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Author: Stephen Weller
545 words, 3 minutes read time

The Next Stop Is Before Pilate

Scripture: Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:70-71, 23:1

In the previous lesson Jesus was brought before the whole council to confirm his guilt. Again, they will find Jesus guilty of death on the basis of the truth he claims about himself. In this lesson the trial will end with a guilty verdict and they will take Jesus bound to Pilate the governor.

^{Lk 22:70} So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” ⁷¹ Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”

We ended the previous lesson with Jesus saying, “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” Based on that statement they ask him if he was the Son of God, to which he responded, “You say that I am.” Notice that Jesus did not answer their question directly with a “Yes” or “No” and that he did not deny that he was. What he did was to use a Greek expression that deflects responsibility back upon the one asking the question and in their minds they hear him saying that he is. Indirectly Jesus is saying that he is the Son of God and on that basis they declare him guilty.

^{Mt 27:1} When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. ^{Mk 15:1} The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and ^{Lk 23:1} then the whole company of them arose and ^{Mt 27:2} they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

“When morning came” was already mentioned by Luke at the beginning of this section when he said, “When day came.” Issues like this occur when trying to harmonize text from several gospels as the authors may sequence their statements differently. At this point we know it is morning.

In the timeline of the narrative we are following it would be Friday morning, but according to the timeline, that in my opinion, is more accurate, it is now Thursday morning.

At this time “all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.” The counsel, which is the Sanhedrin, did not have the right to execute a person convicted of a capital crime as that right was reserved for Roman authorities, especially when dealing with a high-profile person like Jesus. As a result, Jesus would have to appear before a Roman official and be seen as guilty in order to be executed.

Because it was Passover, Pilate was temporarily in Jerusalem to maintain peace, and so they bound Jesus and delivered him over to Pilate the governor to have him give the orders to execute Jesus.

Conclusion

What just happened to Jesus is happening today in different parts of the world where Christians are being persecuted. Christians are being charged with things they are not guilty of and put in prison or like with Jesus are condemned to death.