We normally think of Jesus’ apprehension and trial as being all about Him. Sure, they were the means for the culmination of His mission. But we can do nothing about it. Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father and everything happened as planned. It is unchangeable. What is changeable, in the midst of it all, is us. How do we choose to respond to it?
If we are used to living in the world, where almost everyone will tell you, “Do whatever makes you happy”, the most likely reaction to the question above is: “Why should I care? Why do I even need to respond to it? An event that took place over 20 centuries ago may be of historical interest (that is, if it could be proven to have actually happened) but why should it affect my life today?”
That response is logical within the worldview of the world. If we assume from the outset that there is no such thing as the supernatural – specifically assume there is no transcendent God – then, surely, Time is the greatest bulwark ever invented.
This is a sound scientific argument. Physics will tell you that almost all materials with which we human beings ever have to deal with are “lossy materials”; that is, in every interaction they undergo, they dissipate energy into heat. That dissipated energy is unrecoverable. Which means that – popular culture aside – there can never be a “butterfly effect”. No matter how chaotic weather systems may seem to us, it is Physically impossible for the beating of a butterfly’s wing in Japan to trigger a tornado in Kansas. Why? Because the very “information” that butterfly wing impressed into its local air, will immediately start dissipating into that environment. A few meters away, a few minutes later, no one could ever tell that that butterfly passed through.
(This is not a Second-law-of-Thermodynamics kind of explanation; it goes deeper than that. But if you want to follow up on it, you have to read Brillouin’s book on Science and Information Theory.)
But my point is: If all there is to reality are the Physical laws that govern our material universe, then we can certainly shrug our shoulders at this man from Nazareth that claimed to be the Son of God, and who told us that He chose to die on a cross for the sole purpose of saving us… we can dismiss him precisely because it all happened 20+centuries ago. The consequences of that event, if there were ever any, have surely dissipated by today.
However, if, as He claimed, there is a greater Reality than this material world – called, the Kingdom of God – then all bets are off: Because Time is no bulwark against its Creator.
So, does that greater Reality exist? As C. S. Lewis would tell us, every human culture everywhere in this world, throughout those 20 centuries and before – down to the dawn of History – has borne witness to the fact that people just like us believe IT exists.
If C. S. Lewis is right, we have to reach the conclusion that the modern secular materialistic world, with its denials and protestations against religion, is “putting up a front.”
In the story of the Passion, Pontius Pilate stands as the representative of the secular, materialistic, world… (In the same way that Jesus’ accusers stand for the self-righteous religious order that same world abides.)
The Interrogation by Pilate
John 18:28 They lead therefore Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium; and it was early morn. And *they* entered not into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but eat the passover.
With the benefit of 20 plus centuries on our side, and our profession of faith as being followers of Christ, we can look at the irony in this verse, and maybe even scoff: The Jews want to remain ceremonially clean, remain “right” with God, while at the same time they are working to murder that God’s own Son.
Contradictions like that are the way of the world.
John 18:29-30 Pilate therefore went out to them and said, What accusation do ye bring against this man? They answered and said to him, If this [man] were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up to thee.
John again omits details well documented in the other gospels. We know that they accused Jesus of calling himself the Christ, therefore, a king, and thus rousing the people, even possibly to rebel against Cesar. Insurrection against the Roman rule was the sure way to get Jesus executed. But Pilate is not ignorant. If there were such a rebellion imminent, of real consequence, he would have known about it. So, he sees through their lies and knows that this is a personal thing. And he doesn’t care to be involved in it.
(Why should I care? Is always the easiest response to any request to render any kind of opinion. I mean, why would I want to go out on a limb and take a side in an argument that does not concern me? It might turn out that the side I fav or ends up being proven wrong, you know…)
John 18:31-33 Pilate therefore said to them, Take him, ye, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him, It is not permitted to us to put any one to death;
(that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke, signifying what death he should die.)
Pilate therefore entered again into the praetorium and called Jesus, and said to him, Thou art the king of the Jews?
