Luke 23:1-5
Well, we have the privilege this morning of returning to Luke’s Gospel. And this week, hey, we turn the page to a new chapter! How about that? So open your Bibles to Luke chapter 23, Luke chapter 23. Just two chapters left before we get into Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts. I know what you’re thinking: Two chapters, that could take five years. Nope. Listen, my plan, Lord willing, is to hopefully be done by the end of this year at least, okay? So hang in there, hang with me. You’ve done it so far, so might as well just stick with it.
So two chapters left before we get into Luke’s second volume, which is the Book of Acts or the Acts of the Apostles. Volume 1, Luke; volume two, Acts. Acts records the, the beginning of the risen Christ’s work to build his church by the Holy Spirit. And we know from the beginning chapter of the book of Acts that that work of building the church by his Spirit started in Jerusalem and then spread throughout Judea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth, well beyond the Roman Empire.
As Paul, as we read this morning, Paul wanted to go to Rome. He hadn’t been there at the writing of that letter, but he wanted to go to Rome to use it as a launchpad to go to Spain, as we find out from chapter 16 in Romans. So he went out to the edges of the map, places that had not been filled in yet. These first-century Christians, they all went out, they spread, they went all around the world, and they called the world to obey the Gospel.
Have you ever thought about that, what the Apostles did, what those early Christians did, calling the world to obey the Gospel? The Apostles thought about this, wrote about this, early Christians thought about this, but have you thought about this? Have you thought about it for your own life, in your own time, where you live, this time, this place? Have you thought about calling people to obey the Gospel? Seems a bit audacious, doesn’t it, that any of us would walk up to someone on the street or in the store, whether someone familiar to us or a total stranger, and tell them that they must obey the Gospel, tell someone about Jesus, tell that person that he must accept the claims of Jesus, embrace him as his Savior, and then obey all his commands as his Lord.
Think about it. You’ve got no previous relationship with that person, no knowledge of past, present, no familiarity with that person’s upbringing, no regard for that person’s triumphs, tragedies, their good deeds, their bad deeds, whatever it is. And yet we walk up, we’re told to walk up, tell them who Christ is, tell them what he said, what he did, what he accomplished, the meaning of it all, and then call that person to make a decision in favor of Christ or else fall into the judgment of eternal death in hell. Where do we come off saying things like that, anyway?
Well, we read from Romans just a few minutes ago that the Apostle Paul believed in offering the Gospel to all people, and he practiced that. He demonstrated that belief by practicing it in preaching the Gospel to all people. He believed that the Gospel puts everyone under obligation, the entire world, every individual, Jew, Gentile, male, female. The law of God that the Creator gave us, it makes us all accountable, as Romans 3:19 said. We read that earlier. God has written his law in nature, shown us who he is, what he’s like, his eternal power, his divine nature, so that we’re all accountable for what we see, to give honor and thanks to God.
He’s written his law on our hearts, giving us each a conscience, Romans 2:14-15. And God reads that conscience perfectly. He sees all things in our heart with perfect omniscience, and our heart and our conscience either accuses or defends us before his righteous, inflexible justice. But just as everyone on the planet is subject to its physical laws, like gravity, which is grounded in the eternal power of God, so also by God’s design are we subject to metaphysical laws, moral law, which is grounded in the eternal character of God, his truth, his holiness, his righteousness,
His moral law is as undeniable as his physical law, like gravity. His rules stand, they govern our relationship to our God, our Creator, who created us to be in covenant with him. And they govern the relationship we’re to have with every single person, starting with our closest neighbors and our family, to the neighbors who are all over the earth.
We are subject to physical laws like gravity. It’s an undeniable fact; violate gravity to your own peril. We’re also subject to the metaphysical laws of God’s righteousness, holiness, truth. So this principle of universal accountability may sound harsh to you at first hearing, as if by this universal accountability we’re merely condemned. And we are condemned because we in our fallen condition do not obey the laws that are there governing the spiritual world and relationships.
But we need to recognize that this universal accountability, and by that same principle, is why God can offer salvation to each and every one of us universally. He offers a universal salvation. God is the justifier. I didn’t say, by the way, everybody is universally saved. I said that the offer is universal. There’s a distinction, there. God is the justifier of everyone who believes, disregarding their cultural background, their upbringing, what their moms and dads did or didn’t do to them, what privilege they were born into, wealth or poverty, whatever color, whatever ethnicity, whatever culture, whatever place, whatever time. There is no distinction since “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:22-24.
So universal and individual accountability to God who revealed himself in Christ, it’s by that same principle that he informs us of the universal offer of salvation in the Gospel of Christ. Every individual who embraces him by faith is received by God, is justified by faith, forgiven by his grace, reconciled to him by the Spirit, adopted by the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit, and then transformed in the salvation of new life in Christ.
Folks, this is what we’re seeing and have seen in Christ Jesus. Throughout our study of Luke’s Gospel, or wherever we’ve been, really, in the Bible, it all points to Christ. He is the very incarnation of God. He is the embodiment of law and Gospel. He is the personification of moral reality, and he has the authority to judge the living and the dead. He is a force as real and as inflexible as gravity. At the same time, he is the revelation of God’s love and God’s mercy to sinful men and sinful women just like us.
The reality of Jesus Christ is a compelling moral force, one that every Jew and every Gentile and every male and female, old and young, must reckon with, must answer to. He is the reason that we command sinners to repent and believe and obey the good news of Jesus Christ and his salvation. And so now, as we are watching him pass through these earthly trials, religious trials of the Jews, political trials of the Romans, this same Jesus stands before the highest religious and political bodies of authority on earth.
