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Christ’s Civil Trials—Part 2: The Final Verdict from the Fickle Judge
(Luke 23:13–25)

Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” [Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will. (23:13–25)

This passage relates the sixth and final phase of the illegal and unjust trials of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recapping, the first three phases comprised Christ’s religious trial before the Jewish leaders, Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin; the last three His civil trial before the Gentile rulers Pilate and Herod. Shortly after dawn on Friday of Passion Week, the Sanhedrin had conducted a brief tribunal. The purpose of that trial was to give the illusion of legitimacy to the false verdict of blasphemy they had already arrived at in their previous hearing. They waited until daybreak because Jewish law forbade any trial to be held at night.

Having decided to murder the Lord, the Sanhedrin brought Him to Pilate, since the Romans withheld from them the right of capital punishment. Knowing Pilate would not execute Jesus for blasphemy, a Jewish offense irrelevant to Rome, the Sanhedrin falsely accused Him of fomenting rebellion against Caesar. But Pilate, unable to find any evidence to support such a charge, sent Jesus to Herod who, unable to find evidence of guilt, returned Him to Pilate. Despite being repeatedly declared innocent by Pilate, Herod, and even Pilate’s wife, Jesus was sentenced to death as if He were guilty.

The entire series of trials was filled with irony. The one whom men judged is the judge of all men; the one whom men condemned will eternally condemn them. The perfectly righteous, sinless, and innocent one was condemned as a blasphemer and criminal. The one who always pleased holy God did not please sinful men. Men sought to kill the very one who gave them life. The Lord Jesus Christ was declared a blasphemer for claiming to be who He truly is, making His accusers blasphemers. All of the wicked participants in Christ’s trials who judged and condemned Him did nothing but what God had predetermined must happen. Their decisions did not determine His fate, but rather their own. They wasted the most monumental, unparalleled opportunity that anyone could ever have—a personal encounter with the Son of the living God, the Creator of the universe and the Redeemer of sinners.

What is striking about this passage is the majestic silence of Jesus. The one who is “Immanuel … God with us” (Matt. 1:23); the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14; cf. John 6:69); the one whom to know is to know God (John 8:19), to hate is to hate God (John 15:23), to believe is to believe God (John 12:44), to see is to see God (John 14:9), to honor is to honor God (John 5:23), and to receive is to receive God (Mark 9:37); the creator of everything that exists (John 1:3; Col. 1:16) and judge of everyone (John 5:22), the only savior of sinners (John 14:6); the glorious Lord before whom every knee will bow (Phil. 2:10) is virtually anonymous; almost an afterthought. Both Pilate (vv. 14, 22) and the Jewish leaders (v. 18) refer to Him simply as “this man.” Only Luke identifies Him as “Jesus” (vv. 20, 25). The scene is shocking, as corrupt men hold mock trials and condemn the Lord of life to death.

Pilate’s handling of this final phase of Christ’s trials may be discussed under five headings: his adjudication, his accommodation, his alternative, his assertion, and his acquiescence.

HIS ADJUDICATION

Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. (23:13–15)

Pontius Pilate had been appointed the fifth governor of Judea by Emperor Tiberius in A.D. 26 and held that position for about ten years. He was proud, arrogant, brutal, and cynical (cf. John 18:38), but could also be weak and vacillating. Nothing is known of Pilate’s career before he became governor, but he must have served in a series of lesser posts before being appointed to represent Rome in Judea. His duties would have required him to have knowledge of and experience in military, administrative, and judicial matters. That he really existed is attested to by Tacitus, Philo, and Josephus, and by the Pilate Stone, discovered in Caesarea in 1961 and dating from Pilate’s lifetime. The names of Tiberius Caesar and Pilate are inscribed on it.

Subsequent to their nighttime trials of Jesus, probably just after 5 A.M., the Sanhedrin had rushed Him to Pilate. The governor, after a brief preliminary hearing, sent Him to Herod, who questioned Him (and got no answers from Him), abused Him, and returned Him to Pilate, who then rendered his final verdict at about 6 A.M. (John 19:14). Obviously, three trials of such magnitude could not possibly have been completed in approximately one hour without an extensive abuse of the due process of law—as was the case in the three phases of the Jewish trial.

