Matthew 27:11-30: “Jesus Is Tried Before Pilate”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO

1.1. In our last study we looked at the beating and scourging of Jesus, Peter’s denial of Jesus, and Judas’ remorse for betraying Jesus

1.1.1. We saw that the beating and scourging of Jesus reveals to us the deep darkness of the sin of the world that is in rebellion against God

1.2. In our study today we are going to look at Jesus as He is brought before Pilate who was the governor of Judea

1.2.1. Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus

1.2.2. Pilate asks Jesus if He is a king, and Jesus tells him that it is as he is saying

1.2.3. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent of any charges, and though Pilate had a chance to make a difference and keep an innocent man from being killed, he chose the easy way out and sought the Jew’s favor by allowing them to have Jesus crucified

2. VS 27:11 - “11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”” - Pilate asks Jesus outright if He is the King of the Jews

2.1. We see here Pilate’s title, he was ‘governor’ or ‘procurator’ of Judea.

2.1.1. He was the fifth procurator of Judea and the most wicked and corrupt of all of them.

2.1.2. He was a harsh governor and hated the Jews.

2.1.3. When a disturbance broke out Pilate had a tendency to send out soldiers and slaughter a bunch of Jews and then later ask what happened in the first place.

2.1.4. As Governor of Judea, Pilate was the highest Roman authority of that region and as such he had sole responsibility for all decisions in court and regarding the law.

2.2. The New Bible Dictionary has the following dissertation concerning Pilate, “PILATE. Pontius Pilatus was a Roman of the equestrian, or upper middle-class, order: his praenomen is not known, but his nomen, Pontius, suggests that he was of Samnite extraction and his cognomen, Pilatus, may have been handed down by military forbears. Little is known of his career before ad 26, but in that year (see P. L. Hedley in JTS 35, 1934, pp. 56-58) the emperor Tiberius appointed him to be the fifth praefectus (heµgemoµn, Mt. 27:2, etc.; the same title is used of Felix in Acts 23 and Festus in Acts 26) of Judaea. Evidence of this title was discovered in 1961 on an inscription at Caesarea, and E. J. Vardaman (JBL 88, 1962, p. 70) suggests that this title was used in Pilate’s earlier years, being replaced by procurator (the title used by Tacitus and Josephus) later. In accordance with a recent reversal in the policy of the Senate (in ad 21—Tacitus, Annals 3. 33-34) Pilate took his wife with him (Mt. 27:19). As procurator he had full control in the province, being in charge of the army of occupation (1 ala—c. 120 men—of cavalry, and 4 or 5 cohorts—c. 2,500-5,000 men—of infantry), which was stationed at Caesarea, with a detachment on garrison duty at Jerusalem in the fortress of Antonia. The procurator had full powers of life and death, and could reverse capital sentences passed by the Sanhedrin, which had to be submitted to him for ratification. He also appointed the high priests and controlled the Temple and its funds: the very vestments of the high priest were in his custody and were released only for festivals, when the procurator took up residence in Jerusalem and brought additional troops to patrol the city. Even pagan historians mention Pilate only in connection with his authorization of the death of Jesus (Tacitus, Annals 15. 44): his only appearance on the stage of history is as procurator of Judaea. Josephus relates (Ant. 18. 55; BJ 2. 169) that Pilate’s first action on taking up his appointment was to antagonize the Jews by setting up the Roman standards, bearing images of the emperor, at Jerusalem: previous procurators had avoided using such standards in the holy city. Because of the determined resistance of their leaders in spite of threats of death, he yielded to their wishes after 6 days and removed the images back to Caesarea. Philo (De Legatione ad Gaium 299ff.) tells how Pilate dedicated a set of golden shields in his own residence at Jerusalem. These bore no image, only an inscription with the names of the procurator and the emperor, but representations were made to Tiberius, who sensibly ordered them to be set up in the temple of Roma et Augustus at Caesarea (cf. P. L. Maier, ‘The Episode of the Golden Roman Shields at Jerusalem’, HTR 62, 1969, pp. 109ff.). Josephus (Ant. 18. 60; BJ 2. 175) and Eusebius (EH 2. 7) allege a further grievance of the Jews against Pilate, in that he used money from the Temple treasury to build an aqueduct to convey water to the city from a spring some 40 km away. Tens of thousands of Jews demonstrated against this project when Pilate came up to Jerusalem, presumably at the time of a festival, and he in return sent his troops in disguise against them, so that a large number were slain. It is generally considered that this riot was caused by the Galileans mentioned in Lk. 13:1-2 (whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices), and C. Noldius (De Vita et Gestis Herodum, 1660, 249) claimed that Herod’s enmity against Pilate (Lk. 23:12) arose from the fact that Pilate had slain some of Herod’s subjects. This explains Pilate’s subsequent care (Lk. 23:6-7) to send Jesus to be tried before Herod. It is not known whether the tower at Siloam which collapsed (Lk. 13:4) was part of this aqueduct. Pilate finally over-reached himself by the slaughter of a number of Samaritans who had assembled at Mt Gerizim in response to the call of a deceiver who had promised to show them that Moses had hidden the sacred vessels there. In spite of the obvious falsehood of this claim (Moses had never crossed Jordan: some consider that there is a textual error, Moµy¬seoµs for O÷seoµs, and Josephus is referring to the Samaritan tradition that Uzzi the high priest (1 Ch. 6:6) had hidden the ark and other sacred vessels in Mt Gerizim), a great multitude came armed to the mountain, and Pilate surrounded and routed them, capturing many and executing their ringleaders. A Samaritan delegation went with a protest to Vitellius, who was then governor of Syria, and he ordered Pilate to answer this accusation of the Jews before the emperor, ordering Marcellus to Judaea in Pilate’s place (Jos., Ant. 18. 85-89). Pilate was on his journey to Rome when Tiberius died (ad 37). (Cf. E. M. Smallwood, ‘The Date of the Dismissal of Pontius Pilate from Judaea’, JJS 5, 1954, p. 12ff.) We know nothing of the outcome of the trial, but Eusebius (EH 2. 7) preserves a report of otherwise unknown Gk. annalists that Pilate was forced to commit suicide during the reign of Gaius (ad 37-41). The above incidents are all related by Josephus or Philo. E. Stauffer (Christ and the Caesars, E.T. 1955, pp. 119f.) draws attention to a further instance of provocation of the Jews by Pilate. According to G. F. Hill (Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Palestine, 1914), the procurators minted small copper coins to meet local needs in Palestine. Normally these bore symbolic designs of natural features, such as trees and ears of corn, in deference to the second commandment. In ad 29-31 Pilate issued coins bearing imperial religious insignia, the lituus, or augur’s staff, and the patera, or pagan libation bowl. Such issues ceased after ad 31, and the British Museum has a coin of Pilate on which his successor Felix appears to have overstamped the staff with a palmbranch, though Y. Meshorer (Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period, 1967) states that Felix also produced coins with symbols of a provocative nature, such as Roman weapons, which underlined the Roman subjugation of Judaea. Philo can find no good thing to say of Pilate: in De Legatione ad Gaium 301 he describes him as ‘by nature rigid and stubbornly harsh’ and ‘of spiteful disposition and an exceeding wrathful man’, and speaks of ‘the bribes, the acts of pride, the acts of violence, the outrages, the cases of spiteful treatment, the constant murders without trial, the ceaseless and most grievous brutality’ of which the Jews might accuse him. The verdict of the NT is that he was a weak man, ready to serve expediency rather than principle, whose authorization of the judicial murder of the Saviour was due less to a desire to please the Jewish authorities than to fear of imperial displeasure if Tiberius heard of further unrest in Judaea. This is made abundantly evident by his mockery of the Jews in the wording of the superscription (Jn. 19:19-22). It is most unfortunate that we do not know anything of his record apart from his government of the Jews, towards whom he would appear to have shown little understanding and even less liking.”

