Matthew 27:11-26 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
After Jesus was arrested because of the self-interest of the priests and the leaders of Israel, Jesus is placed before Pilate the Roman governor of Israel. Pilate, knowing the political intrigue of the Israelite authorities, asks Jesus a pretentious question: Are you the king of the Jews? Pilate knows the answer, for since Rome has taken over the control of Israel from the Maccabees in 63 BC there has been no ruler of Israel other than the Romans. But Pilate plays out this theater for the Israelite leaders. Jesus understands fully what is going on in Pilate’s courtroom; He knows He is being interrogated for the benefit of his enemies. Consequently, Jesus responds, You have said so, then He says no more. Jesus’ unwillingness to defend himself surprises Pilate, but Jesus is doing the will of his Father, fulfilling the words of Isaiah. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7-8) The prophet’s words became a reality that day. Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Pilate knew he was being manipulated by Israel’s leaders to kill Jesus, but he did not want to fulfill their murderous intent, so he presents Jesus to the crowd of Israelites who had assembled to watch what would happen to Jesus. He decided to implement a Passover ritual established by the Romans to appease the Jews. The authorities would release anyone from prison that the Jewish people desired to be freed: it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. He presents Jesus to the gathering throng and asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Because of the perfidy of the chief priests and the elders, the crowd is persuaded to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Pilate, a murderous thug himself, still desired not to kill Jesus, for his wife had sent him a message of not to do anything with this man Jesus. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him. But when the crowd said to release Barabbas, Pilate’s hands were tied. He had to fulfill the custom that the Romans had established with the Israelites.
Barabbas was a revolutionary; as such, he was a threat to the Roman rule. He wanted to overthrow the control that the Romans had over Israel. He was a murderous criminal. The Bible says, Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder. (Luke 23:18) Pilate understood well the threat that Barabbas was to the Roman Empire. He was the last person Pilate wanted to set free, for Barabbas would once again be a thorn of resistance to the Roman’s authority. But the crowd who once thought Jesus, the miracle worker, would free them from Rome now sees him as an embarrassment to them. They see Jesus helpless in the hands of the Romans. Consequently, they were easily convinced by the Israelite leaders to yell, Crucify him! They probably thought, at least Barabbas would fight for them, using violence to overthrow their cruel oppressors. They saw no hope of Jesus doing anything for them now. Crucifying Jesus would rid themselves of this weak, meek man whose very existence symbolizes their nation’s weakness. Even Pilate’s question to Jesus, who is now in the hands of the Romans, Are you the king of the Jews? is emblematic of how powerless the Jewish people are in the hands of Rome. But for Pilate their shouts to release his enemy Barabbas made him angry. Their desire was contrary to his will. He wanted Jesus released, not Barabbas. Because of the crowd’s demands, Pilate has Jesus flogged, fulfilling another prophecy: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 KJV) The crowd’s demands caused Jesus to be sent to the cross bloody and bruised from the ill treatment He suffered. We hear the prophet say, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:2-3) God’s beloved Son does not go to the cross in power and strength but beaten and wounded for the transgressions of mankind.
Pilate wanted the people to know he was innocent of killing Jesus. He alone had the power to sentence capital punishment on anyone in Israel, but he wanted the people to understand that he knew Jesus was innocent of the charges against him, and that he was merely carrying out the will of the people, not his will. The crowd was so forcefully demanding that he crucify Jesus that he probably thought they would riot if he did not carry out their will. And if they rioted, he might lose his position as governor. Rome would choose another man who could better control these rebellious Jewish people. Not wanting to jeopardize his position, he succumbed to the will of the people. But he would not claim responsibility for Jesus’ crucifixion. When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” The Israelites that day demanded Jesus to be killed, but all mankind is responsible for Jesus’s death. The will of the Father was that the Lamb of God would go to the cross. He, the unblemished one who knew no sin, was placed on the cross at Passover for the sins of every man, woman and child who ever lived. Jesus presented himself to God to fulfill God’s desire to redeem mankind from sin. From the time of Adam and Eve, people have lived a wayward existence, strangers to their Father God. Jesus would be the mediator between man and God. His sacrifice would regain God’s favor toward mankind. He would bear the sin and guilt that separates humankind from God. The Jewish priests offered up unblemished lambs as a propitiation for the Jewish people. These lambs held God’s wrath on sin at abeyance. The Israelites had the law of God, the light of God, yet they did not serve him with their whole heart, mind and soul. They were people of law, so they knew better than the heathens how to please God. The heathens lived in darkness, but the Jews celebrated the Passover, a time to remember that they too were in darkness, living lives to the gods of this world in Egypt. But the Passover reminds them that they were delivered from this lifestyle and were set free to discover God through the law of Moses. However, Jesus came not only to deliver the Jewish people out of slavery, out of darkness, but all of mankind. The lambs offered by the Jewish people under the obligation of the law could never truly release their souls to God, a better, more efficacious sacrifice had to be given. The sacrifices of lambs could not really free them from the eventual judgement of God. They had to experience a better cleansing, a permanent cleansing from sin. In Hebrews we read, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:8-10 KJV) All of mankind has been made permanently clean before God’s eyes through the one sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Jesus paid the complete penalty for the rebellion of all people to God’s authority. The Bible says, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) This familiar verse contains the truth of the gospel. By faith IN CHRIST’S WORK AT THE CROSS, we enter into the portals of heaven. We are perfect without ONE FAULT because Christ who is without ONE FAULT is our Savior. He presents us to the Father God as completely righteous. The Father accepts Jesus’ work on the cross, and his wrath is forever held back, forgotten as far as the East is from the West. Enter into MY REST, my good and faithful children, for you are my beloved children of the resurrection. Praise God forever!
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