Word of Jesus’ triumphal entry, assault on the temple operations, verbal confrontations with the Jewish leaders, and teaching had spread all through Jerusalem. But the governor knew that Jesus posed no threat to Rome. He also knew that the Jewish leaders were envious of Him (Matt. 27:18). Resentful of being pressured by the Jews to execute an innocent man, Pilate initially stood his ground against them. After receiving Jesus back from Herod, Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, mentioned here for the first time, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.”

But Pilate’s attempt to take a stand on legal ground and thwart the Jewish leaders’ murderous intent to kill Jesus was doomed to failure. And pressure would mount because they had Pilate at a severe disadvantage due to some previous blunders that he had made.

The first of those came shortly after he took office. Previous governors had wisely chosen not to bring emblems bearing Caesar’s image into Jerusalem. They knew that doing so would provoke the Jews, who viewed them as idolatrous. Pilate, however, sent his soldiers into Jerusalem one night bearing standards with the image of Caesar. The next morning when they saw the standards, the Jews were furious. Protesters went to Pilate’s permanent headquarters in Caesarea and demanded that he remove the offending standards. Pilate stubbornly refused to do so, or even to discuss the matter with them.

Finally, in exasperation, he agreed to see them. But instead of dialoguing, Pilate ordered his soldiers to surround them, and then threatened to execute them if they did not stop pestering him. When it became apparent that they might be prepared to die, Pilate was forced to withdraw his impetuous threat. There was no way he could have carried out such a massacre without severe repercussions from the Jews and Rome. Pilate’s superiors were not pleased with his handling of this incident. He was charged with keeping the peace, yet his stubborn, hot-tempered folly had almost provoked a riot.

Pilate also enflamed the Jewish people by using money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct to bring more water to Jerusalem. When the Jews predictably were outraged and protested, Pilate sent soldiers dressed in civilian clothes into the crowd. On his signal, they attacked and dispersed the protesters, killing many in the process.

Again conflict arose when Pilate had shields made in honor of Tiberius Caesar and hung them on a wall (a common way of honoring people in that day) in Herod’s palace in Jerusalem. But the inscription on them referred to Tiberius as divine, and the Jews were severely offended. When Pilate rejected their pleas to remove the shields, the Jewish leaders protested to Emperor Tiberius, who angrily ordered Pilate to move the shields to the pagan temple of Augustus in Caesarea.

Further, Pilate’s brutal slaughter of some Galileans in the temple (Luke 13:1) also did not endear him to his Jewish subjects.

The governor, then, had been on thin ice. One more riot, disturbance, or complaint reported to Rome could cost him his position. Eventually, an incident would force Pilate out, but ironically, as will be seen later in this chapter, it would involve not the Jews but their despised enemies, the Samaritans.

Pilate’s appeal to the Sanhedrin’s expected sense of justice as members of the highest court in Israel was doomed to fail. The Jewish leaders did not care that Herod found no guilt in Jesus, since he had sent Him back to them, nor were they swayed by Pilate’s official judgment that nothing deserving death had been done by Him. Pilate was trapped in a situation rapidly escalating out of control. He would have to find a way to extricate himself.

HIS ACCOMMODATION

Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” (23:16)

Hoping the Jews might be satisfied if Jesus was tortured and then set free, he declared, “I will punish Him and release Him.” Punish is not the specific word for scourging, but is a form of the verb paidueō, which refers to the intent of such affliction—correction. The Romans sometimes punished people who had not been convicted of a crime, but may have been heading in that direction. Pilate was hoping that scourging Jesus (Matt. 27:26) would placate the Jews.

HIS ALTERNATIVE

[Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) (23:17–19)

Before he carried out his plan to punish and release Jesus, another thought occurred to Pilate. Verse 17 does not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts of Luke, but Matthew 27:15 and Mark 15:6 indicate that Pilate was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner. Granting amnesty to a prisoner generated goodwill among Rome’s subjects, and Pilate did so once a year at Passover.