The insistence of the accusers makes Pilate wonder if there really is something worth his attention here. So, he interrogates the prisoner and soon finds out this is not an ordinary prisoner. There is no fear in Jesus’ eyes. (And keep in mind that, according to the other gospels, Jesus has already been beaten by the soldiers of the Temple; His face must show it.)
John 18:34 Jesus answered [him], Dost thou say this of thyself, or have others said it to thee concerning me?
I think this is interesting. Jesus never wasted a breath. Everything He said had a purpose. Therefore, this question to Pilate has relevance… but for whom?
Well, who is in the crucible? (You know: the crucible where ore is melted in the fire, to test it and to separate the base metal from the precious.)
It is not Jesus.
He has walked to this point completely in control and we know there is no sin (no base metal) that any fire could ever find in Him. But we know that the Word of God (which is personified in Jesus) has the power to cut into our hearts: Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Therefore, it is Pilate who is being tested now… Jesus is asking him, “Do you even understand what you just asked me? Are you able to perceive that if I am indeed the King of the Jews, that that really means I am the King of Israel, namely God Almighty?
“Pilate, is your spirit even engaged?
“But if it is not, if you are just repeating mindlessly what someone else has said, if you are not really asking from your heart, I don’t think you can understand anything I would say.”
John 18:3 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thy nation and the chief priests have delivered thee up to me: what hast thou done?
Well, maybe Pilate isn’t yet ready to grapple with the deep questions of Life. But he has asked an honest question. Therefore, Jesus replies:
John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants had fought that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from hence.
Certainly not the kind of answer Pilate was expecting. But it is the kind of answer we should always expect of Jesus: Always pointing the conversation to the ultimate Reality of the Kingdom of God and its utter difference from (and enmity toward) the kingdom of this world.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to him, Thou art then a king? Jesus answered, Thou sayest [it], that I am a king. I have been born for this, and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.
Jesus has drawn the conversation back into “spiritual” things. Do you think He is wasting His time? Pilate is not a Jew. Pilate cannot possibly know the truth of the God of the universe if all he has ever been around are the gods of this world… Right?
Not necessarily…
Remember that Jesus taught that the Father works and speaks to this day; and as the psalmist says, even the universe itself bears witness of that true God. As Paul said, He has never left Himself without a witness in any nation… So, no; Jesus is not wasting His time. (Just like we never waste our time when we tell anybody in the world about God’s Love.) Because as Jeus already said:
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every one that has heard from the Father [himself], and has learned [of him], comes to me…
Jesus is applying that statement from John 6 – which there was spoken to His Jewish people – to a Gentile! Oh, we need to remember this!
Not only is this Salvation being offered to the whole world,
it can be understood and accepted by the whole world.
Pilate may or may not be a religious man, but we know from the other gospels that he, like all Romans, believes in the supernatural, is at least superstitious. And as a minimum, he is acquainted with philosophy. So, he has a decision to make here, the same kind of decision that all of us – when we were living in the world – had to make, maybe made more than once, when we were faced with someone that was witnessing to us about the love of Christ.
We either listen willingly or (just as willingly) we choose to change the subject.
John 18:38 Pilate says to him, What is truth? And having said this he went out again to the Jews, and says to them, I find no fault whatever in him.
It is fascinating that, at the same time he is dismissing Jesus’ “truth”, he is declaring that there is something called truth… because by the standards of judicial truth he knows Jesus is not guilty of a crime deserving death. (As I said before… contradiction is the way of the world.) Whatever is going on, Pilate is sensing a mess that he does not want to step into. So, he tries to find a “legal” way out, hoping that in that crowd there will be enough people that will counter the demands of the priests.
John 18:39-40 But ye have a custom that I release [some] one to you at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews?
Even though contradiction is the way of the world, unfortunately, the world still has rules that it pretends it follows… and its people, and the powers over them, know how to use those rules to get what they want.
They cried therefore again all, saying, Not this [man], but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
Is there another way?
Now Pilate is, as they say, “in a pickle.” He thought he had a loophole, a way to get around what the crowd of accusers were bent on doing. But he did not count on them being better at loopholes than he was.