We’ve seen him tried by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and today we’ll see him come before Roman authority, first Pilate and next week, Herod. And we find that nobody wants to deal with him; nobody can handle him. He is truly “the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense.” Every earthly authority wants to find a way to get rid of him, absolve themselves of the responsibility of answering to him. The Jews tried and failed, and so, being unwilling to bow the knee in repentance and faith, they come to the only solution that’s left: kill him.
So as they pursue their plan, they bring Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, to secure a death sentence. He didn’t want to deal with him either, though. We’re going to see Pilate try, try in vain, but he’s going to try to avoid making a decision about Jesus. But he is under a necessity, and it’s a divine necessity, really. He’s under necessity to make a choice, to render a verdict, to make a judgment. He cannot stay neutral. He cannot absolve himself of responsibility. He cannot refuse to make a decision about Jesus Christ. That’s one individual living a long time ago, and he had no idea that he’s going to be standing there face to face with Christ.
Folks, I just want to tell you there’s a parallel, there. Whether you realize it or not, whether your friends, family members, neighbors realize it or not, whether total strangers realize it or not, those living in distant lands, whether they realize it or not, the position of Pontius Pilate in this text is a position that we’re all in. For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for deeds done in the body, whether good or bad.
He’s standing before these rulers, judges, standing before what we’re going to find out is really the Bema seat of Pilate. But in reality, all these rulers, all these authorities, all these people, the situation is truly reversed. They have no idea. Friends, we have an idea, and we have come before the bar of God’s justice. By his grace, we have bowed the knee because he has granted us a new nature by regeneration, by the Spirit. We’ve bowed the knee, and we know that we now come to God no longer as Judge, but as Father. But every single one of us and every single person in our lives, every single person we know, they’re in the same position. That’s why we go. That’s why we tell them. That’s why we command them, but not by our own authority, but by the authority of Scripture. By the authority, the inflexible, unbending authority of Jesus Christ, we command them to do business with him, to bow before him.
The life and ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Jesus Christ, this is a moral reality, a moral law, one that demands a verdict from each one of us. And God puts his Christ before every single one of us as an irrevocable, binding testimony of his justice and mercy and he calls us to decide. That’s what Joshua said, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” We’re going to give an account for what we hear, for what we know, to repent, believe, and obey this Gospel.
I’ll just insert this: Friend, if you’re here and you don’t know what I’m talking about, if this is foreign to you, do not leave this place without talking to me or one of us around here because you need to be saved. You could drive out of this parking lot and something tragic could happen, and it’ll be too late. It’ll be too late. So keep these things in mind about our, this universal, individual accountability before God and also the universal, individual response that we have to have to this Gospel. And there is a consequence to our response. Keep that in mind as we go through the text.
We’re going to read this account, and we’re going to start actually back in chapter 22 verse 66. We’ll read all the way through Luke 23:12, which doesn’t quite finish the trial before Pilate, but I’m short on time. So here we go. Luke 22:66, “As the day came, the council of elders and the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to the Sanhedrin, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ But he said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’
“And they all said, ‘Are you the Son of God, then?’ And he said to them, ‘You yourselves say that I am.’ And they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? We’ve heard it ourselves from his own mouth.’ And their whole assembly rose up and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked him, saying, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ And he answered him and said, ‘You yourself say it.’ And then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no guilt in this man.’
“But they kept on insisting, saying, ‘He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place.’ Now when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean, and when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself was also in Jerusalem in those days. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced greatly, for he had wanted to see him for a long time because he had been hearing about him, was hoping to see some sign performed by him. He questioned him at some length, but he answered him nothing.
“The chief priests and scribes were standing there, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking him, dressed him in a bright robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day, for before, they had been enemies with each other.” How often the wicked join forces when they oppose the righteous.
Obviously, more to see, here. The section continues as Jesus goes back before Pilate. We’ve stopped halfway through. We know that Jesus is going to stand before Pontius Pilate again. But since we’re only going to cover verses 1-5 today, let’s direct our attention to those verses. A three-point outline, very easy, simple outline: the accusation, the examination, and the protestation. Accusation of the Jews. The examination of Pilate, and then back to the Jews for a protestation as they protest Pilate’s decision.
First, the accusation. Now quite a lot has happened since they arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The leaders, religious leaders, brought Jesus from the garden. Having received him from the troops, they take him back to the house of Annas. They have him stand before Annas, the former high priest, and then they take him to his son-in-law, Caiaphas, the current acting high priest. And they hold informal hearings throughout the early morning hours. And they construct in that informal time some semblance of a credible case against Jesus.
They put a case together, one that could kind of pass on to the very low bar of justice that they’ve set for themselves, one that a, a toddler could hop over it very easily, one that they could justify publicly. So it happened, in that informal trial, as we saw from Matthew 27 and Mark 14:15, when Caiaphas put Jesus under oath, Jesus confessed that yes, he indeed was the Christ of God, and that’s all that they needed, to hear those words, that he is the Christ, he is the Messiah.
Caiaphas remanded Jesus to custody until first thing in the morning when the Sanhedrin could gather together for a formal, official adjudication of this case. They recorded in their record book, recorded in their minutes, in their notes, have this as a matter of perpetual record. According to Luke 22:66-71, we see that section on the formal examination, that apparently took very little time because the defendant proved surprisingly cooperative. They were able to adjourn their meeting much earlier than maybe they had, they anticipated, which is good because they had quite a few more tasks to do that day. It was a pretty stacked day. Their to-do list was full.
So with that big piece out of the way and the official box checked, Luke 23:1 says, “Then the whole assembly of them rose up.” Luke wants us to see all these Sanhedrin members. We know there are probably two notable exceptions, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, but the whole assembly is a body. We’re talking about the body. They rise up. This shows solidarity. They’re moving as one man with one mind bent on one purpose, one unified body and they bring this man before Pilate.
