![]() ![]() ![]() He must have been at least twenty-seven years of age, for that was the minimum age for entering on the office of procurator. Pilate was officially procurator of the province and he was directly responsible, not to the Roman senate, but to the Roman Emperor. What kind of man was this Roman governor? So, then, everything hung on the attitude of Pilate. They fabricated three political charges, all of them conscious lies, because they knew that only on such charges would Pilate act. They charged Jesus first with being a revolutionary, second, with inciting the people not to pay their taxes, and third, with claiming to be a king ( Luke 23:2). So, as Luke tells us, they appeared before Pilate with a threefold charge, every item in which was a lie, and a deliberate lie. He would tell them to go away and settle their own religious quarrels. But no one knew better than the Jewish authorities that that was a charge to which Pilate would not listen. In the Sanhedrin the charge which was levelled against Jesus was a charge of blasphemy ( Matthew 26:65-66). Matthew does not tell us what that charge was but Luke does. The Sanhedrin had therefore to formulate a charge with which they could go to Pilate and demand the death of Jesus. That was a sentence which could be pronounced only by the Roman governor, and carried out by the Roman authorities. The necessity for this lay in the fact that, while the Jews could themselves deal with an ordinary charge, they could not inflict the death penalty. Matthew 27:1-2 describe what must have been a very brief meeting of the Sanhedrin, held early in the morning, with a view to formulating finally an official charge against Jesus. ![]() "You must see to it." All the people answered, "Let the responsibility for his blood be on us and on our children." Then he released Barabbas to them but he had Jesus scourged, and handed him over to be crucified. "I am innocent of the blood of this just man," he said. They kept shouting all the more: "Let him be crucified." When Pilate saw that it was hopeless to do anything, and that rather a disturbance was liable to arise, he took water, and washed his hands in presence of the crowd. "What then," said Pilate to them, "am I to do with Jesus who is called Christ." "Let him be crucified," they all said. "Which of the two," said the governor, "am I to release to you?" "Barabbas," they said. "Have nothing to do with this just man," she said, "for today I have had an extraordinary experience in a dream because of him." The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for the release of Barabbas, and the destruction of Jesus. While he was sitting on his judgment seat, his wife sent a message to him. "Whom do you wish me to release to you? Barabbas? Or, Jesus who is called Christ?" For he was well aware that they had delivered Jesus to him because of malice. So, when they were assembled, Pilate said to them. At that time he was holding a very well-known prisoner called Barabbas. At the time of the Feast the governor was in the habit of releasing one prisoner to the crowd, a prisoner whom they wished. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear the evidence which they are stating against you?" Jesus answered not a single word, so that the governor was much amazed. Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor put the question to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said to him, "You say so." While he was being accused by the chief priests and the elders, he returned no answer. THE MAN WHO SENTENCED JESUS TO DEATH ( Matthew 27:1-2 Matthew 27:11-26 )ΔΆ7:1-2,11-26 When the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, to put him to death so they bound him, and led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. ![]()
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