in great numbers they flocked to Caesarea where Pilate was still staying and begged him to remove the standards. Pilate refused, then for five days the discussion went on. At last Pilate became enraged. He summoned the people into the racecourse, and had them surrounded by a detachment of soldiers, and served notice upon them that he would have them put to death if they did not become quiet and disperse. But not in the least dismayed, they threw themselves upon the ground, laid bare their necks, and served notice to Pilate that they, the children of Abraham, would rather die than willingly see the Holy City defiled. The final result was that Pilate finally yielded, and the standards and images were withdrawn from Jerusalem. Such was the Roman procurator and such were the people with whom he had to deal. This was the very first act of his procuratorship. And it was a blunder which embarrassed his whole subsequent career.
On another occasion Pilate appropriated funds from the Corbin or the sacred treasury, to complete the aqueduct for bringing water to Jerusalem from the “Pools of Solomon.” While it was a useful enterprise and ordinarily would speak well for the statesmanship and administrative ability of the procurator, in this instance it was only another exhibition of tactless behavior in dealing with a stubborn and peculiar people. The Jews had very great reverence for whatever was set apart for the Corbin, even to the abuse of their own people (which Jesus Himself pointed out), and they considered it a form of awful impiety to devote the Corban funds to secular purposes. This did not show his strength, but blazoned his weakness in administrative matters for all to see.
But that’s not the end of the matter. When Pilate was going to go down from Caesarea to Jerusalem to supervise the project, he learned that the Jews were going to assemble and plead with him to not proceed. He then got some of his soldiers to disguise themselves as Jews and armed them with clubs and daggers, which they concealed beneath their clothes, and when the multitude approached him to make complaints and to present their petitions, he gave a predetermined signal at which the assassins beat down and cut to pieces great numbers of the helpless crowds. While this crushed the opposition to his aqueduct, it flared up and intensified the bitter hatred afresh in the hearts of the Jews.
Luke 13:1 tells us of yet another incident that, no doubt, further inflamed the Jews against Pilate.
“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”
While little is known of this incident, it probably refers to the fact that Pilate put to the sword a number of Galileans while they were offering their sacrifices at Jerusalem.
These incidences laid the context for the trial of Christ before Pilate. Pilate probably hated the Jews as much as they hated him. Thus, when the Sanhedrin got him out of bed to demand the death of Christ, his temper was probably not in their favor. He wanted to deal with the matter quickly. Let’s read the account from Matthew 27:1, 2.
“When the morning was come, 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.”
Caiaphas was no doubt among them. As the judgement hall began to fill with people, the priests refused to come in because they would be defiled. Desire of Ages, page 724, tells us of Pilate’s reaction.
“Pilate looked at the men who had Jesus in charge, and then his gaze rested searchingly on Jesus. He had had to deal with all kinds of criminals; but never before had a man bearing marks of such goodness and nobility been brought before him. On His face he saw no sign of guilt, no expression of fear, no boldness or defiance. He saw a man of calm and dignified bearing, whose countenance bore not the marks of a criminal, but the signature of heaven.”
“Christ’s appearance made a favorable impression upon Pilate. His better nature was roused. He had heard of Jesus and His works. His wife had told him something of the wonderful deeds performed by the Galilean prophet, who cured the sick and raised the dead. Now this revived as a dream in Pilate’s mind. He recalled rumors that he had heard from several sources. He resolved to demand of the Jews their charges against the prisoner.”
The Jews did not want to have their charges examined, because they knew they could not sustain them in a Roman court. Luke 23:2 tells us what happened.
“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He himself is Christ a King.”
This was treason, and punishable by death. Pilate was used to dealing with the turbulent and fanatical race with force and brutality. But something was different about Christ and he was impressed with His disposition and character. Listen to this from Desire of Ages, page 726.