2.3. The Jews just came to Pilate to try to get him to rubber stamp their capital sentence on Christ, however Pilate insisted on hearing the case.

2.4. Since Jesus was asked a straightforward question by the one in highest authority over the nation, Jesus answered in a straightforward way, not denying the truth about Him being the Messiah.

2.5. John in his gospel includes quite a bit more to the events that occurred here before Pilate, as we read in John 18:33-38, “33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?”36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”38 Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and *said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

2.6. In Luke’s gospel, chapter 23, we learn that Pilate initially sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, since Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdication, and Herod was glad to see Jesus for he had often wanted to see Jesus perform some miracle, however after a brief interview with Herod, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.

3. VS 27:12-14 - “12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He made no answer.13 Then Pilate *said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?”14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so that the governor was quite amazed.” - Jesus did not answer His accusers

3.1. The chief priests and the elders of the people were making false accusation after false accusation against Jesus, and yet we see here that Jesus did not either try to defend Himself nor accuse them in return.

3.2. In Isaiah 53:7, we read that the Messiah, whom Isaiah portrays as the suffering servant, when He comes will not open His mouth and revile in return even though He will be oppressed and afflicted, “7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”

3.2.1. This prophesy was fulfilled by Jesus in His arrest, trial, and crucifixion upon the cross of Calvary.

3.2.2. Jesus exhibits true ‘meekness’ in doing this.

3.2.2.1.In His not defending Himself and accusing the Jewish leaders in return, Jesus was not showing weakness, for as He told His disciples when He was being arrested that He could at any time call more than twelve legions of angels to His assistance.

