A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/LXXIII. Jesus before Pilate and Herod
Chapter LLXXIII.
JESUS BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD.
[Mat. 27, 2. Mark 15, 1. Luke 23, 1. John 18, 28.]
THE great council of the Jews, called the Sanhedrin, could not pronounce the final sentence of death without the permission of the Roman governor. Therefore the chief priests and the ancients of the people led Jesus before Pontius Pilate, who then governed Judasa for the Roman emperor. Pilate went out [1] to the excited crowd, and asked: “What accusation[2] bring you against this Man?” They answered[3]: “We have found Him perverting our nation[4], and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He is Christ the King.”[5]
Hearing this, Pilate went into the hall [6] where Jesus was, and asked Him: “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered[7]: “My kingdom is not of this world.”[8] Then Pilate went out again to the Jews, and said that he found no cause[9] for condemning the person whom they had brought before him.
But they insisted that Jesus was guilty of sedition, stirring up the people from Galilee even to Jerusalem. To this charge Jesus made no answer. Then Pilate, seeing that He remained silent, asked Him: “Answerest Thou nothing? Behold in how many things[10] they accuse Thee!” Still Jesus was silent[11], and His silence surprised the governor exceedingly.
But as soon as Galilee was mentioned, Pilate asked if the accused were a Galilean [12], and being told that He was, he remembered that Herod, king of Galilee, was then in Jerusalem. Now, Pilate wished to rid himself of a case, in which he was obliged either to go against his conscience or to displease the Jews. He, therefore, sent our Saviour to Herod [13], that Herod might set Jesus free or condemn Him. Herod was glad [14] to see Jesus, of whom he had heard many wonderful things. He hoped to witness some great miracle. When Jesus was brought before him he asked many questions, prompted by idle curiosity. But our Lord, knowing his motive, made no answer[15] to any of his questions. Then Herod and his court mocked Jesus, and treated Him as a fool, and, clothing Him in a white garment[16], sent Him back to Pilate. And “Herod and Pilate were made friends[17] that same day, for before they were enemies one to another.”
COMMENTARY.
The Love of Jesus. Contemplate Jesus led about from one judgmentseat to the other, from Annas to Caiphas, from Caiphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate; how much He suffered from false accusations, scoffs, mockery and ill-treatment, and then remember that He suffered all this for love of you, and to make satisfaction for your sins, whereby you have despised and offended God.
Jesus suffered patiently, and has taught us by His example that we too should be ready patiently to suffer scorn and persecution for His sake, for faith and for virtue.
Jesus suffered undeservedly. The traitor Judas was not the only one to affirm his Lord’s innocence. The Roman governor openly declared: “I find no cause in this Man”; neither could Herod discover any guilt in Jesus, although the chief priests and scribes “earnestly accused Him”; and not being able to condemn Him, he treated Him with frivolous contempt and “set Him at nought” as a harmless fool! The Eternal Father suffered His only-begotten Son to be ill-treated and insulted, but He did not suffer even a shadow of guilt to rest on the Most Holy.
God turns even evil to His glory. The chief priests and scribes were obeying the dictates of hatred when they demanded that our Blessed Lord should be crucified. But while they thought to gratify their evil passions, they were unwillingly and unwittingly carrying out the decrees of God, and were the instruments of His compassionate and divine love. It was the eternal counsel of the Most Holy Trinity that the Incarnate Son of God should die on the Cross to work for us “a plentiful Redemption”; and not only the prophets, but our Blessed Lord Himself foretold distinctly that this was to be (see chapter XV and LV). Thus, while His enemies desired to obtain at any price that Jesus should be condemned to the ignominious death of the Cross, believing that they would thereby destroy His work for good and all, they in reality helped to complete it, and to fulfil the prophecies.
The kingdom and royal dignity of Jesus Christ. Jesus, the humbled and suffering captive, spoke truly when He said to the representative of the emperor of world- wide Rome: “I am a king!” His kingdom is a priestly kingdom, of which He is both Priest and King, and which He governs by offering Himself up, and conquering the hearts of men. He who had not where to rest His Head declared: “I have a kingdom, but it is not of this world!” This kingdom of Jesus Christ is His holy Church. She is in the world, and for the world, but not of the world; she comes from heaven, and is the kingdom of divine truth and grace. When our Lord Jesus Christ stood before Pilate this kingdom was very small, but, since then, He has conquered to Himself lands and nations over the whole face of the earth, not by force of arms, but by the power of the Cross, on which the God- Man offered Himself, and which is the sceptre with which He, as King, rules over His Church. Still the Church is a kingdom not of this world, for her object is no worldly or natural one, but one entirely supernatural, namely the salvation and sanctification of souls.
The hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The chief priests and ancients pretended that it was against their conscience to enter the house of the Gentile governor, but it did not give their false consciences even a qualm to accuse Jesus wrongfully, or to demand the death of One who was innocent. They guarded against any exterior defilement, but it never occurred to them to cleanse their hearts from hatred, envy and bloodthirstiness. We see how just was our Lord’s denunciation of the Pharisees: “Woe to you . . who leave judgment and mercy and faith.” Those Christians who are outwardly pious, but who nurse hatred and enmity in their hearts, are very like the Pharisees!
