290. Jesus First Appearance Before Pilate

Matthew 27:11-14, Mark 15:1-5, Luke 23:1-7, John 18:28-38
Key Verse: Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me."
John 18:37

The Sanhedrin has found Jesus guilty of blasphemy. This is a crime punishable by death according to Jewish law. The Sanhedrin has a problem. They now live under Roman law as an occupied country. The Romans were willing to endure the petty religious laws of the Jews, but matters of life and death were not matters of petty religion. Jesus had to be found guilty of committing a crime against the state or else Rome really wouldn't care how many religious laws Jesus had broken. Jesus would not be sentenced to death. However, Jesus must die. That was the end game. Whatever it took to accomplish that, the Jewish leadership would not be deterred.

First, they needed to appeal to Pilate who was the governor of the district of Judea, appointed by Rome. It would appear, at Jesus' first appearance before Pilate, that the accusations of the Sanhedrin weren't very impressive. "He doesn't pay His taxes." "He says He's a king!" To make matters worse, the Jews are so concerned that they can continue participating in the observance of Passover week, they insult Pilate by insisting that he come to them, outside, so that they won't be contaminated by going into his home.

Finally, Pilate, wisely removes Jesus from among them to talk with Him privately, face to face. From Pilate's perspective, Jesus appears to have a bit of, what we might call, a Messiah complex, but otherwise, He seems harmless enough. During the interchange Jesus said, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. And this was his way of dismissing any cause to listen to Jesus. However perhaps Jesus' calm demeanor spoke volumes to Pilate, who was more used to criminals protesting their innocence or begging for mercy. Jesus wasn't anything like them and Pilate is moved by Jesus, so much so that, while he could have humored the Sanhedrin by bowing to their wishes to have this poor, seemingly common Jew put to death, the call for some sort of justice stirs within him and he works toward setting Jesus free.

The Sanhedrin will have none of it, however. They accuse Jesus of stirring up trouble from Galilee to Jerusalem. It is then that Pilate hits on the plan that, if Jesus is from Galilee, why not let the person in charge of that district take care of Him. After all, Herod is a Jew, in town for the Passover just like so many others. Let Herod deal with this ridiculous situation. He is more familiar with the Jewish law anyway. Thinking that he has made a slick move and rid himself of the concern of putting an innocent man to death, Pilate orders that the Sanhedrin take their problem to Herod and let him deal with it since, technically, Jesus is one of his citizens and not really from Judea.

Pilate is the true politician now, trying to please everyone and, in the end, it will get him nowhere. While Pilate has the backing of a power like Rome, when facing the crowd, we see that his convictions are really built on shifting sand. He wants to be popular and he wants to get away from the responsibility of making the tough decision and being firm. How often are we guilty of the same lack of resolve? It ends up not working too well for Pilate, and it usually doesn't end up working too well for us either. It is better to rest on the rock of the truth that Jesus spoke of than the chaos we may see before us. Sand will shift, but rock remains solid.

Song: Song of Truth