John 19:1-11

PRONOUNCED INNOCENT

Text: John 19:1-11

1

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.

2

And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment;

3

and they came unto him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck him with their hands.

4

And Pilate went out again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find no crime in him.

5

Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man!

6

When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him.

7

The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

8

When Pilate therefore heard this saying he was the more afraid;

9

and he entered into the Praetorium again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

10

Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee?

11

Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin.

Queries

a.

Why did Pilate not release Jesus immediately after finding no crime in him?

b.

Why did the Jews not take Jesus themselves and crucify Him as Pilate had invited them to do?

c.

Why did Jesus not answer Pilate's question? (John 19:9)

Paraphrase (Harmony)

And Pilate again answered and said unto them, What then shall I do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him, And Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out exceedingly, Crucify him. And he said unto them a third time, Why, what evil hath this man done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him and release him. But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. And their voices prevailed.
And Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, gave sentence that what they asked for should be done. And he released Barabbas, him that for insurrection and murder had been cast into prison, whom they asked for; but Jesus he scourged and delivered up to their will to be crucified. And the soldiers of the governor took Jesus, led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they stripped him, and clothed him with purple and put on him a scarlet robe. And they plaited a crown of thorns and put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spat upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head, and bowing their knees, worshipped him.
And Pilate went out again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find no crime in him. Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man! When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was the more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin.

Summary

The theme of this section is the repeated pronouncements of Pilate that Jesus is innocent and his repeated efforts to release Jesus. Pilate, due to his political cautiousness and religious superstitions, is afraid to exonerate Jesus and free Him completely.

Comment

When Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate attired in the royal robes of mockery it was a sign to Pilate that Herod, who from his position must have known Jesus-' history, had no knowledge of any seditious practices in Galilee, and regarded Him as a harmless man, whose Messianic pretensions were rather to be ridiculed than severely punished.
Pilate was convinced that, politically speaking, the Nazarene himself was harmless to Caesar's throne. In fact, as one reads the account of Pilate's efforts in this section one is aware that Pilate's conscience is telling him to release Jesus. Pilate pronounces Jesus innocent of the charges. To Pilate the Galilean is a philosopher concerned with the kingdom of truth and not with Caesar's kingdom.

But the Jews are not to be satisfied until the Nazarene is put to death! Pilate takes Jesus and orders Him to be scourged. Scourging was a Roman method of extracting from condemned criminals confession of guilt or secrets. The scourge, or whip, consisted of a short wooden handle to which several leather thongs were attached. Fastened on the ends of these leather thongs were pieces of lead or brass or sharp pointed pieces of bone. The victim was usually tied to a post (Acts 22:25) and the blows were applied to the back and loins, sometimes even to the face and the bowels. The body was at times torn and lacerated to such an extent that the inner flesh was exposed and made to look like the raw meat of a butchered animal. At times even the entrails and inner organs of the victim were exposed. So hideous was the punishment that the victim usually fainted and sometimes died from it. It is no wonder that after such torture, lack of rest and agony of the soul this night that another (Simon of Cyrene) was forced to carry the Nazarene's cross (Luke 23:26) when He stumbled under its weight. The soldiers added insult to injury. They made a crown of thorns and jammed it down upon His head and began to mock Him and strike Him. The soldiers are permitted to array Him in mock robes of a king.

Pilate's purpose was basically one of political expediency. His conscience told him this was an innocent man. Especially would the courageous, unreviling manner in which Jesus bore this punishment increase his conviction that He was innocent. Yet his precarious position as governor must be guarded. He had already fallen into ill-repute with the powers that be in Rome over mismanagement of a previous position. He must satisfy the blood-thirst of these influential Jews. After having scourged Jesus, Pilate brings Him out for the bloodthirsty mob to behold. Pilate hoped they would see that he cross-examined the Nazarene by the scourge and that under the whip He did not confess guilt. Perhaps Pilate also felt sure that the sight of this One so severely tortured would satisfy the mob and would be the expedient to solve the whole problem. Pilate would not have to kill an innocent man and he would appease the Jews all with one stroke. Thus Pilate displayed Jesus, Ecce homo!
It seems as if the mere sight of the tortured Jesus enraged the mob all the more. His patience and composure was unexpected. The malignant envy and jealousy that had engulfed their reason and their feeling led them to cry even more hatefully, Crucify him, crucify him! Death was the only expedient the Jewish rulers would tolerate. Death was the only alternativeit was either His death or their positions and purses.

Pilate repeats, time after time, that the man is innocent (cf. John 18:38; John 19:4; John 19:6 and parallels, Matthew 27:23-24; Mark 15:14; Luke 23:4; Luke 23:13-15; Luke 23:22). But Pilate will not follow the light of his conscience. He allows his conscience to be seared with the hot iron of expediency. Some are wont to say, Let us not condemn Pilatehe did the best he could. How was Pilate to know who this Jesus was, Hind-sight is better than foresight. We who have the advantage of looking back on history should not sit in judgment upon Pilate. Some of this attitude is true but most of it is not. Pilate did not do the best he could! He knew enough about Jesus to know He was not guilty and that He should not be put to death. Pilate will be judged by the law of conscience (cf. Romans, Chapter s 1 and 2, and 1 John 3:19-21). This was the critical moment. The Jews had accused Jesus of sedition and solicited Pilate for authority to have Him executed (the Jews could not execute anyone according to Roman law). But Pilate had investigated, questioned and cross-examined (scourged) Jesus and pronounced Him, Not guilty! Pilate was about to release Him. Pilate was not really sentencing Jesus here but was taunting the Jewish rulers. The Jews had troubled him, they had pressured him and were trying to get him to execute an innocent man. This would get him into more difficulty with Rome. Pilate, assured of the Nazarene's innocence, taunts them back. Pilate knows full well that the rulers know they have no authority to put anyone to death. So Pilate sarcastically says, Behold, the man. I find no crime in him. If you are so bent on spilling innocent blood do not trick me into doing your -dirty-work-' for you. Here he is, I will release himtake him yourselves, and crucify him.

The reason, therefore, that the Jews do not take Jesus immediately and crucify Him is that they could not. They must force Pilate, the Roman governor, the only one with sufficient authority, to pronounce the death sentence and execute Jesus.
The first ruse did not work! Jesus was acquitted of the first charge of treason. It was not the real charge which the Jewish rulers had charged Jesus with anyway. They had charged Him in their tribunals with blasphemy. They probably did not mention blasphemy to Pilate first for fear that Pilate would simply dismiss the whole affair as a religious squabble. But now it is the only recourse left to them.
Perhaps the Jews felt that Pilate was obligated to administer the full extent of the Jewish law since the Roman government had taken away the right of the Jews themselves to enforce their own laws. If this is true then the rulers of the Jews were asking Pilate to execute Jesus on the basis of the sentence of the Jewish law upon blasphemy.

When the Jews mentioned Jesus-' claims to be the Son of God it struck a note of superstitious fear in the heart of Pilate. His wife had already come to him speaking of dreams and omens concerning this man. The pagan Romans had adopted practically all the heathen religions under the sun. Many of these heathen religions taught that the gods often manifested themselves to men in the form of man. Perhaps Pilate began to be fearful that this Galilean might indeed be one of the gods and that the vengeance of the gods might come upon him if he allowed this god to be put to death. If Jesus had, at that moment, performed a miracle in the presence of Pilate, Pilate would have released Him immediately. But Pilate's response would have been motivated by a belief that Jesus was a pagan god and not from his sense of justice and Jesus-' innocence. Jesus did not so much as answer Pilate's question, Whence art thou? (John 19:9). Barnes gives four reasons why Jesus deemed it expedient not to answer: (1) Jesus had already told Pilate the nature of His kingdom (John 18:36-37); (2) Jesus had already said enough to satisfy Pilate of His innocence and Pilate was convinced; (3) It is not probable that Pilate would have understood Him if He had declared to him the truth about His origin and about His being the Son of God; (4) After what Pilate had already doneshowing his susceptibility to political pressure by scourging JesusJesus had no reason to expect justice at his hands, and therefore properly declined to make any further defense.

One of the most common reactions against fear is boasting and bullying. This was exactly the tack taken by Pilate. Pilate's question to Jesus in John 19:10 would be literally translated, To me you do not speak? As Hendriksen puts it, Hence, in order to conceal his fear he begins to boast! Pilate means to say, You cannot scare me with your claim to be one of the gods for you are my prisoner and I have the power of life and death over you.

The arrogance and presumptuousness of this mortal must be corrected and so Jesus speaks. Pilate is informed that even the small amount of power he exercises over men in this world did not originate with him or with his emperor. All mortal power is ordained from above. And all men in position of authority and power on this earth are responsible to the One God who grants such authority. Would that all men in authority in all the governments of the world might recognize and surrender to this revealed truth (cf. Romans 13:1 ff).

The therefore of John 19:11 refers to the guilt of Pilate's sin. Pilate had been granted authority to rule and make decisions by God and was therefore responsible to God. Pilate is making his decision about God's Son and will be held accountable for his decision. But Pilate's position, and as a consequence his ability to know about Jesus, is not as privileged as the position of the Jewish rulers. The Jewish rulers have been entrusted with the oracles of God and have been given the privileged position to really know the Messiahtherefore they have the greater sin. Unto whom much is given, from him much will be required! (cf. Romans 2:1-29).

Quiz

1.

What did Pilate learn from the way Herod had treated Jesus?

2.

Describe the Roman method of scourging.

3.

What was Pilate's purpose in ordering Jesus to be scourged?

4.

Why does Pilate say, Take him yourselves, and crucify him:?

5.

Why did Jesus not answer Pilate's question, Whence art thou?

6.

Why did Jesus inform Pilate of the origin of his authority?

7.

How does Pilate's God-given position have a bearing upon his sin in connection with Jesus?