Application. See how patiently your Saviour suffered! He was falsely accused, but He answered not a word! He was mocked at and scoffed, but yet He was silent! And yet you are impatient and angry the moment anything disagreeable is said or done to you! Imitate your Lord for the future, and do not return evil for evil. Whenever you feel moved to anger, or impatience, keep silence and say to yourself: “O Jesus, I will bear this for love of Thee!”
- ↑ Went out. The chief priests and ancients would not enter the hall of justice, for fear of being defiled; for to enter the house of the Gentile Pilate would have made them legally unclean, and excluded them from the paschal sacrifices.
- ↑ What accusation. These words showed the Jews that Pilate would not consent to confirm their sentence without further investigation as to its justice. This vexed them, and they answered impatiently: “If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up to thee”, or, in other words: “Do not stand on ceremony, but just confirm our sentence, and let it be executed.” Pilate, therefore, answered them back: “Take Him, and judge Him according to your law.” The proud Roman meant to say: “If you will not prove the justice of your sentence before my judgment-seat, He deserves no more punishment than you yourselves can inflict.” But the Jews replied: “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” — “We cannot be satisfied with any petty punishment; and on that account we have brought Him to you, so that you may have Him put to death.”
- ↑ They answered. They now saw that it would be necessary to bring a valid accusation against Him, if they wished to ensure His being put to death. They themselves had condemned Him on account of His presumed blasphemy, the punishment of which was, by the Jewish law, death by stoning. Our Lord’s enemies, however, did not wish Him to be stoned, but preferred His dying the death of the Cross, which was universally recognized as the most ignominious of deaths. If they could secure this, they made sure that His memory would be branded with infamy, and that every person would be ashamed to be counted as a follower of one crucified. They now, therefore, changed their accusation to that of seducing the people from their allegiance to the emperor, such an offence being, in the Roman law, punishable by death on the cross.
- ↑ Perverting our nation. From their allegiance to Rome.
- ↑ Christ the King. This accusation was totally false, for Jesus had said only a few days before: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” He had, indeed, said that He was the Christ, the Messias, but He had never declared Himself to be king of the Jews; on the contrary, He had escaped from the hands of the people when, after the miracle of the loaves, they wished to make Him their king. The Pharisees, moreover, refused to recognise Him as the Messias, for the very reason that He claimed no temporal or political power.
- ↑ Into the hall. So as to be alone with Him, and be able to carry on his investigation quietly and undisturbed by the clamours of the Jews.
- ↑ Answered. Jesus answered: “Thou hast said it (i. e. I am a king), but My kingdom &c. &c.”
- ↑ Of this world. It is not a political kingdom, but a kingdom of truth; and, he added, “for this cause I came into the world that I should give testimony to the truth”, i. e. that I should proclaim truth to the world.
- ↑ No cause. Pilate was quite convinced both by our Lord’s words and by His calm and dignified bearing that He was absolutely innocent, and had no thought of undermining the Roman authority, and without any delay he declared to the chief priests that this was his conviction.
- ↑ How many things. What grave accusations they bring against Thee.
- ↑ Silent. Our Lord, by His silence, wished to imply that His innocence required no defending. This eloquent silence made such an impression on Pilate that he was seized with wonder and admiration.
- ↑ A Galilean. Jesus was from Galilee, in the sense that He had lived there from His childhood.
- ↑ To Herod. He said to himself: “I cannot condemn Him, because He is innocent. But the chief priests are so urgent that I should condemn Him to death that it would be best for me to wash my hands of the whole affair. In fact, Herod ought to judge Him, for he is prince of Galilee.” This was the same Herod Antipas who had caused St. John the Baptist to be beheaded, and it was by the unjust and cruel murderer of His precursor that Jesus was to be judged. The road along which Jesus went from Pilate’s house to that of Herod was thronged with pilgrims, and this was painful and humiliating for Him.
- ↑ Glad. This pleasure-seeking, worldly-minded prince expected to be amused and distracted by his interview with Jesus, and hoped that He would work wonders before him and his court, just as any juggler might do.
- ↑ No answer. Because Herod only wished to amuse himself and satisfy his vain curiosity. He cared nothing about the truth, nor did he trouble his head about the accusations brought against our Lord by the Pharisees (Luke 23, 10). His pride, however, was nettled by the silence of Jesus, which was so complete that he did not even hear the sound of His voice. He revenged himself by treating our Blessed Lord like a fool, and his officers and retainers did the same.
- ↑ While garment. This was done to make Jesus appear like a ridiculous, half-witted would-be-king.
- ↑ Friends. Pilate had offended Herod by encroaching on his rights, but his action in sending Jesus to him flattered Herod, who took it as an act of courteous attention and deference to his position. Our innocent Lord had to pay the price of this selfish friendship between His unjust judges, neither of whom cared to do justice to Him. Jesus had much to suffer on His road to Herod's house, and still more on His return to Pilate; for it was now broad daylight, and as He passed along, dressed in His robe of mockery and surrounded by Herod’s myrmidons, a crowd of people gathered round Him, at whose hands he had to suffer countless insults and injuries.