Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/719

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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]

↑ 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.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.”

[3] 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.

[4] Perverting our nation. From their allegiance to Rome.

[5] 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.

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