Mark 15:1-20, Jesus On Trial 2
Introduction:
Last time we saw recorded in the scriptures Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest. Jesus had been on trial before the Sanhedrin council and the verdict of guilty of blasphemy had been handed down. In Mark 15, the scene continues for us. As we have noted previously, each of the gospel writers presents a unique account concerning the final day of Jesus. Therefore, we will include the information of the other gospel writers as we go through the account of Jesus’ second trial.
The Trial Events
Pilate, the person
Before we begin the story, it is useful for us to know something about Pontius Pilate. Pilate was appointed as Roman governor by Tiberius Caesar in 26 A.D. Pilate typically resided in Caesarea and governed over the land of Judea . However, for the Passover, Pilate would come to Jerusalem to oversee the festival to be sure to keep the peace and maintain order. It is also useful for us to understand that Pilate was not known for kindness and generosity in the region. In Luke 13:1 we find out that Pilate had slaughtered some Galilean worshippers and mixed their blood with the sacrifices they were to offer. Historically we read that Pilate, in an effort to glorify Tiberius Caesar, ordered that flags bearing the image of Tiberius be raised throughout Jerusalem in the middle of the night. Of course, such images were outlawed by the law of Moses and caused the Jews to revolt. The Jews went to Caesarea to plead with Pilate to remove the flags, which Pilate refused to do. So the Jews all went face down on the ground around Pilate’s house and lay motionless for five days and nights. Finally, Pilate sent word for the people to go to the stadium to receive their answer. Once the Jewish crowd was in the stadium, Pilate ordered a contingent of Roman soldiers, arrayed in full armor, to surround the Jews. Pilate then declared that they would all be cut to pieces if they did not accept the images of Caesar. Then the order was given to the soldiers to draw their swords. The Jews responded that they would rather die than allow the images to remain, to the surprise of Pilate. Pilate could kill this crowd, causing great upheaval and sure revolts in Judea . But he chose not to, for to do such and to shed this much blood would have caused him to not be held in favor in Rome . The important role of the governor was to maintain the peace, and if the governor could not do such, another would be appointed in his place. Therefore, we learn the cruelty of Pilate. But we also learn that Pilate will do anything to maintain the peace since he has already had some unfavorable instances take place during his governorship.
First meeting (15:1-5)
The Sanhedrin has bound Jesus and has taken him to Pilate who would have been residing in the fortress of Antonia, the Roman outpost in Jerusalem . Pilate asks what the charges are that are being brought against Jesus. The Jewish leaders respond that if Jesus were not a criminal, then they would not have brought Him to Pilate. The leaders go on to accuse Jesus of subverting the nation, opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be the Messiah, a king. Pilate responded by telling the Jewish leaders to judge Him by their law. However, the Jews responded that they did not have the right to execute anyone. Therefore, Pilate takes Jesus in and begins to question Him.
Pilate seems to have disdain for Jesus from the beginning because of His claim. The Greek would literally read, “You? You are the king of the Jews?” What was kingly looking about Jesus? Nothing, just as the prophets had spoken that there would be nothing special about His appearance that the people would hold Him in esteem. Jesus responded, “You have said it.” In this dialogue, Jesus is showing that He is not a physical king who is trying to overthrow. In fact, Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 ). Pilate then goes out to the Jews and tells them that he finds no basis for a charge against Him. But the chief priests and the scribes begin to accuse Jesus all the more, to which Jesus remains silent. To Pilate’s great amazement, Jesus is unwilling to respond to the accusations. The Jews continue to accuse Jesus that He has stirred up the people all over Judea by His teaching, and how He had started in Galilee and come down to Judea . Pilate seizes on these words. Pilate asks if Jesus is a Galilean and when he finds this to be the case, Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Pilate does not want to have anything to do with this mess, and so Jesus is now sent to Herod.
Jesus and Herod (Luke 23:8-12)
Mark does not record the fact that Jesus stood before Herod Antipas. We also should consider some preliminary information about Herod as we did with Pilate. Herod has had no trouble executing Jews in his lifetime, either. One of Herod’s most notable acts was beheading John the Baptist and putting his head on a silver platter. Also recall that Herod had been wanting to meet Jesus. This is recorded for us in Mark 6:14-16. When Herod heard about the mighty works of Jesus, he had supposed that John had arisen from the dead.