Now, who is this Pilate? I’m going to tell you, but it pains me because we have to be so, so brief. There’s so much interesting history, here, but I’m going to keep it brief. Okay? You’re welcome. Herod the Great, and you remember Herod the Great. He was the king over Judea when Jesus was born. He had been king of Judea, and he ruled as a client king under Caesar Augustus. It was after his death in 4 B.C. that his son Archelaus ruled for a very short time. But since Archelaus was an inept and foolish leader, Rome deposed him.
They made Judea a province in 6 B.C., and from that time on, the Roman province of Judea was ruled by a governor. This is a governor who was kind of seconded to the Syrian governor. The Syrian governor was the greater power in the, the Roman province of, of Syria. But the Judean province was kind of a sub-province under Syria. So the Roman province of Judea ruled by a governor, he was of the equestrian order, but it was under the administration of the imperial province of Syria. And this is an authority of imperial legate of Syria, of the senatorial order. So there’s a class distinction between Syria, the higher, and Judea, the lower.
The Judean governor was there to command the soldiers that were deployed in his province because it was an unruly province with these unruly Jews, known for their revolts. He was there to supervise the judiciary and judge certain matters, there to keep the peace, to decide in important matters. And he also, very importantly, administrated the financial affairs, affairs of the province. He kept the tribute tax funds flowing back to Rome. That was his main job, keeping the peace, keeping order. Everything was about getting that money back to Rome. Don’t want to threaten the cash coming to Rome.
Because the prophetic Word of Jesus, will be fulfilled. Try as he might, Pilate’s, no skill that he has in him, no experience will prepare him to wiggle out of this one. He’s stuck and he doesn’t like it.” Travis Allen
So our Pontius Pilate, he is the fifth of these Roman governors since A.D. 6. He ruled from 26 to 36 A.D. Pontius is his family name, Pontius; and Pilate is from Pilatus, meaning, armed with a pilum or a javelin. So it could be that his, that Pilate is a nickname; it kind of signifies his skill with a javelin. There are other theories that maybe that it signifies the pointed hat that manumitted slaves would wear, showing that they were freed men now. So maybe in his family lineage they’d been once slaves, but then worked their way up, bought their freedom, and now he is Pontius the freedman. Probably, well, I’m a military guy, so I lean toward he was good with a javelin. He’s good with skill and javelin, known for his military prowess.
But little is known of his background. What we do know is that Tiberius Caesar appointed him in 26 A.D., and his entire governorship to 36 A.D. was under this Tiberius. When Pilate came into the land, he lived primarily in palaces built by the region’s most famous builder, who was Herod the Great. His primary residence was at the Mediterranean coast, Caesarea Maritima, where Paul was later imprisoned for two years.
He spent as, as much of his ten years as governor at the coast. Who blames him, right? But his official duties often took him into Jerusalem, quite regularly, three times a year for the three main feasts, but also at other times when there was maybe growing social, political unrest. He didn’t like to be in Jerusalem. He didn’t like to be surrounded by the Jews. He had a tenuous, difficult, complicated relationship with the Jewish people.
It’s like any foreign power who’s ruling over a conquered people. We’ve experienced this, our country, our soldiers going over to Iraq, Afghanistan. It’s a very difficult thing when you have a 20-some-year-old captain in the Army sitting down with tribal leaders in Afghanistan, old men who are 80 years old, who’ve been living in that country forever, and they’re making deals with this 25, 26 year-old kid. You think they’re going to put a foot wrong? You think they’re going to show some dishonor, disrespect, unwittingly, unknowingly? Certainly they are. They did, they do. It’s gotten us into trouble in all the countries we’ve been in. And that’s the same with any other country toward any other people that they conquer.
So this is the same thing with Rome in this land, too. Pilate had some challenges, let’s just say, in governing Judea. Hard to tell whether he’s clumsy at times. Maybe. Maybe he’s indifferent. He is most certainly disdainful. He does not like the Jewish people at all. You say, well, what’s he doing in that job? Well, he is a political ladder-climber. He is like any other politician. He knows he’s got to do his duty, put in his time, making the rounds in the difficult far-off regions because he has his eyes on Rome, senatorial power in Rome.
Suffice it to say, this Pilate was a typical proud, sometimes a brutal, Roman ruler finding Jewish ways irksome. They’re always sensitive to idolatry. He finds that intolerable because basically, everything Rome does, their very presence there, is idolatrous. He can’t get a pass on anything. So he unwittingly and perhaps at times intentionally provoked the Jews. And he found them always ready to fight, ready to die.
Once, when he was moving his troops from their summer quarters in Caesarea Maritima to their winter quarters in Jerusalem, they marched into the city with images of Caesar emblazoned on their Roman ensigns. And this offended the Jews. They’re ready to die in protest. But to their credit, these Jews, they activated a nonviolent protest, which was not common, but the appeal that they made to Pilate affected him, seemed to at that time move him to pity. So he removed those standards, removed those ensigns and those images and sent them back to Caesarea. So you see, he’s not completely unreasonable and arbitrary and brutal and harsh.
Josephus also records a time when Pilate planned to build an aqueduct, a very ambitious building project because he was routing water along a 25-mile channel into the city of Jerusalem for public benefit. The only problem with this project, he was funding it from the temple treasury using dedicated offerings. That bugged them. So tens of thousands of Jews showed up, many Galileans, these unruly Galileans, they protested. As the scene became more tense and more prone to violence, Pilate sent his soldiers into the crowd undercover, armed with daggers, to target the agitators and end the potential force sedition.
In another incident, Pilate wanted to decorate his Jerusalem residence, Herod’s great palace. He wanted to restore some of its former glory, so he wanted to decorate it with some golden shields. And he thought he was, he was good, this time: no pagan imagery, just the engraving of names on these shields. Person honored is engraved, his name is engraved there, and the one who dedicated the shield to him, his name is engraved. So he thinks, couple of names, no big deal. Bunch of shields, put it up, reflecting the sun’s light and glory. The Jews protested this, too.
