Jesus in the Court of Pilate

“Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all.’ “ – John 18:38 (NKJV)

Annas and Caiaphas, high priests, and the Pharisees all had decided that Jesus should die. However, they had a big problem. The Jewish Court had no authority to issue the death sentence. That had to come from the Roman ruler in Jerusalem, Pilate, who presided from the Praetorium. Read the gospel accounts of the trial before Pilate in John 18:28-19:16, in Mark 15: 1-16, in Matthew 27:1-26, and before both Pilate and Herod in Luke 23:1-25, In Matthew’s account, Jesus fulfills the prophecy about himself in Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not his mouth.”

In John’s gospel, however, we read of the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus. “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus wanted to know if he asked on his own knowledge, or was it because of what others had said. When Pilate asked Jesus what He had done, His reply was revealing: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus stated that He came to bear witness to the truth. Pilate asked a profound question of Jesus: “What is truth?” Is this, ultimately, not what each of us seeks: The Truth? Twice Pilate said he found no fault in Jesus.

Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but was swayed by the crowd who demanded “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” A common criminal, Barabbas, no doubt deserving of the death sentence, went free, while the innocent Son of God was delivered up to be crucified. But Pilate’s final action was, in itself, a testimony to who Jesus was. “Pilate ordered a sign to put on the cross. It read: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ (John 19:19). The Jews wanted Pilate to change the sign to read: ‘He said, I am the King of the Jews.’ But Pilate was adamant. He would not change the sign. He had intended that the sign mock the Jews. Instead, God had another purpose in the sign. It was a silent witness to who Jesus was. One of the thieves on the cross read the sign and consequently believed in Jesus. Passers-by read it. We do not know the wide-spread effect the sign had in turning others to Christ. A hard Roman ruler who asked probingly, “What is truth?” was an instrument used of God to bring people face to face with the Truth, Jesus Christ. How amazing that nothing is lost in the purposes of Almighty God!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, March 29, 2010