Light ~ Mark 15:2-5; Matthew 27:11-14; Luke 23:1-12; John 18:28-40; Mark 15:6-15; Matthew 27:15-26; Luke 23:13-25; John 19:1-16; Mark 15:16-20; Matthew 27:27-31
HighLights ~ Jesus is questioned by Pilate; Pilate turns Him over to be crucified; the soldiers mock Him.
InSights ~ Though he may be annoyed at being forced to deal with this religious issue so early in the morning, Pilate goes through the motions of interrogating Jesus. In Matthew and Mark it is especially brief, as if they want to emphasize the connection to the Messianic reference from the prophet Isaiah: “He was oppressed and harshly treated, yet he never said a word” (53:7). Luke adds Pilate’s attempt to hand off responsibility to Herod Antipas, who is in town (presumably for Passover), since he is in charge of Galilee, where Jesus comes from. This is the dsame Herod who is responsible for John the Baptizer’s death.
John expands the conversation between Pilate and Jesus slightly, giving some evidence that Pilate is intrigued with this Man.
In all the Gospels, Pilate is depicted as not wanting to convict Jesus. He senses that this is an innocent man caught up in the machinations of the Jesus religious leaders.
Pilate tries to “save” Jesus by releasing Him. But the crowd, stirred up by the religious leaders (Mk 15:11), rejects this offer, demanding instead a convicted insurrectionist, Barabbas. This man’s name, ironically, means “Son of the Father”. Unfortunately, from our perspective, the crowd asked for the wrong Bar-Abba, even going so far as to express, according to Matthew, their guilt in demanding Jesus’ death: “We take responsibility for his death — we and our children” (27:25). This comes in response to Pilate demonstratively washing his hands of the affair. Matthew is the only one who records this incident.
The crowd, now blood-thirsty, demands that Jesus be crucified. Pilate first turns Him over to the soldiers for flogging. I will spare us the description of the horrors of the lead-tipped whip of the Romans. Some say the cords had pieces of bone secured in them, too. Let your imagination linger for a moment on what such a device would do to human flesh. Linger longer in the thought of the true Son of the Holy Father, the very Lord of the Universe, being treated this way — and His allowing it to happen.
Now the soldiers take this bleeding, tortured man and make fun of Him: they drape a purple robe over Him (maybe the one that had come back from Herod with Him — Lk 23:11) and press a crown of thorns onto His head and pretend to honor Him as king, while also jabbing at Him, slapping His face.
It is in this condition that Jesus is displayed to the people by Pilate, who reiterates his opinion that this man is an innocent victim. “Ecce homo” — “Look, here is the man” (Jn 19:5). Note that the famous painting below by Antonio Ciseri leaves out evidence of flogging.And then he turns Jesus over to be crucified.
ReSight ~ When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (John 19:6 NLT)
PrayerWrite ~ Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we fail to recognize You. Help us to understand how much we need You.
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