Offering to release Jesus under this amnesty program seemed to be a reasonable alternative for Pilate. After all, he knew that Jesus was enormously popular with the people, as the events so far in Passion Week seemed to demonstrate. It made sense to bypass the leaders and appeal to His popularity among the people, who hopefully would then pressure their leaders into accepting Jesus’ release.

Pilate offered to release either Barabbas, a notorious criminal who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder, or Jesus. Barabbas was headed for crucifixion; in fact, the two robbers crucified along with Jesus may have participated with Barabbas in the insurrection. His name means “son of a father”; in a strange irony, Pilate was offering them the choice between Barabbas, the son of a human father, and Jesus, the Son of the heavenly Father.

At that critical point, the proceedings were interrupted: “While [Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him’” (Matt. 27:19). She believed Jesus was a good and righteous man, not a criminal. She was afraid of her husband executing an innocent man, particularly this man—so afraid that her fears entered her dreams.

But while Pilate was listening to the message and mulling over its significance, the leaders of Israel seized the opportunity to manipulate the crowd against Jesus. Instead of asking for Pilate to release Him as the governor had assumed they would, they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” The passionate adulation with which the people had greeted Jesus as Israel’s Messiah on Monday had been twisted into contempt and lust for His death.

Pilate was trapped. He knew Jesus was not a revolutionary and he had assumed the crowd would ask for His release. Now he was in the unenviable position of not only having to execute a man he had officially declared innocent, a breach of justice, but also being forced to release a known and dangerous revolutionary, a breach of duty.

HIS ASSERTION

Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. (23:20–23)

Trying to keep control of the rapidly disintegrating situation Pilate, still wanting to release Jesus, addressed the crowd again. Surprised by their unexpected rejection of Jesus in favor of Barabbas, “Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’” (Matt. 27:22), adding cynically, mockingly, “whom you call the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:12). They replied in unison, “Crucify, crucify Him!”

After he said to them the third time that he had found in Jesus no guilt demanding death, Pilate revisited his earlier alternative (see the discussion of v. 16 above) and announced to the crowd, “I will punish Him and release Him.” But it was too late for that, as the crowd had become insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. Insistent translates a form of the verb epikeimai, which is used in Luke 5:1 of the crowd pressing in on Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and in Acts 27:20 of the raging storm that hit the ship taking Paul to Rome. The word vividly describes the mob’s intensity; roaring at Pilate like the howling wind of a violent storm, demanding that he crucify Jesus. And their voices began to prevail.

The pressure on Pilate had become irresistible. The frenzied crowd, urged on by its apostate Jewish leaders, was starting to riot (Matt. 27:24). Pilate knew that one more major incident would be the end of his career. He was forced to choose between protecting himself and protecting Jesus; he could not do both. In a symbolic and feeble gesture to indicate he was innocent of responsibility for Christ’s death, Pilate “took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves’” (Matt. 27:24). Pilate used a Jewish (Deut. 21:1–9) custom to visually divest himself of any guilt in this unjust crime they had pressured him into allowing.

Their reaction was chilling: “And all the people said, ‘His blood shall be on us and on our children!’” (Matt. 27:25). They assumed full responsibility for Christ’s death—a responsibility that the Sanhedrin would later try to deny when they accused Peter and the apostles of “intend[ing] to bring this man’s [Christ’s] blood upon us” (Acts 5:28). But by their own words they claimed guilt for the death of the Son of God (Acts 2:22–23).

HIS ACQUIESCENCE

And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will. (23:24–25)

With no other choice, Pilate pronounced sentence that the people’s demand be granted. Then, after he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder (Barabbas), he delivered Jesus to their will. Both Matthew (27:26) and Mark (15:15) note that Pilate had Jesus scourged before delivering Him to be crucified.

The apostle John, however, reveals more details about what happened between Pilate’s sentencing of the Lord and his delivering of Him to be crucified. After Pilate’s soldiers finished scourging Jesus (John 19:1)—a punishment so brutal that many prisoners died from it—they placed a crown made of thorns on His head and dressed Him in a purple robe (probably one of the soldiers’ cloaks) in mocking imitation of a king’s royal robe (v. 2). Matthew 27:29 adds they put a reed in Christ’s hand as if it were a royal scepter. The soldiers then began playing a cruel game with Jesus, mockingly treating Him as if He were really an earthly king (John 19:3). They also slapped Him in the face (v. 3) and beat Him on the head with the reed (Mark 15:19).