3.2.3. Jesus should be the Christian’s highest example to follow when being falsely accused and persecuted, for following in Christ’s footsteps we should always let God be the One who executes vengeance upon people.

4. VS 27:15-18 - “15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the multitude any one prisoner whom they wanted.16 And they were holding at that time a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.17 When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”18 For he knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up.” - Pilate asks the Jewish leaders if they would like him to release Jesus or Barabbas

4.1. We just recently witnessed president Clinton in his last week in office issue dozens of presidential pardons for criminals convicted of various crimes, and many of those pardons have subsequently caused much public consternation as well as some criminal investigations. Each year at the Passover, the Roman governor of Judea had a tradition of releasing some political prisoner to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem as a gestiture of good will. So, Pilate asked the Jewish leaders if they wanted Him to release Jesus from any charges at this time, or would they rather prefer him to release to them Barabbas, a man convicted of treason and leading an uprising against Rome.

4.2. Matthew notes here that Pilate knew that the Jewish leaders had delivered Jesus up to him so that Pilate could give Him the death sentence ‘because of envy’. They were envious of Jesus’ popularity as well as His righteous deeds (much as Cain was envious of his brother Abel because the Lord had accepted his sacrifice, and thus Cain killed Abel).

4.2.1. The common people looked at Jesus as being the spiritual leader of the nation at this time, and they enjoyed the fact that Jesus was honest and upright and stood for real and true righteousness. The rest of the Jewish leaders of Israel were corrupt and hypocritical, and they did the things that they did just to make it seem like they were truly walking uprightly with Jehovah.

4.2.2. It is almost as if Pilate wanted to see how the Jewish leaders would respond if he seemed to lean towards releasing Jesus of any charges.

4.2.3. Jesus was a threat to the Jewish leaders for while Jesus was on the scene they feared they would lose their power, prestige, and position.

5. VS 27:19-21 - “19 And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him. 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death. 21 But the governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.””” - Pilate’s wife tried to intervene and keep him from passing a death sentence on Jesus

5.1. Pilate’s wife had a dream the night before these events, and as a result of that dream she was under conviction concerning the righteousness of Jesus. She evidently was convicted in the dream of how wrong it was to condemn this innocent man who had done so many righteous deeds during His lifetime.

5.1.1. Pilate’s wife told Pilate to ‘have nothing to do with that righteous man’, and what she meant is that he should not do anything to harm Jesus.

5.2. Pilate continued on against the advice of his wife however and we know that He allowed Jesus to be crucified, for Pilate was a man without moral resolve and conviction. He knew Jesus was innocent, however rather than acquit Jesus he instead allowed the Jews to kill Jesus and then he tried to act as if he was not guilty of any wrong in this decision by saying that he had washed his hands of the matter.

5.2.1. The Bible Knowledge Commentary has the following entry that explains that Pilate followed political expediency rather than justice in his having Jesus put to death, “Though he believed Jesus was innocent (cf. v. 14) Pilate followed political expedience rather than justice. Wishing to satisfy the people lest they complain to Emperor Tiberius—thereby putting his position in jeopardy (cf. John 19:12)—Pilate released Barabbas to them . . . had Jesus flogged, and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion.”

5.3. The Jewish leaders now had a dilemma, for they had to make a choice between having Jesus or Barabbas released to them. They chose to have Barabbas released from jail and exonerated from any crimes.

5.3.1. Barabbas was an insurrectionist. In John 18:40 we read that he was a robber, and in Mark 15: 7, an insurrectionist and a murderer. So, I believe that it must have made these leaders somewhat uncomfortable to have such a man released from jail.

5.3.1.1.Living a life of sin always eventually brings a person to make compromises that they are not comfortable with in their consciences.

5.3.1.2.Though the Jews were uncomfortable with the thought of voting to have a man released from jail who was a murder and a robber in addition to being insurrectionist, they considered this was a much better option than having Jesus be released. They asked for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus.

5.3.2. Pilate naively thought that since Jesus was so popular with the common people that if he offered the Jewish leaders to let Jesus go free that they would have to be compelled to win the support of the common people and accept Jesus back free and clear from any charges.

5.4. In John 19:4, we read that when Pilate brought out Jesus to the Jews that he told them that he found no guilt in Him, “4 And Pilate came out again, and *said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.””

6. VS 27:22-23 - “22 Pilate *said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all *said, “Let Him be crucified!”23 And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”” - Pilate asked the Jewish leaders what they wanted him to do with Jesus, and they said, ‘Let Him be crucified!’

