STORY SETTING AND BACKGROUND Jesus
Tried Before Pilate After condemnation by the Council, Jesus is brought before Pilate, then to
Herod, and finally condemned by Pilate to die on the cross. Matthew 27: 1-30; Mark 15: 1-19; Luke 22:66- Pilate was a Roman of the
upper middle c1ass. In 26 A.D. the Emperor Tiberius appointed him to be the
fifth governor of the Roman As governor, Pilate was in
full control of the province. He had full powers over life and death. The
Jewish Council was only permitted to execute any non-Jews who violated the
sanctity of the temple. Even a Roman citizen could be executed for such a
violation. Pilate had control of the military in the province.
This probably consisted of 120 cavalry, and somewhere between 2500-5000
infantrymen. Some of these were stationed at The governor had the right to appoint the Jewish high
priests. Originally this had been a hereditary office with life tenure. Pilate
issued the high priestly vestments to the high priests for each of the three
annual major festivals. Pilate came up
to Jerusalem to be in personal charge of the garrison and to maintain law and
order when perhaps up to 125,000 pilgrims, charged with religious fervor, came
to observe the festivals at the temple. As the experience of Paul indicates,
mob violence could easily erupt. DIFFICULTIES The Roman governor of a province such as Pilate's first action after
arriving as governor was to set up the Roman standards at After 6 days of
determined but passive resistance by the Jews, Pilate was forced to remove
these standards to The Jewish philosopher Philo wrote that Pilate set up
golden shields in his residence of The early church historian Eusebius records that
Pilate used money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct to bring
much-needed water to Keeping these events in mind helps
to make the final outcome of the trial of Jesus more understandable. Pilate could
not afford to be accused at the imperial court of having failed to execute one
who claimed to be "the king of the Jews." This was treason in the
eyes of the Roman government, a crime worthy of gruesome execution such as
crucifixion. THE
ACCUSATION After condemning Jesus, the Council in a body led
Jesus to the palace where Pilate was staying. The term “praetorium" refers to the residence of the governor,
where he also carried out his governmental functions. King Herod had built a luxurious
fortress-palace along the west wall of the city. This was a more comfortable
place to stay than in the fortress of Antonia at the northwestern corner of the
temple area. It must have been about For ceremonial reasons they refused to go into the
judgment hall in the palace lest they become unclean and unqualified to observe
the festival by entering into the palace of a non-Jew. Pilate came out to speak
to them on a platform in front of the judgment hall as shown in the filmstrip. Note the accusations against Jesus as detailed in Luke
23:2: 1. Jesus is corrupting the Jewish nation; 2. He keeps
people from paying taxes; 3. He says
He is Christ (Messiah), a King. Each of these accusations had dangerous political
overtones, which Pilate as the official Roman representative had to consider. In his questioning, Pilate paid careful attention to
only the third accusation. Anyone who set himself up as king was in opposition
to the emperor. Read how carefully Jesus explained the heavenly nature of His
kingdom. Jesus was a king, but not an earthly king in opposition to the Roman
government. Sending Jesus to Herod Antipas, the governor of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Florence/Scala. All of Pilate's protestations of Jesus' innocence did
little good. Jesus' accusers were determined that He must die. Pilate's past
record and the relations of the Jewish Council with the imperial court proved
to be Pilate's undoing. The Council indirectly threatened Pilate when they
said that if he released this man, he was not the emperor's friend since
everyone who made himself a king rebelled against the emperor. Pilate got the signal. The only way to solve the dilemna and come out personally unscathed was to condemn
Jesus. This he did even though he rejected any responsibility for His death. To
demonstrate this, he washed his hands in front of the crowd. They responded,
"His blood be on us and on our children." |