Seemingly predictably, they had it in for Pilate. This time, and they wrote a letter to Emperor Tiberius, and he rebuked Pilate, forced him to remove the golden shields to Caesarea Maritima. Oh, this is irritating him. Suffice it to say, Pilate’s relationship with the people that he ruled over was complicated, complex; at times antagonistic, and yet we can see that he governed here for 11 years, 10-11 years, 26 to 36 A.D.
He built a friendship with Caiaphas the high priest. In fact, it’s interesting, Pilate had the authority to name the Jewish high priest. That came out of some previous troubled times in decades and centuries earlier. So he had the authority to name the high priest. Isn’t that interesting? Put a, putting a pagan foreigner over the temple, to name, he has the authority to name whoever is in that place.
Significant that he kept Caiaphas in power during his entire governorship. These two became friends, probably due to a lucrative arrangement between Caiaphas and Pilate, making money again, all of them, off the temple. Pilate, though, he mostly liked to stay away from Jerusalem. When necessary, though, and again during one of Israel’s three great feasts, he became a temporary, though reluctant resident of the city. He had to move in.
So when in Jerusalem, he stayed in Herod the Great’s palace, which is known in our text as the Praetorium. The Praetorium. Residents of the Praetor, the Roman general, praetor is a word for general, and it refers to him as the acting governor. He is the general over the forces in the land of Judea. So Herod’s palace, it’s adjacent to the temple, which is on the east side of the city. Herod’s palace is on the western edge of the city, built right into the western wall. This is not the traditional site of the Praetorium if you go to Israel and walk the Via de la Rosa and, and walk the path that Christ supposedly walked to Golgotha.
But this is where Pilate resided. This is where the path from this place up to the Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, where Jesus was crucified, this is where it started. So whatever they’re telling you in Jerusalem as you go on those tours, some of these guys, they’re making money off of you, but not telling you the full truth.
It was actually in 1970, so it’s, it’s been some years, fifty-some years, archaeologists located what’s called the Lithostrotos, the stone pavement, Gabbatha in Hebrew, per John 19:13. And this stone mosaic, which is there on that western wall, led to a raised platform and a Bema seat, a judgment seat where the governor heard cases, where he made pronouncements, where he passed judgment. The Praetorium of Pilate, it’s the former palace of Herod the Great on the western edge of the city, and this is where the Sanhedrin brings Jesus.
Now, considering the historic antagonism between the Jews and Pilate, it might seem strange the Sanhedrin brought Jesus before Pilate at all to secure a judgment in their favor so that they could get Jesus executed. But this is a calculated move on their part. Since Judea had become a Roman province under the rule of Roman governors, the populace and the Jewish leadership lost what’s called the ius gladii, the potestas gladii, the, the right or the power of the sword.
That is to say, no Jewish authority, the Sanhedrin or otherwise, had the right and the authority to execute the death penalty. And this makes sense. Leon Morris points out, “Obviously, Rome could not allow a subject people to use their own legal processes to kill off Rome supporters. So the power to inflict the death penalty remained with the governor.” End quote.
The Jews were, they were permitted to exercise the death penalty with matters pertaining to their own religious law, within the confines of their own temple. So, should Gentiles try to encroach into sacred spaces, should there be cases of blasphemy come within the temple, they could exercise their right of the death penalty over those cases, but not outside.
So maybe you’re asking, why not take Jesus from the Sanhedrin’s chambers, which we talked about last time, the liskat haggazit, the, the Chamber of Hewn Stones? Remember that place built into the northern wall of the temple? Why not just take him around the corner into the temple courtyard, stone him there, problem solved?
Because remember, the Sanhedrin feared the people. This is a very real problem for them. They had to walk a fine line, here. They knew the people favored Jesus, which is why they had to conspire with that treacherous Judas Iscariot in the first place. It’s why they had to arrest Jesus at night. It’s why they had to conduct all their informal trials, investigations, and examinations at night under the cover of darkness with no one knowing. They feared the people. They knew that Jesus was popular with the people. They take him into the, into the temple, stone him? They’re going to have a mutiny on their hands.
So now, having met at first light in their own chambers, they hurry over to Pilate. They hope to avoid any publicity, hope to avoid any attention as they move through the streets and get to Pilate’s Praetorium. They want to hide behind Roman authority, avoid any immediate disclosure of their involvement in killing Jesus at this very sensitive time of Passover, when all the population is swelled to overflowing. They’re considering his popularity, his entrance into Jerusalem just a week earlier.
Now to get more insight into what happens, here, in Luke 23, you have to understand Luke 23, Luke’s account, is very abbreviated. It hits the, the heart of the issue. It’s so clear, concise, and powerful in the way Luke describes this. But we can get a little bit more detail if you go over to John 18, John 18 and verse 28. Head over there and see what happens because John has expanded this account. Here’s what we read in John 18:28 and following, “Then they led Jesus, therefore, from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early.”
So we’re just expanding this as we understand it. They go from Caiaphas to the Chamber of Hewn Stones and then to Pilate’s Praetorium. They don’t want to draw a crowd, and so they are sneaking around the back side. They’re going up the western side of the city from south to north. Most likely, they’re going surreptitiously. They know the Roman administrative day begins very early. That suited their desire just fine, to stay out of sight and avoid arousing suspicion. So they get there, and it says in John 18:28 that “they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.”