Luke tells us that when Jesus came to see Herod, Herod was greatly pleased because he had been wanting to see Jesus for a long time. What Herod hoped was that Jesus would perform some sort of miracle. Herod asked Jesus many questions, but again Jesus did not respond. The chief priests and the scribes were standing there vehemently accusing Him, yet Jesus said nothing. So, in an act of great mockery, Herod dresses Jesus with an elegant robe and sends Jesus back to Pilate. Herod has nothing with which to convict Jesus. Up until this point, Pilate and Herod were enemies. But on this day they became friends.
Jesus and Pilate 2 (Mark 15:6-20)
Jesus is sent back to Pilate. Pilate calls the Jewish leaders together and tells them that he has examined Jesus and has found no basis for the charges. Further, Herod has also examined Jesus and sent Him back. Therefore, Jesus has done nothing deserving of death. Pilate would like to simply punish Jesus and release Him. But now the crowd gets involved. Before Pilate simply lets Jesus go, the crowd demands that Pilate keep the custom of releasing a prisoner whom the people request. This looks like this will be Pilate’s way out, so Pilate is happy to oblige. In fact, Pilate says, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” Pilate knew that the reason Jesus had been handed over to him was because the Jews’ leaders envied Jesus. But the Jewish leaders went through the crowd, stirring them up so that they would choose to release Barabbas instead. Pilate asks what he is to do with Jesus, and the crowd responds, “Crucify Him!” Pilate is going to make one more effort to try to save Jesus. Pilate orders that Jesus be flogged. Historians tell us that the flogging would have removed the skin off Jesus’ back and would have laid bare the muscles and bones. His back would have been a bloody mess. Then they stripped Jesus of His clothes, tearing open those freshly made wounds from the flogging, put a purple robe on Him and twisted a crown of thorns and placed it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt down in front of Him, mocking Him “Hail, king of the Jews!” Then they spit on Jesus and took the reed out of His hand and hit Him on the head with it. After this, the gospel of John tells us that Pilate came out to the people and told them that he found no basis for charges against Jesus. Then Pilate shouted, “Here is the man!” Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. This seems to have been done to invoke the sympathy of the people to let Jesus go. It was not customary for the Romans to flog those that would be crucified. The most likely explanation is that Pilate did this so the people would have compassion and let Jesus go. However, upon presenting Jesus, the chief priests and Jewish leaders began to shout, “Crucify! Crucify!” The rest of the crowd joined in. Pilate responds that they should not take Jesus and crucify Him because there is no charge against Jesus. But the Jews insisted all the more that Jesus must die according to their law because He claimed to be the Son of God. John’s account also tells us that Pilate continued to try to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” At these words, Pilate brings Jesus back out, and Pilate sits in the judge’s seat known as the Stone Pavement. Pilate announced, “Here is your king!” The Jews responded, “Take Him away! Crucify Him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Words that would never have come out of the mouths of the Jewish leaders are uttered so that at any cost Jesus would be crucified. Pilate now sees that he is getting nowhere in trying to let Jesus go. In fact, a riot and uproar was beginning to form. To prevent things from getting out of control and being in trouble with Rome for allowing an uprising, Pilate took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility.” All the people answered, “His blood be on us and our children.” Therefore, Pilate grants Barabbas’ release and surrenders Jesus. When they mocked Jesus some more, they took the purple robe off Jesus, tearing again at His wounds from the flogging, put His own clothes on Him and led Him out to be crucified.
As we can see, the second trial was as illegitimate as the first trial. In the first trial, many of the Jewish laws were broken to secure a conviction against Jesus. In the second trial, the verdict had been passed repeatedly that Jesus was innocent, not only by Pilate, but also by Herod. But the sentence of death was secured because the crowd was stirred up by the Jewish leaders demanding Jesus’ death. Jesus was innocent, but the people wanted to see Him die. Rather than deal with the problems of an unruly mob, Pilate obeys the will of the people. There are many lessons that we can consider from the scene we have just read. But we will simply look at two lessons for ourselves today. One lesson is from Pilate and the other lesson from the crowd.
Applications
Caught up with the crowd or making a stand
First, let us consider a lesson from the actions of Pilate. Pilate had an important decision to make. He had the opportunity to do what was right, or what was unjust. The decision laid squarely in his hands. Up to a point, Pilate had done everything correctly. He had found Jesus innocent. He sent Jesus to Herod to try to let Herod handle it. Pilate took steps to harm and humiliate Jesus in an effort to save Jesus’ life because the only reason the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead was that they envied Him. Pilate knew this. But instead of acting upon what he knew to be the right course of action, Pilate caved in to the demands of the people. Instead of letting an innocent man go, Pilate was more concerned about maintaining his position with Rome and quieting the people. Righteousness was covered by selfishness. Righteousness was buried by listening to the masses. The popular choice was not the godly choice.
