JESUS IS TRIED BY PILATE

Mark 15:1-15 / Keywords 15:2

"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

 

15:1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.

14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

1. The Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus to death, but they had no authority to execute him. For that, they needed to involve the Roman governor, Pilate. The charge was that Jesus claimed to be a king. So, Pilate confronted Jesus, who was bound and bleeding, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus affirmed his kingship. Jesus is a spiritual king. He is the testimony of God who is sovereign over all things. He did not come to threaten the kings of the world, but to save his people from their sins. As before, Jesus did not reply to his accusers, to the amazement of Pilate.

 

2. Pilate did his best to find a way to release Jesus, for he knew that the Jewish leaders were only serving their own self-interest in bringing charges against Jesus. He tried using the custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover festival. But the religious leaders provoked the crowd to request the insurrectionist, Barabbas. So, Pilate, though he knew Jesus to be innocent, handed him over to be crucified. This was the will of God for Jesus. In this way, even in being condemned, Jesus is revealed as our king.

 

Prayer Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to bear the condemnation of my sin. Bless me to worship him as king.

One Word Jesus is my king