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with the, the customs, here, just to clarify this, they’re, they’re not talking about the Passover meal, eating the Paschal lamb and all that, that tradition. It’s talking about something else a little bit different. Defilement for entering into a Gentile residence would only last through the day, but would end at the evening with a ritual cleansing bath. And that allowed them to wash off the day’s defilement, even entering into a Gentile’s home, and allow them to partake of the Passover meal itself. Since these Jews on a Friday are waiting for that 6:00 p.m. time, that’s when they’re going to partake of the Passover lamb for themselves and their families, these Judean Jews.
But what concerns the religious leaders here is original defilement, even if it did last only during the day, but one that prevented them from partaking of the, what’s called the Hagigah. You’ve got to say it from the back of the throat, there, Hagigah. And if you’re sitting in the front row, I’m sorry. But the Hagigah refers to the burnt offerings, the peace offerings, festive sacrifices that kicked off the festive week of Passover and Unleavened Bread.
There were celebrations that were going to start the entire Passover week and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So, burnt offerings, peace offerings, festive sacrifices, votive offerings, all that was going to happen. And many of these men, they had officiating roles to play in the festive week. They had to get through this. They didn’t want this pesky matter of judicial murder to get in the way of their social responsibilities. So they need to get this unpleasantness behind them, get back to their other duties and kick off the week-long party. That’s the defilement that they’re talking about, here.
So verse 29, “Therefore Pilate went out to them.” So he’s inside the Praetorium, inside the palace. When this Sanhedrin body comes up, which is noticeable, he goes out to them. They’re not going to come in to him. He goes out to them, and he says, verse 29, John 18, “‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’” Pilate’s following proper procedure, here, to receive a prisoner, to exchange custody from their custody to his custody. As governor, taking Jesus into custody required some justification.
So he asked about the basis for the arrest, the charge against him, “and they answered and said to him, ‘If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him over to you.’” Come on, Pilate. They seem incredulous that he asked them about the charge. After all, they knew it was Pilate who authorized the detachment of soldiers the previous day to arrest Jesus. What’s he playing at? Pilate knew that Jesus had entered his city less than a week earlier, came in a royal procession, riding astride a donkey’s colt, many thousands of Jews, residents of his own city, all of Judea, festival pilgrims visiting the city, all of them cheering his arrival, crying out, “‘Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!’” He knows all this.
Hard to imagine, then, from then on, Pilate not keeping a watchful eye on this Jesus, collecting intelligence, getting updates about him, about his disciples. Oh, yeah, he watched. In fact, we should assume that detachment of soldiers that he authorized the day before, they came back, reported to Pilate about the previous night’s arrest over, probably over breakfast. So he knew.
So why does Pilate act so obtuse, here? Why does he seem to stall them? Well, first, we could add this as maybe a, a sub-point, here, he just likes needling them. I think, I think he just likes to rub it in, and he likes to make them irritated. So he’s just working them up a little bit. Okay, don’t put that in your notes, but I think that’s go.
But I think the first main reason is that Pilate really wants to avoid what he knows is really a very, very thorny situation, this situation of this supposed Messiah. There’s no political upside for him getting involved, nothing but a lot of religious trouble ahead, trouble he does not need. So he wants to stall this, move it away from him.
Secondly, though, according to Matthew 27:18, Pilate knows the Jews intend to kill Jesus, you could say in our language, with malice aforethought. They know, he knows that they are premeditating this murder. And what’s more, he knows that they’re driven by the crassest of motives. They have hearts of envy. They’re jealous. They see him stealing all their limelight, taking their glory, stealing their people’s allegiance to them, shifting over to him.
Pilate, you know that he didn’t ascend into the governorship without a keen sense of political shrewdness. He’s no dummy. He knows these Jews are trying to use him, that they’re using Roman authority to commit an act of judicial murder. And so we see in verse 31, he tries to get out of it. “Pilate said to them,” the Sanhedrin body, “‘Take him yourselves, judge them according to your law.’” You know what he’s doing there? He’s essentially giving them carte blanche permission to take Jesus and do whatever they want to him. He’s telling them, I’m going to turn a blind eye; just leave me out of it.
I mean, this guy’s a mix, isn’t he, of good and bad. But man, if a guy like this ascends into our government, there’s going to be a hue and cry, isn’t there? And rightly so. The Jews aren’t having it because they have their own agenda, and their agenda requires Pilate’s involvement. And it’s, it’s deeper than that, actually. They have their agenda. They know what they need to get done and why they need Pilate.
But there is a deeper divine purpose at work, here. Verse 32 says, “The Jews said to him,” here’s their own agenda, “‘We’re not permitted to put anyone to death.’” But here’s the deeper, divine agenda. It’s “that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he was about to die.” He’s not going to die by stoning. He’s going to die by a crucifixion. “He will be,” just as the serpent in the wilderness, John 3:15, “he will be lifted up,” not cast down.
His word must be fulfilled. These Jews are going to get their way. Pilate is not getting out of this. There’s something greater going on, here. Pilate’s going to be forced to attend to his duty and render a verdict about Jesus. Why is that? Because God’s Word, because the prophetic Word of Jesus, will be fulfilled. Try as he might, Pilate’s, no skill that he has in him, no experience will prepare him to wiggle out of this one. He’s stuck and he doesn’t like it.
Now, go back to, keep your finger there or put a marker there in John 18, we’ll be back, but you can go back to Luke 23:2, and let’s see the unique contribution of Luke’s authorship. He is the only Gospel author who records this succinctly and this clearly the Jews’ charges against Jesus. The chief priests and their scribes, now this is talking about the Sadducee party, they’re the ones who, who are ruling over the temple, and they benefit personally, profit from the temple-industrial complex. Their spokesmen are the ones doing the talking, here. They’re representing the whole Sanhedrin body. Even though they’re there in mass, in force, they’ve got representatives speaking.
