Jesus Brought Before Pilate
JESUS BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE
JOHN 18:28-40
Who was worse: the Jews or Pilate?
Jesus is sent from the religious leaders to the Roman governor; from the prejudiced judgment of his own people to the bewildered judgment of the world. With a supreme example of hypocrisy they refuse to run the risk of ritual defilement by entering Pilate’s headquarters, though they are in the midst of defiling themselves morally (Isaiah 59:3). And in an amazing situation of irony they are preparing to eat the Passover without realizing that they are taking part in the putting to death of the true Passover Lamb in whose redemptive death the real significance of the festival is found.
To Pilate’s tactful visit to them outside the praetorium and to his question about the charge which they brought, there is no reasoned answer. If he were not a criminal they would not have brought him. Pilate wishes them to judge him by their own law. But they say it is not lawful for them to put any man to death. They have determined that Jesus must die and die on a cross.
There is an inner stage as well as an outer. Inside the praetorium Pilate confronts Jesus and asks him the question that matters as far as the Roman authorities are concerned. Are you the King of the Jews, a revolutionary leader? When Jesus tries to find out whether this is a conclusion Pilate has reached for himself, Pilate asks in desperation what on earth he could know about it all. What is this all about? Jesus puts the whole idea of kingship on to a different footing. Kingship, as Pilate knows it, is not the point at issue, it is truth. Outside Pilate has to face the demands of the Jews, inside he must face the claims of truth.
So Pilate, with a despairing rhetorical question about truth, goes out in the cause of truth to tell the Jews that Jesus is innocent. But he wants to find a way around the problem and so makes use of the Passover amnesty. He has misjudged public opinion. They call out, not for Jesus their “King” who was no threat to the Roman rule, but for a terrorist called Barabbas.
The way in which Jesus answered Pilate, and the things he did, are an example to all of us, and especially to Christians who are persecuted. Jesus renounced violent retaliation and even violent self-defense (18:36). His only weapons were supernatural and spiritual; so are ours (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Notes 18:28: defilement would come by going into the house of a Gentile from which the leavened bread had not been removed. 18:31: their own law was in fact against them in their opposition to Jesus (5:45-47, cf. 7:51). 18:31: it is uncertain whether the Jews had power to stone people at this time. 18:33: are you in all your weakness King of the Jews? 18:35: he feels quite out of it. The Gospel shows again and again that it is “the Jews,” “his own people” (1:11), who are against Jesus. 18:37: “Everyone who is of the truth” cf. 3:21.