“Pilate saw through their purpose. He did not believe that the prisoner had plotted against the government. His meek and humble appearance was altogether out of harmony with the charge. Pilate was convinced that a deep plot had been laid to destroy an innocent man who stood in the way of the Jewish dignitaries. Turning to Jesus he asked, ‘Art Thou the King of the Jews?’ The Saviour answered, ‘Thou sayest it.’ And as He spoke, His countenance lighted up as if a sunbeam were shining upon it.”
Pilate was not without conscience. He was not given to wanton cruelty and gratuitous wickedness. But the circumstances of his birth and breeding, his descent from a renegade father and his adventurous life in the army of the Germanicus, his contact with the absorption and skepticism and debauchery of Rome, his marriage to a woman of questionable virtue whose mother was notoriously coarse and lewd, all these things had given coloring to the character of Pilate. The moral fiber of his manhood was stricken with inward paralysis. And now, in the supreme moment of his life and of history, he failed to perceive the importance of the moment and the gravity of the situation. Called upon to play a leading role in the mighty drama of the universe, his craven cowardice made him a pitiable and contemptible figure. The conduct of Pilate is a splendid example for the youth of the world, not to imitate but to shun! A crisis is allotted to every life. It may be great or small, but it will come invited or not. The sublime courage of the soul does not avoid but seeks this crisis. Let the young remember that if he degrades his physical and spiritual manhood in early life, the coming of the great day of his crisis will make him another Pilate, cringing, crouching, and contemptible.
Pilate despised the Jews. Their superstition, which would have nothing to do with Roman idolatry, appeared to him as unreasonable bigotry. He was able to perceive what was right, but he didn’t have the moral strength to follow it. But Pilate was not hardened.
Pilate had to go out of the judgment hall to talk to the Jews. They wouldn’t come into the palace for fear of ceremonial defilement. They had committed many judicial errors in the course of the trial of Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas in order to get Him condemned. But now they wouldn’t consider a misstep in this regard. No matter that they were compromised and defiled by their unholy treatment of Christ. They could not let Pilate see any deviation from their normal practice.
Pilate emerged from the palace. He sat on an ivory chair on a hump that was covered with a Roman Mosaic, called the bema. The palace entrance of marble columns was behind him. It was an imposing scene. Jesus and Caiaphas and the rest of the Great Sanhedrin had to stand. Pilate asked the formal question of the Roman court.
John 18:29, “What accusations bring ye against this man?”
Every word rings with Roman authority and administrative capacity. The accusations had to be formally laid in a Roman court. And it was certainly thus with Pilate. The chief priests and scribes knew this question was coming and they were ready. They knew that their accusations would not be sustained in a Roman court under cross examination. And they greatly feared of Jesus words. They had many times been confounded by them. Their answer is found in John 18:30.
“They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.”
They tried to pressure Pilate and convince him for convenience sake in this early morning trial, to simply accept their judgment and condemn Jesus without cross examining him. But Pilate was already suspicious of them and wasn’t going to just let them have their way. Besides, he took every opportunity to remind the Jews of their servitude to Rome, and he rubbed it in.
Verse 31, “Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.”
Pilate repeatedly outraged their religious feelings by introducing images and shields into the holy city. He had devoted the Corbin funds to unholy purposes, and had mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. In short, he had left nothing undone to humiliate and degrade them. By telling them to judge Jesus according to their own laws, he knew that they must make a reply which would be wounding to their race and national pride. He knew that they would have to confess that sovereignty and nationality were gone from them. And such a confession from them would be music to his ears. Pilate was not going to surrender to the Jews the right to impose and execute the sentence of death. They gave him an equivocal answer and he recognized it. He essentially said, I will not assume jurisdiction over this case if there is no accusation that can be admitted to the court. Let’s read the rest of verse 31.
“The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:”
The Jews were thwarted in their designs. Providence had exposed their corruption. They had hoped to secure a simple counter-resign to their own judgment without a retrial by the governor. Now they found him in no yielding and accommodating mood. Thus they were forced against their will and expectation to formulate specific charges against the prisoner in their midst. Their specific charges are summarized in a single verse in Luke 23:2.
“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He himself is Christ a King.”