And they’ve got this thing figured out, really. They’ve, they’ve intended to leave nothing to chance. They’re cool-headed, they’re calculated, and they’re shrewd. Look at verse 2. “They began to accuse him, saying,” and there are three charges, here, “‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’” Christ may not communicate very powerfully to Pilate, maybe not knowing the Jewish ways and promises and prophecies, but king, that communicates.
Now I realize this, what I’m about to say runs the risk of admiring what ought not to be admired. It’s kind of like praising Hitler for his initiative. But these religious leaders have constructed these accusations in such a way that Pilate has no room at all to escape. He’s feeling the weight of a tremendous pressure, here, to render a guilty verdict, condemn Jesus as an insurrectionist, and deliver him up, as they have hoped, to death.
They start out by saying, “We found.” What they do by starting out with that verb in that tense informs Pilate that they’re presenting him with their first-hand, settled testimony. We found: This is the collective testimony of the ruling religious body of the Jewish nation. This is the Sanhedrin. We’ve been judging cases since before Rome was ever in existence.
This is the nation, by the way, Pilate, that you’ve been charged to by Rome to keep under Roman authority, to ensure this nation remains submissive to Rome. You ought to listen to us. That strong opening is followed by three charges against this man. Notice they refuse to even speak his name. They’re not going to even acknowledge the perverter of their people with the dignity of a name.
They say, “This man,” and they make a three-fold accusation, and these charges build on one another. First, he misleads the Jewish nation. Second, he forbids paying tribute tax to Caesar. Third, he claims he is Christ. By the way, Pilate, that means king. Therefore, he is a self-professed rival to Caesar. Obviously they’re distorting, manipulating; they’re not telling the full truth. They’re not interested in the full truth. They don’t want to actually interpret Jesus in his own words to Pilate. They’ll do the interpreting, thank you very much.
The first charge, he’s a misleader of the nation, is established by the two that follow. We know the second charge, arguably false because of how Jesus responded. Remember the temple challenge, Luke 20:25? “‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar, and to God the things that are God’s.’” He’s not telling them not to pay their taxes. It’s basically saying the opposite. Pay it.
But through these sophisticated religious leaders, experts in the law, learned men, practitioners of rhetoric, they discern this as evidence of his deception. They don’t see this as evidence of him telling the truth and being wise, brilliant, threading the needle so carefully. No, they see this is evidence of deception, here. They’re portraying Jesus as using kind of a rhetorical sleight-of-hand. He’s a clever manipulator of simple people who are unable to see that once they receive Jesus as the Christ, as their king, Jesus replaces Caesar, don’t you see? And when that happens, when Jesus replaces Caesar, guess what? They render to him not just their loyalty, but the people pay to him tribute as well.
These charges are building on and reinforcing each other. If, as he has claimed, if as he has confessed to them privately and publicly, if he is the Christ, then he is a king. The tribute no longer goes to Rome, but the tribute lands right in his pocket: funds, revolutionary designs, funds. He’s been traveling as an itinerant preacher. He’s tired of being on the road. He wants a little luxury for himself, don’t you see? His claim to be Christ is proof that he’s misleading the nation.
Listen, Jesus is telling the truth. His motives are pure, he’s holy, he’s righteous; and they take everything he says and twist it, and they assign to him and place upon him the motives of their own hearts. They are filled with greed. So they fill his heart with greed, and they interpret everything he says as an outworking of his own greed. You see what’s happened?
Look, all who follow Jesus Christ and endeavor to live godly lives and walk righteously are likewise going to be condemned, maligned, your words distorted, perverted, twisted, used; your good motives and good intentions used as evidence of your evil and your false motives and your manipulation and your deceit. It’s happened to me. It’s happened to the elders of this church. It’s happened to members of this church, happened to pastors and elders of other sound, faithful churches where I’ve served, people I’ve known, faithful Christians. It’s just par for the course. This is what we go through. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Mark it.
Like these vile religious leaders, the wicked impute the evil thoughts of their own evil hearts onto the righteous, impugn their motives, distort their words, take them out of context. They sully their reputations with slanderous accusations. Edersheim says, “This practice is only too common in controversies, political, religious, or private.”
This is familiar stuff to all of us. We understand this. It’s exactly what they’re doing. J. C. Ryle says, “False witness and slander are two of the devil’s favorite weapons.” He’s a liar and has been so from the beginning, and he’s still the father of lies, John 8:44. Continuing with Ryle, “When he finds,” the devil finds, “he cannot stop God’s work, the next device is to blacken the character of God’s servants and destroy the value of their testimony.” End quote.
It’s exactly what these men are doing. And then Ryle writes this, “Christ’s servant must never be surprised if he has to drink of the same cup as his Lord. We must bear trials patiently as they are part of the cross of Christ.” Beloved, if this has happened to you, if it’s happened to you, take heart. Take heart because you share in the cross of Christ, and he’s very near to those who share in his cross. He himself is on it. He suffered it for you, suffered it for me.
Well, the spokesman for the Sanhedrin have presented the case to Pilate. They’ve wrapped this whole case up in a bow and handed it to him like a gift. All he needs to do is say, Thank you, grant the request, and then kill Jesus. If he refuses, they’ll simply report to Tiberius that he has once again failed to do his duty.
Well, this takes us into a second point, which is, I promise you, much shorter than the first. The third is shorter still. Number two, the examination, the examination. James Edwards reminds us that “since Jesus was not a Roman citizen, Pilate was not constrained by Roman law, but allowed a, a full discretionary exercise of his imperial authority.” End quote.
In other words, a full investigation here is not required. Pilate feels no obligation to conduct anything resembling a fair trial. He feels no need to call any witnesses, no need to examine testimony, consider exculpatory evidence. We see in verse 3 Pilate’s content to just conduct a personal examination, then let that be that. And although Luke has summarized, he captures Pilate’s chief concern, showing he got the message from the Jews loud and clear. So Pilate asked Jesus, saying, “‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ And he answered him and said, ‘You yourself say it.’”