6.1. Pilate knew that Jesus had committed no crime worthy of punishment, much less crucifixion, and he half-heartedly tried to see if he could get Jesus acquitted. However, because Pilate lacked moral resolve he caved in to political expediency.

6.1.1. Pilate decided that it was more important for him to appease the Jewish leaders than to save an innocent man’s life.

6.2. It is so tragic that there have been so many people like Pilate throughout history who could have made a difference in this world, yet who instead chose to cave into the pressures around them.

6.3. In John 19:7-12, we read that Pilate tried a second time to release Jesus to the Jews and he even pleaded with Jesus to help him find a way to release Jesus, “7 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.”8 When Pilate therefore heard this statement, he was the more afraid;9 and he entered into the Praetorium again, and *said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.10 Pilate therefore *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?”11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.”12 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.””

6.3.1. In Luke 23:20 we read that Pilate wanted to release Jesus from jail to the Jews.

7. VS 27:24 - “24 And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”” - Pilate washed his hands of the matter and let the Jews have Jesus crucified

7.1. Though Pilate declared himself innocent of Jesus’ blood, and though he washed his hands of the matter, he was far from being clean. He had a chance to save an innocent man’s life and he instead took the easy route out of the situation and compromised his own conscience and convictions.

7.2. Having heard the truth about Jesus from God’s Word, each person needs to make a decision about what they are going to do with Jesus. Are they going to surrender their lives to Him and believe in His work upon the cross for their sins, or are they themselves going to crucify to themselves Christ afresh by rejecting Him? (See Heb. 6:6)

8. VS 27:25 - “25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children!”” - The Jewish leaders tell Pilate that they are willing to take the consequences for having Jesus crucified

8.1. These Jewish leaders are so full of jealousy and hatred for Jesus that they make the declaration that it is OK to have Jesus’ blood be upon them and their children.

8.2. I’ll bet that the leaders’ children might have wanted to have a say in this decision, however in their selfishness these leaders are willing to even allow their children to suffer for this wicked decision.

9. VS 27:26 - “26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he delivered Him to be crucified.” - Pilate delivers Jesus over to be crucified and releases Barabbas

9.1. Matthew just includes a note here that Pilate having Jesus scourged before His being sent to be crucified, however scourging was an incredibly cruel and brutal form of punishment.

9.1.1. Many people were actually killed by being scourged.

9.1.2. The Old Testament law allowed no man to sentenced to more than 40 lashes with the scourge since 40 was considered a lethal number.

9.1.3. The Romans recognized the brutality and inhumanity of scourging so much that their law forbid that any Roman citizen ever be sentenced to scourging.

9.2. The scourge was a whip with several long pieces of leather thong which had pieces of bone and brass at their ends. The bone and brass would actually lodge inside a man’s flesh and then when the thongs were pulled out they would remove pieces of muscle, ligament, tendon, vein, and even internal organs. Thus, many men died from their scourging. A man who suffered a scourging would typically be crippled all of his life if he lived through it.

9.2.1. Jesus was injured so badly by this scourging that when the Roman soldiers commanded Him to carry His cross through the streets up to Calvary’s Hill where He was crucified, He was not able to carry the cross. A man named Simon was cohersed to carry Jesus’ cross for Him.

10. VS 27:28-30 - “28 And they stripped Him, and put a scarlet robe on Him.29 And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”30 And they spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.” - The entire Roman battalion of Roman soldiers began to mock Jesus, spit at him, and beat Him at will

10.1. Jesus must have been a sight for sore eyes. He had already been beaten randomly by the Jewish leaders before He ever appeared before Pilate, then Pilate had Him scourged. Jesus must have been a bloody and bruised mess.

10.2. We read from the other gospels that it was a whole battalion of 200-600 soldiers who mocked and hit Christ here.

10.3. Jesus had claimed to be the king of the Jews, therefore the soldiers put a robe with royal colors on Him, a crown of thorns on His head, and placed a reed like a king’s sceptor into His hand. Then, they began to mock Him by kneeling before Him as if He were a king and then they would spit on Him or hit Him with a reed.

10.3.1.I have seen the thorns of the type that grow in Israel and from which this crown was made. They are about six inches long. Therefore, this crown must have hurt Jesus greatly as they forced the thorns under His scalp to hold the crown on His head.

11. VS 27:31 - “31 And after they had mocked Him, they took His robe off and put His garments on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.” - Jesus is led to away to be crucified

11.1. After having been randomly hit by the high priests and elders before coming to Pilate, and then having been scourged, then having been mocked and spit upon and beaten about the head with a reed, Jesus is finally going to be taken to the hill of Calvary where He will suffer His final injustice of being crucified.

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