John 19:1-16

John 19:1-16

1 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; 3 and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. 4 Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” 5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” 6 So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

8 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; 9 and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” 12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

John records details of this second trial that are not recorded in the other Gospels.  This passage clearly demonstrates that Pilate is convinced that Jesus is innocent but that he is afraid of the people and all the confusion they are creating.  Pilate presents himself as a powerful ruler, but the reality is that he is gripped by fear of the people and fear of offending God.  In the end, he is controlled by his fear of men.  He prefers popularity over pleasing God or doing what he knows is right.

JESUS IS MOCKED AND ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY: Pilate sends Jesus back to be whipped, mocked, crowned with thorns and dressed as royalty.  He is then displayed before the people in this humiliated state.  Pilate hails him as the king of the Jews, but the crowd insists on His crucifixion.  When Pilate declares that he has committed no wrong according to Roman law, they Jewish leaders accuse Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God.  There are those who claim that Jesus never claimed to be God.  They seem to forget this passage where He was condemned for claiming that He was the Son of God.  Pilate may have hoped that after this beating and mockery, he could release Jesus, but the crowd insisted on death.  Fear will often lead us into dark places that take us far from God.

JESUS IS QUESTIONED AND ACCUSED OF REBELLION: Pilate is very concerned by the affirmation the crowd makes about Jesus claiming to be the Son of God.  He examines Jesus further insisting that He answer.  Jesus remains quiet.  When Pilate demonstrates his pride by telling Jesus that he had the power to set Jesus free, Jesus states that this authority was given by God.  Jesus then proceeds to accuse both Pilate and the crowd of sin, but the crowd of the greater sin.  Pilate is now even more desirous of setting Jesus free, but cannot resist the will of the crowd.  The people threaten Pilate saying that since Jesus made Himself out to be King, He was a repel against the Roman government.  Pilate is in a position of authority, but he finds himself powerless before the crowd.  His only right action would have been to repent of beating and mocking Jesus, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and worshiping Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Instead he tries to defend his position and protect his pride and ends up going down in history as the man who crucified Jesus.  Pride will always lead us down a path to destruction.  Only repentance and faith will give fulfillment now and eternal life in the future.

JESUS IS REJECTED AND ACCUSED OF BEING KING: Pilate comes out and declares that Jesus is King of the Jews, but the crowd cried out for His death.  When Pilate asks if they want to kill their King, they respond by saying that their only king is Caesar.  The Jews rejected Jesus as their king and in an ironic declaration call the king of Rome their only king.  Those words must have been very hard for them to declare.  The emotion and rage that had been stirred up in the crowd makes it hard for them to think straight.  Pilate capitulates and Jesus is turned over to be crucified.  This is a classic illustration of people striving to please one another without consideration of pleasing God. 

APPLICATION: Fear of man instead of the fear of the Lord will lead us to do things we never thought possible.  Pride only delivers short-term pleasure.  Only humility, confession and repentance will pave way to eternal life through faith in Jesus.  Loving ourselves is the default mode all of us have, but it will cause us to do things that are displeasing to the Lord.  The path to joy and peace is that of loving the Lord and others.