Now in Luke’s abbreviated account, we don’t get the sense of movement from one place to another. It looks like it’s all happening in the same place. The Jews, we need to understand, the Jews made the accusation in verse 2, when Pilate is outside the western wall, standing on the pavement to hear their case. But now in verse 3, he goes back inside the Praetorium to question and examine the prisoner. And once again, you can follow me back to John 18 and verse 33 if you’d like to follow along. “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium.” There it is. “And he summoned Jesus and said, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’”
Now, the way this is stated in the original, it doesn’t come across as well in the English, but what he’s saying, here, and how he asks this question, is not only dismissive and scornful, but it’s also recorded that way, the exact same way with the exact same wording in all four Gospels: Matthew 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3 as we’ve seen, and here, John 18:33.
I’m going to restate the way Pilate asks this with the sense that really comes across in the original. He says, “‘You, you’re the king of the Jews?’” That’s what he’s saying. And in a single question, Pilate manages to capture his scorn for this Jesus and for the entire Jewish nation. “‘You? You’re the king of the Jews? Fitting and ridiculous,’” he says, “‘that you are their Christ. You’re such a fitting king.’”
Remember, Jesus had been up all night. He’d endured multiple rounds of questioning, not to mention slapping, spitting, beating. He’s a pretty shabby sight at this point: dirty, bruised, bleeding, bloated. Hardly a royal, kingly figure standing before Pilate at this point. But even in this sorry state, physically depleted, hurting, bruised, bleeding, covered in spit, he sets aside Pilate’s cynicism and disdain in John 18:34. “Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?’”
Remember, Jesus has been here inside the Praetorium the whole time. His accusers are outside the castle walls. So he’s not hearing the conversations going on between them. He’s not hearing the accusations made against him. He can surmise what they are. He is the Lord of glory. He knows so much. But in his reply, Jesus is really speaking to Pilate as an individual man. He calls and invites Pilate to a deeper examination of the truth. Take a closer look. Do some thinking for yourself.
Even here, even hurt, bruised, bleeding, about to be put on a cross, nails driven through his hands and feet, he’s the most gracious of men, isn’t he? Always cognizant of his messianic mission, never loses sight of what he’s there to do. He’s always there to offer salvation, always there to put the truth before somebody, to set them free. Sadly, Pilate’s not interested. Look what he says in verse 35. “Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew?’”, again spitting scorn. “‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests delivered you up to me. What did you do?’” More scorn.
Now he’s got impatience. Come on, get with it. Tell me what’s going on here. “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be delivered over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not from here.’” Now that answer caught Pilate up short. He is not expecting that response at all. This is no, this is no revolutionary. This is no insurrectionist. He’s not threatening, he’s not screaming, he’s not shouting, he’s not protesting. He’s no crazy lunatic. This man speaks with silver-minded clarity, with a dignified air of royalty. He’s starting to think, You know, I may be in the presence of a true king.
“So Pilate therefore said to him, ‘So you are a king.’” Scornful tone is gone. Even the way he words the statement doesn’t leave the room for the scorn that he did, had before. For the briefest of moments, here, cynicism has just evaporated from this worldly-wise ruler. So Jesus engages him again. “He answered,” You correctly, ‘you say correctly that I am a king, and for this I have been born, and for this I’ve come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.’”
Always cognizant of his messianic mission, never loses sight of what he’s there to do. He’s always there to offer salvation, always there to put the truth before somebody, to set them free. Sadly, Pilate’s not interested.” Travis Allen
That is so rich. I want to pause, there, reflect on the, the pre-existence he’s referring to, basically his, his speaking of his place in the Trinity. I want to speak to all, I can’t do that. We’ve got to keep moving. But listen, “‘Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.’” Here’s a king, a true king. He’s issuing a call to his true subjects. The calling card is truth. This is the credentials that gets us passage in and out of the kingdom, my kingdom, and those who are like him, who are not of this world but born from above, those who were generated, made alive by the Holy Spirit, those who are eager to hear and know and live by the truth, they’re his. Pilate, is this you? Are you one of mine?
We come to verse 38, so disappointing. Pilate’s cynicism has returned in full force to protect him. His shields go right up. “Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’” Some have taken Pilate, here, to be this great philosophical wonder. No, he’s not. Come on. This is just pragmatism disguising as deep philosophical skepticism. It’s not a genuine question. It’s just another cynical response. He’s disputing the very concept of truth, questions the very idea of truth.
And that’s really what characterizes Pilate and sums him up. He’s a man, really, at the core who seeks the easiest path. He refuses to commit, refuses to engage, refuses to obligate himself. You know anybody like that? He lives by the deception that he is safe in the dark abyss of agnosticism. He pretends that he’s got some philosophical objection. He’s just a liar. He’s just as hypocritical as these Pharisees and scribes. He doesn’t have any principled way of living. He’s willing to change his principles as the situation dictates, as it favors him, as it benefits him.
So he prefers to wander around in philosophical skepticism, content to leave all the truly important questions unanswered in order that he can give himself the maximum moral and ethical flexibility because that’s where he lives, in the gray areas, in compromise. That’s where politicians live, in compromise. You know, it may be working for him now. One day, though, the illusion that he’s been living is going to disappear as it did for the briefest of moments, right here in front of Jesus, right? Right here in Jesus’ presence.
One day that illusion’s going to be gone. He’s going to stand with Jesus once again, but this time the roles are going to be completely reversed. He’s not going to stand before Jesus as the governor and the judge. Oh no, he’s going to be the governed. And how has he been governed? How has he been submissive? How has he walked in obedience to the true ruler of the universe? And now he’s going to be the defendant, with Jesus the king and the judge adjudicating his case.
