Six Trials

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Six Trials

John 18:29-32

29 Pilate [Pilatos] then [oun] went out [exerchomai] unto [pros] them [autos] , and [kai] said [epo] , What [tis] accusation [kategoria] bring ye [phero] against [kata] this [toutou] man [anthropos] ?
30 They answered [apokrinomai] and [kai] said [epo] unto him [autos] , If [ei me] he [houtos] were [en] not [ei me] a malefactor [kakopoios] , we would [an] not [ou] have delivered [paradidomi] him [autos] up [paradidomi] unto thee [soi] .
31 Then [oun] said [epo] Pilate [Pilatos] unto them [autos] , Take [lambano] ye [humeis] him [autos] , and [kai] judge [krino] him [autos] according [kata] to your [humon] law [nomos] . The Jews [Ioudaios] therefore [oun] said [epo] unto him [autos] , It is [exesti] not [ou] lawful [exesti] for us [hemin] to put [apokteino] any man [oudeis] to death [apokteino] :
32 That [hina] the saying [logos] of Jesus [Iesous] might be fulfilled [pleroo] , which [hos] he spake [epo] , signifying [semaino] what [poios] death [thanatos] he should [mello] die [apothnesko] . KJV-Interlinear

29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, 'What accusation do you bring against this Man?' 30 They answered and said to him, 'If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.' 31 Pilate therefore said to them, 'Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.' The Jews said to him, 'We are not permitted to put anyone to death,' 32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die. NASB

Luke 23:2
2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, 'We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.' NASB

The elders, priests, and scribes were more afraid of the scandal of their deed, than the sin itself. Jesus has done so much good and had such a remarkable reputation that it would be impossible to justify His execution to the populous. So the onus or stigma of this action had to be thrown onto someone else.

The Romans were not liked, but they were feared. Besides they alone had the power of a 'legitimate' appearance of a legal execution. Stoning was more of a popular solution for lessor crimes of passion, but the Cross and crucifixion was one method saved for the very bad and lower life's who had little or no respect for society. It was used in cases of murder, treason and such.

This association of Jesus to the Cross would break, certainly, His public reputation. Or so they thought.

What do you think of someone who has been arrested, convicted, and imprisoned? Well, of course you, like most of the public, attach a stigma of taint onto that person. You neither have respect for the person nor his opinion about anything. And that is exactly the objective here. Not only to get rid of Jesus, but to make him a curse and to carry the stigma of it, to discredit or at the very least, to dilute His reputation and teachings, such that the public opinion of Him would simply fade away.

So Jesus is to be made sin for us, but more than that He is to be treated as the lowest form of humanity, in the publics eye. And God allows this because it is Gods opinion of humanity on the whole. As sinful man, mankind is the lowest form of creation. Remember that Adam means red dust, and more than that, Adam means common and useless red dust. Adam was formed of the dust outside of the Garden, then He was brought into the Garden where he failed and was then evicted. Mankind is then, nothing more than useless red dust. And Jesus Christ was sent to that level in order to raise us all up to a level higher than even Lucifer held prior to his fall from grace.

So now as Judas is returning his blood money, Jesus is being taken to the palace of Pilate. The Jewish leadership remain out in the courtyard so as not to make themselves 'unclean.' Noble gesture for those who are hypocritical, using their own laws to their own convenience.

Remember that the concept of uncleanness and cleanness is related to the concept of fellowship. One has to be clean in order to have a relationship with God. This is where confession comes in. These men even abused this spiritual principle, as they abused all the teachings of the scriptures.

Pilate inquires as to the reason of their visit. They presented Jesus as an evil doer, and began to list His offenses via their lies. Pilate sees nothing in the charges and wants no part of it. 'Go take care of this yourself.'

'But we cannot execute Him.' And that is the part that they really want. A Roman execution via crucifixion so that all of this will have the appearance of legitimacy and that the Romans will receive the blunt of any criticism which follows, if any, and not the Jewish leadership and priesthood.

Jesus had previously prophesied His condemnation by the chief priests, that He would be brought to the gentiles and be put to death by the gentiles via crucifixion, Matt. 20:19, Mk. 10:33, Lk. 18:32-33. This He said in the open public forum and now it is coming to pass. The chief priests, the elders and the leadership in general of Judea had condemned Jesus and now were attempting to recruit Pilate into their scheme. Their lies to Pilate indicate their knowledge of most of the things which Jesus said, so they were obviously selective in using only those things which would help them get rid of Jesus.

Pilate is not convinced, probably because this is all a very informal and non-procedural visit to his home. There is no indictment, no formal papers of arraignment, nothing but a battered and beaten up person standing bound in their midst.

Pilate goes back inside to ponder the matter while the priests wait outside.