While they were enjoying their mocking game, “Pilate came out again and said to [the crowd], ‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him’” (v. 4), thus declaring Christ’s innocence yet again. When Jesus, beaten, bloodied, and wearing the crown of thorns, was led out, Pilate said dramatically, “Behold, the Man!” (v. 5). But if he hoped the sight of the Lord in that condition would elicit sympathy from the crowd, he was mistaken. Like sharks sensing blood in the water, “when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, ‘Crucify, crucify!’” (v. 6).

That was enough for Pilate. Wanting simply to be done with the whole sorry affair, “Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him’” (v. 6). Whether Pilate was actually giving them the right to execute Jesus or only mocking them again is not clear. But that he would even mention granting them the jealously guarded prerogative of capital punishment is further evidence that he was losing control.

They replied, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God” (v. 7). As governor, Pilate was expected to uphold local laws insofar as they did not conflict with Rome’s interests. The Jewish leaders demanded that Pilate honor their legal rights and order Jesus to be executed.

Now even more alarmed, Pilate took Jesus back inside. “Where are you from?” he demanded. Jesus, however, remained silent (v. 9). Though Pilate may have been cynical (cf. 18:38), he also, like many Romans, was superstitious. If Jesus had divine powers, or perhaps was a god or son of a god in human form (cf. Acts 14:11), he had just scourged and beaten someone who had supernatural power to take vengeance on him.

Exasperated by Jesus’ continued silence and apparent lack of respect for his dignity and authority, Pilate boasted, “Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” (v. 10) His boast was a hollow one, because while Pilate may have had the right to do both, he did not have the courage to do either.

Breaking His silence at last, Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above” (i.e., from God) (v. 11). Like everyone else involved in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Pilate did not have control over what was happening. God was in absolute, sovereign control.

In desperation Pilate repeated his effort to release Jesus, with no success. Playing their trump card, 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’” (v. 12). That brought an end to Pilate’s delaying. If the Jews reported their lie to Caesar that he had released a revolutionary, especially one who made himself out to be a king in opposition to Caesar, it would be the end of Pilate’s career—maybe even his life. He had to pronounce immediately the sentence they demanded.

The governor therefore brought Jesus out, sat down on his official judgment seat, and with one final sarcastic taunt said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” (v. 14), suggesting that this beaten, bloodied, helpless man was all the king they deserved. Furious, “they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’” (v. 15). Perhaps in one final act of cynicism and scorn, Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” In a startling expression of blatant hypocrisy the chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar.” In yet one more bitter irony, those who had falsely accused Jesus of blasphemy themselves blasphemed, since God alone was Israel’s true King (cf. Judg. 8:23; 1 Sam. 8:7; Ps. 149:2; Isa. 33:22). Israel’s apostasy had reached its nadir. But although they thought they were through with Jesus, they were not. One day they will face Him as their eternal judge (John 5:22–29). With all aspects of the trial done, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified by his own soldiers and escaped his own demotion for a while.

The incident that finally led to Pilate’s removal from his position of power involved not the Jews, but the Samaritans. A group of them planned to climb Mt. Gerizim looking for valuable objects allegedly hidden on its summit by Moses. Assuming the Samaritans were about to revolt, Pilate ordered his troops to attack, and many of the Samaritans were killed. Outraged at Pilate’s murderous violence against them, the Samaritans complained to his immediate superior, the governor of Syria. He removed Pilate from office and ordered him to Rome to be judged by Emperor Tiberius. But Tiberius died while Pilate was en route to Rome. Nothing is known for certain about Pilate after he reached Rome. Some accounts claim he was banished; others that he was executed; still others that he committed suicide. His cowardly injustice in sentencing the innocent Lord Jesus Christ to death to save his career ultimately failed. Later, as recorded in Acts 4, the disciples, looking back, saw all the elements of the trial and death of the Lord Jesus as fulfilled prophecy and the precise purposes of God taking place: