Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring [against] this man?” 30 They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,” 32 in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die. 33 So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” 37 So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.'
Jesus was brought to the Praetorium for trial before Pilate around dawn. Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD. It is not clear why Jesus’ accusers would have been defiled for entering the praetorium. When Pilate came out and asked what Jesus was charged with his accusers had no formal charge to bring against Jesus (v. 30). Pilate would have released Jesus to the Jews, but they said that they did not have the right to execute anyone which was not entirely accurate because they did have the right to execute Gentiles who violated the Temple precincts. It appeared as if the Jews’ planned to have Jesus killed by the Romans which meant crucifixion as Jesus had predicted (Jn. 12:32). Jews had tried to kill Jesus on previous occasions, so why were they now concerned with violating Roman law? They were against Roman occupation and certainly did not embrace King Herod Antipas, the Roman vassal whose jurisdiction included Galilee (Lk. 23:7).
Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews (v. 33)?” Jesus did not specifically answer Pilate’s question about his kingship. Jesus asked Pilate, “have others told you about me (v. 34)?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I (v. 35)” which indicated disrespect if not contempt for the Jews. When Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world (v. 36),” that was no threat to Pilate because his followers were not fighting to secure his release. They had all fled (Mk. 14:50) and could not keep him from being handed over to the Jews (v. 36) if Pilate so desired. Jesus had distanced himself from the Jewish leaders who had consistently rejected him. Jesus was sent into the world to testify to the truth and Pilate’s question “What is truth (v. 38),” indicated that Pilate also could not hear the truth in Jesus’ words just like the Jews. Pilate again tried to release Jesus, “the King of the Jews (v. 39), but the Jewish leaders shouted, “Not this one but Barabbas (v. 40)!” They chose an insurrectionist over Jesus.
Almighty God, we pray that we will never be deaf to the loving words of our savior, and that our actions will not help to drive the spikes into the hands and feet of Jesus. This we pray through the same Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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