Well, there’s way more to say about that, but we’ll put it off for another time. Having finished his examination, Pilate walks back outside, outside the Praetorium, stands on the pavement, and he delivers his verdict to these irksome Jews. Third point, the protestation. The protestation is what happens when they don’t like what he says. Whether to spite the Jews or to throw a wrinkle in their plans, slow them down, frustrate them, irk them, John tells us that “when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, ‘I find no guilt in him.’”
That connects exactly with what Luke records in Luke 23:4; you can go back there. “Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no guilt in this man.’” He’s telling the truth. He finds no guilt in this man, but it just so happens that telling the truth at this point, and showing integrity with the truth, and irritating the Jews a little bit further, and trying to get out of this for himself, oh, all those purposes align. This is a great day.
John referred to the antagonists as the Jews, general term for the unbelieving majority of the Jewish people, but Luke’s is more specific. He identifies them as the chief priests. They’re the main instigators through this entire scene. They’re the ones who have the most to lose: the temple authority, temple money, the business.
By now, as we see in Luke 23:4, it’s, “Pilate said to the chief priests and,” guess who’s also showed up, “the crowds.” There’s people there. They’re gathering. This is getting attention. The crowds have started to arrive. Some, they’re curious about the Sanhedrin procession, which is impossible to miss if you’re up that early. Seventy distinguished-looking older men in really impressive robes, you know, moving through the city, surreptitiously sneaking through. You know something’s up. You’re like, Hey, guys, wake up. Let’s, let’s follow that crowd. What’s going on?. Head to the Praetorium.
Others, though, show up to Pilate’s Praetorium because this is the customary time of releasing a prisoner every year as he does at Passover. So they’re there to petition him. They’ve got somebody that they want released. So for various reasons, people show up. And before them all, religious leaders, chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sanhedrists, crowds, Pilate wants everyone to hear it: “‘I find no guilt in this man.’” The noun anaitios. No grounds of charge, no basis for a charge, of charging Jesus with a crime, let alone grounds to impose the death penalty on him.
At this point, the accusers kind of lose their cool. They keep on insisting; the verb is, they’re adamant here, saying he stirs up. Or better, maybe, He incites the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place. They’re running out of time, here. So they’ve got to get right to the point. They’ve got to reiterate the main thrust of their arguments, put maximum pressure on Pilate. Listen, this man is a dangerous revolutionary. He’s a deceiver. He’s a threat to peace and stability in the land of all Judea, the land you are charged to rule.
Though they don’t say it out loud, the message is clear: Don’t force us to escalate this, Pilate. We’ve gone over your head before. We’ll do it again. A letter to Tiberius Caesar could threaten your governorship, could threaten your senatorial rise. Now, even though the chief priests have distorted the nature of Jesus’ influence throughout all Galilee and Judea, they didn’t overstate the geographical spread of it. If anything, they’d significantly understated it. Jesus was known not just there, but in Asia Minor and other parts of the Roman Empire, all over the world really. So, yes, Jesus had been teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place. That much is true.
It’s in that word, actually, that Pilate spots an opportunity, not to go back and investigate more thoroughly, not to ask Jesus, question after question, to try to get to the bottom of this truth issue once and for all, not to figure out, Hey, I’ve heard you, about your miracles. What are you trying to say? What’s your message?. Not to answer the nagging sense of guilt and shame that plagues his evil heart, tortures his soul. No, Pilate spots a different opportunity to avoid responsibility once again, to shirk his duty, to sidestep the need to make any decision at all. He is the true Teflon politician, adept at avoidance. But he will not escape his duty before God. He must render a verdict.
Friends, we, too, have a responsibility to render a verdict, don’t we? To make a decision for or against Jesus Christ. As we see in Pilate, not to decide is to make a decision for which God holds every man, every woman accountable. The Jews had made their decision. Their religious hypocrisy led to hostility and judicial murder. Pilate, trying to avoid his decision, trying to remain neutral, agnostic, skeptical about the truth, well, he, too, decided, and he participated in the crime.
So, friend, what about you? May I encourage you, as one who by God’s grace I bowed the knee, repented of my sins, believed in the Gospel, that’s all by his grace, can I encourage you? Trust Jesus now, today. Christian, if you’re here and you’ve been slack in your obedience, you did call Jesus “Lord” at your salvation, but now you live your own life exactly the way you want to, but you live it religiously, read your Bible sometimes, come to church, do you really order your heart after his laws, his rules, his commands?
If you don’t, you’re missing out. You’re missing out because the way of his commandments is life, fruit, and joy. Read John 15. Read John 15. Meditate on it, and realize avoiding obedience to his commands is death to you. Living in his commands sets your heart free. Will you bow with me now? Let’s commit this time to the Lord before we come to the Lord’s table.
Our Father and our God, we thank you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the subject of the text we’re studying here, we just want to thank you for your kindness to us in Christ. We thank you for revealing yourself in him fully, completely. You’ve made yourself the invisible God visible in Christ Jesus in his incarnation.
We thank you for his grace upon grace, thank you for his truth-telling, his royal nobility that walks through the text as a king. He’s no man’s slave or servant, but he has made himself slave to your purposes and slave to us in salvation. It’s remarkable, amazing. We thank you for this great salvation, and we pray that if there is any heart here who does not yet know you, anyone here who has not yet bowed the knee, that you’d be gracious to save them today.
If there’s any Christian here who’s out of step with you, please let this time coming before the table, the fellowship table of the Lord Jesus Christ, let them do business with you, look upon Christ and the one you, you crucified for them, seek your forgiveness, and align their hearts rightly once again. Lead us all in repentance for your sake, for your glory, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, and by the power of your Spirit. Amen.