How easy it is for us to be caught up with the masses. It is so easy to be the politician, see what the majority desires, and go in that direction. There is no concern for truth. There is no concern for what is right. All that matters is fitting in, going with the flow, not standing out, and siding with the majority. We can do this on a personal level. With people that we know who are doing unrighteous things or saying things that should not be said, do we tell them to stop, or do we grin and go along with the crowd? It is easy to let unrighteousness slip by because we want to be part of the crowd. We do not want to stand out, be different, or make a stand. But God has called us to stand out when He said, “Be holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16 ). People are to think us strange because we do not run with them and involve ourselves in the same things they are involved in (1 Peter 4:4). God says that we are not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). This means that we cannot be like the crowd. We are not allowed to blend into the world. We are to stick out like sore thumbs. In fact, Jesus said that we are to stand out like a lamp in a dark room. Our righteousness is to be obvious and evident to all.
But this also applies to us as Christians in the Church. It is easy for us to find out where the majority stands in regards to spiritual questions, and simply go along with the majority. We can listen to well-known preachers, read brotherhood papers, and draw our conclusions based solely upon someone else’s belief. Paul warned us of this problem, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). We can gather a majority of teachers so that we can hear the words we want to hear. But what matters is the truth. What matters is what God’s word says. To stand for God means that even among our brethren there will be times when we must stand with the few. We cannot sacrifice the truth for the sake of appeasing the crowd. That is the route Pilate took. He simply did what it took to quiet the people. We must be prepared to make our stand in the world and, when necessary among the brethren, to do the will of God.
The people’s choice
For our second action, I want us to consider the actions of the people, for they also had an important choice to make: Jesus or Barabbas. Barabbas was an insurrectionist who had committed murder in an uprising. We often think of Barabbas simply as a murderer, but that would not be what the Jews thought of when they looked at Barabbas. This man was trying to overthrow the Romans and in the process of a revolt, Barabbas had killed someone. To the Romans, Barabbas was certainly worthy of death because of the murder. But many of the Jews would have been more sympathetic to Barabbas. Barabbas was what the Jews were looking for in a deliverer. They wanted someone who would raise his hand against the Romans and try to free them from Roman rule. As we noted at the beginning of this lesson, the Jews had continual problems with the Romans, either from the Romans interfering with their religion, or because the Jews would look for signs of weakness in the empire and attack to try to gain freedom. Judas Maccabees and his brother were glorified for their revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had defiled the temple. In fact, the Jews still commemorate the outcome of this revolt in the holiday called Hanukkah. This is the kind of leader the Jews were looking for. This is what the Jews were looking for in their Messiah, fulfilling prophecy that the Messiah would rule with an iron scepter and dash into pieces all the nations that came against Him. Therefore, they would have been sympathetic to Barabbas.
The people had a decision to make. Would they release Jesus or Barabbas? The multitudes had shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” But Jesus had not come and done what they had hoped. The Roman rule continued to be upon them, and this one who claimed to be the Son of God had been teaching that His kingdom was not of this world. Jesus was teaching the destruction of the temple and woes upon the city of Jerusalem . But Jesus did not measure up to what the people desired nor expected. Barabbas, however, was someone who was fighting Rome and trying to liberate the people of Israel . There was a fundamental choice put before the people: Would they choose the one who they thought their leader should be like, or would they choose the true Messiah, though He did not fit their expectations? As we know, the people chose Barabbas, the one they idealized and the one they wanted to succeed. They rejected the Son of God and shouted all the more to crucify Him.
The same decision stands before us today. We can look to Jesus hoping for Him to be someone to satisfy our agenda. Today, Jesus has become a representation of someone who will satisfy our social, emotional, or political agendas. If you want people to not eat meat, teach that Jesus was a vegetarian. If you want to make homosexuality acceptable, teach that Jesus did not condemn it and suggest that Sodom and Gomorrah were only condemned for their lack of hospitality. We can fall into the trap of looking to Jesus and only wanting to find what we are looking for. When we do so, we reject the true Son of God.
What is Jesus to us? Is He simply a problem solver to us? Is He a tool to blame others for shortcomings to glorify ourselves? Is He someone we follow for some general guidelines to a good life? Is He someone we think will make us rich? We can look to Jesus with all sorts of motives, or we can accept Jesus as He truly is. We can have who we want Jesus to be, or we can conform our lives to the life of Christ. Who will we choose? Will we choose a false Messiah who will be our genie of the lamp or will we choose the true Jesus and conform and submit to Him? Our salvation depends upon the choice we make.
