Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

Pilate Before Jesus

Mark 15:1-15

 

Tonight we come to chapter 15 of the Book of Mark and there we meet one of the more familiar characters involved in the crucifixion of Jesus.  His name is Pilate. 

 

Before the trials are concluded, Jesus will appear before Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, the Sanhedrin and Pilate.  Each of them think they sit in judgment of Christ.  But the truth of the matter is, He is their judge. And I want us to keep that in mind as Pilate now makes his first appearance before Jesus. 

 

Mark 15;1-15

 

In verse 12, we find the ultimate question that every human has to answer.  The eternal destiny of every human, Pilate included, hinges upon their answer to that question. 

 

Now as we approach this passage, I want to start with some background.  I don’t know about you, but I like to have something of a feel for what is happening historically and culturally around these verses.  I don’t want to get so caught up in the details that we miss the meat of God’s Word, but I’ve found it helps to bring the text ot life if we can see a little of the setting. 

 

Approaching this trial before Pilate, we need to keep in mind that the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel, wants Jesus dead.

And they finally have Him arrested and in their hands.  But it is Passover week in Jerusalem and they don’t want to cause a mob scene.  They know Jesus has become very popular with the people, so they don’t want anything done in daylight. 

 

So they struck a deal with Judas, place Jesus under arrest, and try to buy off witnesses to testify against Him. Their stories keep conflicting, so they can’t come up with anything that makes sense. Finally, He is charged with blasphemy because He said He’s the Messiah, the Son of God, thus claiming to be deity.

 

All of this happens before Annas and Caiaphas early in the morning, probably between one and three AM, I believe on Wednesday morning.  At three, the trial ends, and Peter’s denials take place as the rooster crows. 

 

So we are now in the hours from three to five in the morning.  He is being mocked by the Jews who really have custody of Him at this time. He is spit on, beaten, slapped and blasphemed for several hours.

 

Sunrise is about 5 A.M. The Sanhedrin, wanting to maintain a veneer of legality, know that Jewish law requires a trial has to be held in the daylight.  So once the sun is up, they hold a mock trial. This is recorded in Luke 22, verses 66 to 71. That is the third phase of the Jewish trial. The first part is before Annas, the second before Caiaphas, the third, this brief mock trial early in the morning before the Sanhedrin so that there’s some appearance of legality.

 

 

So the Jewish part is done, but He must now be brought before the Romans and that is what we encounter at chapter 15. 

 

One might ask, “Why did Jesus have to appear before the Romans?”  John gives us a very specific answer in John 18:31 where the Jews said, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” With the Roman rule, the power of the sword, the death penalty, had been removed from Israel and the power of execution belonged only to Rome in all its occupied countries.

 

And just in case you’re wondering about the stoning of Stephen and the attempts on the life of Paul and even on Jesus, they were illegal mob acts.  They were not the result of any legal process because the Jews had no legal right to execution. So, in the case of Christ, they must get permission from the Romans, and the Romans must do the execution. And because Pilate is the acting governor, the must bring their charges against Jesus to him. 

 

So we pick up the story in

 

Verse 1

 

Immediately after the mock trial, everybody agrees to continue with the execution, so they bind Jesus and take Him to Pilate. 

 

One little detail that needs to be inserted here is that Jewish law required a 24-hour period waiting period before an execution after a sentence had been rendered in order that new evidence could be brought forth if there was any such new evidence.

They’re not interested in this new evidence and so they rush through their judgment and they rush to execution immediately after they have had their last trial.

 

So just to keep our eye on the clock, if their final public trial was somewhere around or shortly after five o’clock in the morning and Jesus is on the cross by nine o’clock, it took less than four hours from guilty verdict to execution. 

 

And in those four hours, He will have two appearances before Pilate, and one before Herod.  Meanwhile, it is around this time that Judas begins to feel remorse, according to Matthew 27:1 to 10, and he goes back into the presence of the Sanhedrin, throws the money down and says, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” and then rushes from there to try to hang himself.

 

So let’s take a look at the first phase of

 

 

Now Pilate, we will learn a little later from John, has an elevated view of himself. He says to Jesus, “Don’t you know that I have authority over you, I can do anything I want to you.” But Jesus replied by saying, “You have no authority over Me at all if it was not given you from on high.”

 

So from his own vantage point, at least, Pilate thinks  he has power over Jesus. He thinks he has the destiny of Jesus in his hands. The truth is, Jesus has his destiny in His hands. No earthly power can determine the destiny of Jesus, but every soul’s destiny is determined by what he does with Jesus.

Best estimates place Jesus in front of Pilate’s judgment hall somewhere between five and six A.M. All of this happens very rapidly. These places are very, very close together. And it all moves quickly. 

 

John gives us a little more detail that is good to see. 