Have you ever been there?
Sure, we may be followers of Christ; but we live in the world. And more often than we care to admit, we make mistakes in the world. In other words, we sin; we stumble because instead of keeping our eyes on the work of the Kingdom, we get distracted by the temptations of the world. And things go wrong. And then we try to fix them. But instead of repenting and accepting the consequences, we try to find another way, a worldly way, to fix the problem, or hide it, or find a valid excuse for it.
But what we forget is that our accuser is the expert on the ways of the world, and he never wants anything good for us. So, no matter what worldly loophole we think we may have found, we can be sure that if we take it, there will be another pitfall waiting on the other side. You cannot beat the devil at his game.
Pilate just saw this happen. He tried to use the Passover pardon custom but the accusers already had an answer for it: let a robber and murderer go instead. Pilate then tries again. He must be thinking that this blood thirsty crowd is only asking for blood because they haven’t seen it. Or maybe he is thinking that he can get enough of them to change their minds based on pity.
This is what we get from Luke’s narrative: Luke 23:22 And he said the third time to them, What evil then has this [man] done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will chastise him therefore and release him.
You see? He is still trying to bargain with the world.
John 19:1-3 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged [him]. And the soldiers having plaited a crown of thorns put it on his head, and put a purple robe on him, and came to him and said, Hail, king of the Jews! and gave him blows on the face.
Now, we know this was more than just chastisement…The kind of scourging that Jesus received could kill a man. Whether that is what Pilate intended, doesn’t matter. He has chosen the ways of the world. And once you give the world power over you, it does whatever it wants.
John 19:4-5 And Pilate went out again and says to them, Lo, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find in him no fault whatever. (Jesus therefore went forth without, wearing the crown of thorn, and the purple robe.) And he says to them, Behold the man!
Or as SK translates it: “Behold: what a man…” In other words, “Look at him, beaten to a pulp, hardly able to stand, powerless… is this someone anyone would care to follow? There is no danger here…” He is still hoping he can change the crowd’s mind.
John 19:6-8 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify [him]. Pilate says to them, Take him ye and crucify [him], for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to [our] law he ought to die, because he made himself Son of God.
And Pilate is confronted again by the Reality he has been trying, so hard, to ignore. You see, God never gives up on any one of us. The choice to follow Him, will be given to us, time and time again. As Elihu says in his rebuke of Job:
Job 33:14-23 (NIV) For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.
“Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in their bones, so that their body finds food repulsive and their soul loathes the choicest meal. Their flesh wastes away to nothing, and their bones, once hidden, now stick out. They draw near to the pit, and their life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel at their side, a messenger, one out of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright…”
We know from one of the other gospels that Pilate was indeed warned through a dream that his wife had that day.
John 19:8-9 When Pilate therefore heard this word, he was the rather afraid, and went into the praetorium again and says to Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
John 19:10-11 Pilate therefore says to him, Speakest thou not to *me*? Dost thou not know that I have authority to release thee and have authority to crucify thee?
Jesus answered, Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above. On this account he that has delivered me up to thee has [the] greater sin.
Pilate is shaken. This is the climax of his trial… It could go either way at this point.
John 19:12 From this time Pilate sought to release him; but the Jews cried out saying, If thou releasest this [man], thou art not a friend to Caesar. Every one making himself a king speaks against Caesar.
But here comes the critical moment: The crowd throws at Pilate that which he fears the most: the greatest power in his world: Caesar.
Who will he choose to serve? The near-divine Caesar he has always served or this Invisible God that supposedly sent His Son to teach Truth to humanity? Who will win?
John 19:13-16 Pilate therefore, having heard these words, led Jesus out and sat down upon [the] judgment-seat, at a place called Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha; (now it was [the] preparation of the passover; it was about the sixth hour;) and he says to the Jews, Behold your king! But they cried out, Take [him] away, take [him] away, crucify him. Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Then therefore he delivered him up to them, that he might be crucified; and they took Jesus and led him away.