After an exhausting night in prison, they led Jesus to the proud, murderous Roman governor, for the Jews were not entitled at that time to sentence anyone to death. So, the seventy elders of the people, including the chief priests, skilful judges, and notable scholars decided to kill Jesus with the hands of foreign unbelievers that it might be spread in the whole nation, through this shame, that Jesus appeared weak, refused by God, and driven away by the rulers of the people.
The cunning Jews did not tell Pilate that they sought Jesus’ death because of his testimony that he is the Son of the living God, and the promised Messiah, but they emphasized before the political court that he had made himself a king and ruler to deliver the nation from the nightmare of colonization.
Pilate asked him directly and briefly: “Are you a king?” Jesus did not deny this title, but proved and clarified his royal, spiritual office on earth. He would have easily saved himself, if he had restricted his answer within the religious goal, but he did not deny God’s faithfulness in the whole people, for the Most High did not only seek their hearts but also their lives, money, times, and systems. The faith in Christ includes the thought that the Son of God is the Proprietor, and that the design of the divine kingdom is to renew the worlds with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pilate did not understand the meaning of this confession of Jesus. However, he did not see in him a bloody rebel with sword and violence, but a harmless, pious, upright man. He smiled, and wished to release him and declare him innocent, in revenge of the rulers of the Jewish nation, but the political situations were disturbed throughout the Roman state. The Jews pressed on him cunningly until he preferred Pilate in the end to settle the matter quickly without noise.
Jesus remained silent before the complaints of the Jews, for he had faced the governor with the whole truth once and for all, clarifying to him the mystery of himself and his kingdom. Jesus knew that his end became near, but he was not afraid of his death, nor did he beg men for mercy, but he condemned their lies with his royal silence.
Woe to the man and the people who did not hear the word of God! For it is the only way to the grace. Blessed is the nation to whom God speaks in his kindness or his severity, for after he speaks to it, he favors it, cares for them who hear, and seeks their salvation.
Finally, as a compromise, Pilate offered the people the choice to release either a rebellious murderer, or the meek Lamb of God, seeking a lawful way to rescue Jesus. In fact, he played with the truth. However, the multitudes at all times do not prefer a humble man who calls them to repentance and self-denial, but a masterful hero who brings them freedom, money, and greatness by force. Accordingly, the religious leaders of the Jews stirred the individuals, and bought some of them to chain Jesus by a decisive, popular decision for death.
Pilate was willing to content the waves of disobedient multitudes, to make them easy that he might keep them quiet, with intent to please Caesar who used to execute the governors who were unable to manage their states regularly and peacefully. Pilate was afraid, and he preferred to remain under favor of Caesar rather than to judge rightly. He broke the truth, and sentenced the innocent Jesus to death on the cross to save himself, to please the Jewish agitators, and to ensure the security of the state.
Imagine dear brother how men condemned Jesus. The pious sought his crucifixion, and the multitudes raced and cried out to consume him. This is the spirit of disobedience of the father of disobedience, who intended to take away God that he might reign with violence, hatred, and injustice over every living being.
Whom would you choose if you lived at that time, and came to this court, Barabbas, the adventurer who promised his people with freedom, independence, and welfare, or Jesus, the kind, despised, meek Lamb of God who appeared weak and forgiving the sin of the world?
Examine your choice attentively, decide your fate, and bear witness to the Son of God today, for he is the Savior of the world, and he builds his kingdom in the hearts of his followers.