 

John 18:28

 

Religious men that they are, they don’t want to be defiled while they’re trying to murder the Son of God, so they won’t step on Gentile land.  If they got into Gentile space, Gentile buildings, a Gentile rooms, a Gentile praetorium, then they would be ceremonially defiled. 

 

So they bring Jesus to the praetorium and Pilate goes out to them, because they wouldn’t go in, 

 

Verse 29

 

Pilate gets right to business.  This is a legal question. As Rome’s primary judge, he is acting in that capacity. He is the final court of appeal in Israel for Rome and for any cases that need to be adjudicated by Rome.

 

But they don’t want Pilate as a judge. They want Pilate merely as an executioner. They don’t want another trial. They don’t want a retrial. They don’t want any questions like this to be asked. So they simply answer, in

 

verse 30

They don’t want to answer the question, they want to impugn Pilate for asking the question. As if to say, who are you to distrust us? We wouldn’t be bringing Him to you to execute because you alone have the power to execute unless there was reason. He is an evil doer, that’s why we’re here and that’s why we brought Him.

 

Now you have to know that Pilate was fully aware of Jesus. After all, by now, most everyone in the area knows about Jesus. I think he was very well acquainted with Jesus. 

 

It was his responsibility to make sure Jerusalem was secure and safe.  Jesus has already made a scene with Hi arrival in Jerusalem a few days ago, and it must have caused quite a stir when He threw the money changers out of the temple. 

 

So I think it highly likely his troops are on high alert.  They’ve already been involved with Jesus by going to the Garden and aiding in His arrest.  He would have had to have given his approval for them to be involved.  

 

So I think it highly likely he was well aware of the issues concerning Jesus and he is also well aware that this is a blatant miscarriage of justice.

 

So when the Jewish leaders get smart with him in verse 30, no wonder he resonds as he does in

 

Verse 31

 

There are a couple of possibilities in that statement.  Either he was saying, “Don’t get smart with me because you need me to do what you want to do” or he was giving them permission to kill Jesus. 

 

Either way, the Jews respond by reminding him it wasn’t legal for them to do that.  And they certainly aren’t going to over-step the parameters of Roman law.  They don’t want the responsibility of executing Jesus. They don’t want to deal with the implications and repercussions.

 

So they offer Pilate three accusations.  They are recorded for us in Luke 23:2.  They said, “He is perverting our nation, He is forbidding to pay taxes and He’s claiming to be King.”

 

By the way, those were all lies.  He did not pervert the nation, they did. He did not forbid to pay taxes. He told people to pay their taxes and He paid His own. And while He claimed to be a King, His Kingdom was never of this world. They lied.

 

So they said to Pilate, “We can’t kill Him.  We need you to do that.” And according to John 18:32, that was done as a fulfillment of Jesus’ words that He would die by being “lifted up”.  Jews executed by stoning.  Romans executed by crucifixion.

 

Now we go back to the fifteenth chapter of Mark.  All of that happened between verses 1 and 2.  We pick up the action in

 

Verse 2

 

He ignored the first accusation that He had perverted the nation. He ignored the second one that He was telling the people not to pay their taxes. And He goes directly to the third one that must have fascinated Him the most. 

 

“Are You the King of the Jews?” He must have asked that with contempt.  At this point, there is nothing about Jesus that makes Him look royal or regal.. He has still a garment on that has been profusely stained by sweat and blood. He has a face that is battered and bruised from punches and slaps, spit all over His face. He has not been washed. “Are You the King of the Jews?” There’s irony and perhaps sarcasm in that.

 

And yet, Jesus answers in the affirmative. 

 

Verse 2b

 

It was a legitimate question and Jesus gives a legitimate answer.

 

Again, John fills in the details for us. 

 

John 18:32-38

 

I think when Pilate said what he did about finding no fault is what precipitated the response that we see in

 

Mark 15:3

 

In fact, according to Luke 23:5 they were saying things like, “He stirs up the whole nation. He stirs up the people all through Judea and even as far away as the Galilee.

 

But we also read in Matthew 27:12 to 14, that while He was being accused at this point, He never said a word to the Jews and He never said a word to Pilate in defense of the accusations. 

 

He answered Pilate’s legitimate question, and gave him the correct and extensive answer about the nature of His Kingdom, the fact that He was a King. But when the crowd began to scream and accuse Him, He never answered at all.

 

Verse 4

 

They were just throwing charges at Him. These are the Sanhedrin members. These are the judges of Israel. This is the Supreme Court. And there’s a rare silence in court. Jesus gives no defense against these lies.  In fact,  

 

verse 5

 

Pilate had never seen anything like this!  Here was somebody being accused of all kinds of things that He didn’t do, that weren’t true, and He offers no defense.  He gives no rebuttal. 

 

So what’s Pilate going to do? Pilate’s in a tough spot. So what he does takes place between verse 5 and 6 and that “something” is he sends Jesus to Herod. 

 

And we’ll save that for next week, along with His return to Pilate. 

 

Let’s pray.