Jesus · c. AD 30
Chapter 55
Before Pilate
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
For parents
This chapter tells how Judas, who betrayed Jesus, took his own life (Matthew 27:3–5), and how Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd and what the people answered (Matthew 27:24–25). It tells how Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus (Luke 23:11), and how Jesus was flogged and the governor’s soldiers put a crown of thorns on his head, spat on him, struck him and mocked him (Matthew 27:26–31; Mark 15:15–20; John 19:1–3). It ends with Pilate handing him over to be crucified; none of it is told in gory detail.
The moment morning came, the met with the of the people, the and the whole , and they talked together about how to put to death. Then the whole group of them got up.
They bound Jesus, took him away, and handed him over to , the governor.
They led Jesus from into the , the governor’s court. It was early. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves, so that they would not become and could eat the .
Then , the one who had betrayed Jesus, saw that Jesus had been condemned, and he regretted what he had done. He took the thirty pieces of silver that the chief priests had weighed out for him, and he brought them back to the chief priests and elders.
“I have sinned,” he said. “I betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they answered. “You see to it.”
Judas threw the pieces of silver down in the and left. Then he went away and took his own life.
The chief priests took the silver. “It isn’t lawful to put this in the ,” they said, “because it is the price of blood.”
They talked it over, and with the silver they bought the potter’s field, as a graveyard for strangers. That is why the field has been called “” to this day.
Then what was spoken through the came true:
They took the thirty pieces of silver,the price of him who had a price set on him,whom some of the people of Israel priced,and they gave them for the potter’s field,as the Lord commanded me.
So Pilate went out to them. “What are you accusing this man of?” he asked.
“If this man weren’t doing wrong,” they answered, “we wouldn’t have turned him over to you.”
“Take him yourselves,” said Pilate, “and judge him by your law.”
The Jews told him, “It’s against the law for us to put anyone to death.” This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken would come true. In those words he had shown what kind of death he would die.
In Luke, they began to accuse him. “We found this man leading the nation astray,” they said. “He forbids paying taxes to , and he says that he himself is , a king.”
Jesus stood before the governor. John says Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him. “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked him.
In Mark, Matthew and Luke, Jesus answered, “So you say.”
In John, Jesus answered, “Are these your own words, or did others tell you about me?”
“I’m not a Jew, am I?” said Pilate. “Your own nation and the chief priests turned you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, so I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
“Are you a king, then?” said Pilate.
“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “This is why I was born, and this is why I came into the world: so that I would testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth?” said Pilate.
The chief priests and the elders accused Jesus of many things, but he did not answer.
Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Don’t you hear how many things they are testifying against you?”
But Jesus gave him no answer, not even one word, and the governor was greatly amazed.
“I find no reason to charge this man,” Pilate told the chief priests and the crowds. In John, Pilate said this when he had gone out again to the Jews.
“He stirs up the people,” they insisted. “He teaches all through , beginning from and all the way to this place.”
When Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean. Once he found out that Jesus came under rule, he sent him to Herod, who was also in in those days.
Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus. He had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see Jesus do some miracle.
He questioned Jesus with many words, but Jesus gave him no answers. The chief priests and the scribes stood there, accusing Jesus fiercely.
Herod and his soldiers humiliated Jesus and mocked him. They dressed him in luxurious clothes and sent him back to Pilate.
Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. Until then they had been enemies.
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people. “You brought this man to me as someone who leads the people astray,” he told them. “Now look: I have examined him in front of you, and I have found no reason to charge him with any of the things you accuse him of.
“Neither has Herod. I sent you to him, and you can see that this man has done nothing that deserves death. So I will punish him and release him.”
Now at the feast the governor used to release one prisoner to the crowd, whoever they asked for. Luke says he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.
At that time there was a prisoner called . Mark says he was in chains with his fellow rebels, men who had committed murder in the uprising. Matthew calls him a well-known prisoner. Luke says he had been put in prison for a revolt in the city, and for murder. John says Barabbas was a robber.
The crowd shouted out and began asking Pilate to do as he always did for them.
Pilate replied, “Do you want the King of the Jews released to you?” In John, he first said, “You have a custom that I release someone to you at the Passover.” In Matthew, when they had gathered, he asked them, “Who do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over because of envy.
While Pilate sat on the judgment seat, a message came to him from his wife: “Have nothing to do with that righteous man. Today I suffered many things in a dream because of him.”
But the chief priests stirred the crowd up to get Barabbas released to them instead. Matthew says the chief priests and the elders talked the crowds into asking for Barabbas and having Jesus put to death.
The governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!” In Luke they all shouted together, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas for us!” In John they all shouted again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”
Pilate spoke to them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. “What then should I do to the King of the Jews, as you call him?” he asked. In Matthew, he called him “Jesus who is called Christ.”
They cried out again, “! Crucify him!”
“Why?” said Pilate. “What wrong has he done?” Luke says this was the third time he spoke to them, and that he went on, “I have found no crime in him that deserves death. So I will punish him and release him.”
But they cried out even more, “Crucify him!” They kept pressing Pilate with loud voices, asking for Jesus to be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests won out.
Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, and that trouble was starting instead. So he took water and washed his hands where the crowd could see. “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man,” he said. “You see to it.”
All the people answered, “May his blood be on us and on our children!”
To please the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He flogged Jesus with whips and handed him over to be crucified. Luke says Pilate ruled that they should have what they asked for. He released the man they had asked for, the one who had been thrown into prison for revolt and murder. But he handed Jesus over to them to do what they wanted. In John, Pilate took Jesus and flogged him after the shout for Barabbas, and he handed him over to be crucified only later.
The governor’s soldiers led Jesus away into the court, the Praetorium, and gathered the whole troop of soldiers together against him.
They clothed him in purple; Matthew says they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They twisted thorns into a crown and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand.
Then they began to salute him. “Hail, King of the Jews!” they kept saying. They knelt in front of him and bowed down to him, mocking him. They spat on him, and they took the reed and hit him on the head with it. John says they kept slapping him.
In John, Pilate went out again to those outside. “Look,” he said, “I am bringing him out to you, so that you will know that I find no reason to charge him.”
Jesus came out, and he was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. “Look, the man!” Pilate said to them.
The chief priests and the officers saw him and shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
“Take him yourselves and crucify him,” said Pilate, “because I find no reason to charge him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
At these words Pilate was more afraid. He went back into the Praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
“Won’t you speak to me?” said Pilate. “Don’t you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it had been given to you from above. Because of this, the one who handed me over to you has greater sin.”
At this, Pilate looked for a way to set him free. But the Jews shouted back, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”
Hearing these words, Pilate brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at the spot called “The Pavement,” or “” in Hebrew.
It was the of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. “Look, your King!” Pilate said to the Jews.
“Away with him! Away with him!” they shouted. “Crucify him!”
“Should I crucify your King?” Pilate asked them.
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
So then Pilate gave Jesus over to them to be crucified, and they took him and led him away.
Mark and Matthew say that when the soldiers had finished mocking Jesus, they took the robe off him, dressed him in his own clothes again, and led him out to crucify him.