It is noteworthy that the accusations were a radical departure from the charges of the night before. In the passage from the Great Sanhedrin to the Praetorium, the indictment had completely changed. Why? The Roman attitude toward offences of a religious nature perfectly explains the Jewish change in the accusations against Jesus. The Jews merely wanted to get themselves into a Roman court on charges that a Roman judge would consent to try. In the threefold accusation they fully accomplished their purpose.
The first count of perverting the nation was in the nature of sedition. The false witnesses could not confirm that charge before Caiaphas. But nevertheless they leveled that charge before Pilate.
That is common practice today in church courts and even some secular courts. Charges that you thought were resolved come back to haunt you at another time.
The second count in the indictment that He had forbidden to give tribute to Caesar was more serious than the first. To forbid to pay tribute to Caesar in Judea was a form of treason, not only because it was an open defiance of the laws of the Roman state, but also because it was a direct denial of Roman sovereignty in Palestine. The Jews knew the gravity of the offense when they sought to entrap Jesus in the matter of paying tribute to Caesar. They thought He couldn’t wiggle out of their trap, and either way that He answered He could be condemned before the Romans.
In Jesus sublime answer the Nazarene announced the immortal principle of the separation of church and state, of religious freedom in all ages. We find that in Matthew 22:21.
“Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
In their answer to Pilate, these beasts were guilty of a flagrant and deliberate lie. In pressing this false charge, the enemies of Jesus revealed a peculiar and wanton malignity.
The third count in the indictment, that the prisoner had claimed to be “Christ the King,” was the last and greatest of the charges. By this He was deliberately accused of high treason against Caesar the gravest offence known to Roman law. This charge was especially serious because the Romans believed Palestine to be the hotbed of insurrection and sedition, and the birthplace of pretenders to kingly powers. And they had several recent examples to excite their suspicions.
Do you think that at the end of time God’s people will face a similar malignity from those of our own brethren before secular courts. Let’s read it from Great Controversy, pages 615 and 616.
“The forms of religion will be continued by a people from whom the Spirit of God has been finally withdrawn; and the satanic zeal with which the prince of evil will inspire them for the accomplishment of his malignant designs, will bear the semblance of zeal for God.
“As the Sabbath has become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration.”
You will be universally hated, lied about, thrown into remote prisons, given very little or nothing to eat, abused, and even neglected. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for the universal execration that will be applied to you personally. Let’s read on.
“It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the church and a law of the state ought not to be tolerated; that it is better for them to suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness. The same argument many centuries ago was brought against Christ by the “rulers of the people.” “It is expedient for us,” said the wily Caiaphas, “that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” John 11:50.”
In the case of Christ it was the church leaders that brought the accusations and ruthlessly accused Him before the Roman potentate. Do you think we will escape the same type of behavior today from our beloved brethren? Some people have a blindness that is fatal to their eternal salvation. While we respect leaders like Jesus did, He was not naive. He knew that they would turn on Him long before they did, and so should we. Reading on.
“This argument will appear conclusive; and a decree will finally be issued against those who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, denouncing them as deserving of the severest punishment and giving the people liberty, after a certain time, to put them to death.”
Going back inside the palace with Jesus, Pilate seems to have brushed aside the first two charges as unworthy of serious consideration and proceeded at once to examine the prisoner on the charge that He pretended to be a king. John 18:33, 34.
“Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?”
This was a most natural and fitting response of the Nazarene to the Roman. It was designed to appeal to him in his role as procurator. To Pilate, it was necessary for Jesus to first understand the exact nature of the question before an appropriate answer could be made. He assumed that Jesus simply wished to know whether the question was asked from a Roman or a Jewish perspective. But Jesus was asking if it was from a temporal or a spiritual standpoint. If the interrogation were directed from a temporal point of view, His answer would be an emphatic negative. If the inquiry had been prompted by the Jews, it was then pregnant with religious meaning, and called for a different reply; one that would at once repudiate pretensions to earthly royalty, and at the same time, assert His claims to the Messiahship and heavenly, not earthly sovereignty. Now let’s read John 18:35.
“Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?”
First Jesus answered negatively.
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
By this Jesus meant that there was no possible rivalry between Him and Caesar. But Jesus had used a word that struck the ear of Pilate with electric force. The word was Kingdom. If He had a Kingdom therefore He must pretend to be a king. So Pilate asked Him a further question in verse 36.
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
This sublime language contains a perfectly clear description of the Kingdom of Christ and of His title to His spiritual sovereignty. His is not an empire of matter but a realm of truth. His kingdom differed widely from that of Caesar. Caesar’s empire was over the bodies of men; Christ’s was over their souls. The strength of Caesar’s kingdom was in citadels, armies, navies, the towering Alps, and the all-engirdling seas. The strength of Christ kingdom was and is and ever will be in sentiments, principles, ideas, and the saving power of the divine word.
As clever and brilliant as he must have been, Pilate could not grasp the true meaning of the words of the prophet. The spiritual and intellectual grandeur of the Galilean peasant was beyond the reach of the Roman Lord and governor.
John 18:37, “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.”
The cynical and sarcastic words of Pilate were the legitimate offspring of his soul. The question was not asked with any real desire to know the truth; for he turned and left the palace before an answer could be given. It was simply a blank response born of mental wretchedness and doubt. But here was a new proposition, a kingdom of truth whose sovereign had as subjects mere vagaries, simple mental conceptions called truths, a kingdom whose boundaries were not mountains, seas, and rivers, but ideas, hopes, and dreams.
What did Pilate think of Jesus? He evidently regarded Him as an amiable enthusiast, a harmless religious fanatic from whom Caesar had nothing to fear. The mob outside told him that this man was Rome’s enemy. Foolish thought! He knew who Caesar’s enemies were. The Barbarians from beyond the Danube and the Rhine. These were Caesars enemies. This strange and humble man whose subjects were mere abstract truths, and whose kingdom is beyond the skies, can be no enemy of Caesar. He went outside and rendered the verdict to the rabble.
Why didn’t Pilate release Jesus? The answer is simply that he didn’t have the courage to do the high Roman act and protect Jesus from Jewish assaults with his Roman legion that he commanded. Pilate was a moral and intellectual coward. The Jews were desperate to prevent Jesus’ release and they began at once to frame new accusations.
“And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
This charge had a double purpose. First, it was to strengthen the general accusation. Second, it was designed to prejudice the mind of the judge against the prisoner, essentially telling him that Jesus was from Galilee. In ancient times Galilee was noted as a hotbed of riot and sedition. The Galileans were brave and hearty mountaineers who feared neither Rome nor Judea. They were champions of Jewish nationality, and they were the fiercest opponents of Roman rule. History tells us that they were the last to be driven from the battlements of Jerusalem. The Romans were suspicious of them, and they were hated by the Sanhedrin and the Jews in Jerusalem because they were relentless foes of their hypocrisies.
During the time of trouble, as well as during emotional confrontations in the present time, an answer that provides a valid defense will only anger those who prosecute God’s faithful people. They will only become fiercer and more accusatory, often saying things that aren’t true. A judge will not be exempt from angry denunciations either.
Pilot was a craven coward and contemptible time server. From the very beginning his conduct was a record of cowardice and subterfuge. The mention of Galilee was a ray of light for Pilate that fell across his troubled path. This would be an ideal escape for him if he could send Jesus to Herod. Let us conclude with that for now.
There are many lessons that can be observed and learned from the treatment of Christ and His followers. We cannot expect to be any less mistreated. The whole world, literally, will be hostile and abusive of God’s people. There will be nowhere to hide. No consolation in anyone but Christ. We will need an experience that is far beyond what we presently have.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we recognize that a time of trouble is coming that will be overwhelming and that we have to depend upon you for everything, even our bread and water. So please convert us. Give us the experience that we need with Jesus. Make us ready for this terrible and stressful time. And we thank you, and we will thank you throughout all eternity. In Jesus name, amen.