The unresisting Son of God had now become an object for the sport and malice of the common soldiers who put on Him a purple robe (emblem of Gentile rulers) and a crown of thorns (emblem of the curse). They then carry their mockery further by placing a reed (emblem of weakness) in His hand and addressing Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” When Pilate saw our Lord with His bruised and bleeding body, wearing the crown of thorns and affording so terrible a spectacle of suffering and humiliation, he evidently hoped it might satisfy the hate and blood-lust of the Jewish rulers and that he might set our Lord free.
It is to be noted that Pilate twice declares, “I find no fault in Him”; and on the first occasion gives that as the reason for bringing our Lord forth, with the words, “Behold the Man!” As, however, the Jews still demanded our Lord’s crucifixion, Pilate tells them to go and do it and ways a second time, “for I find no fault in Him”.
What a fearful guilt all this places on the heads of the Jewish rulers. Our Lord’s perfect Goodness and His devastating exposure from time to time of the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees for their abominable “hypocrisy” had engendered an undying hatred in their wicked hearts which could only be solaced by see Him put to death by crucifixion.
When Pilate heard that our Lord Jesus Christ lay claim to being the Son of God, “he was the more afraid”. To a heathen Gentile who had closely observed our Lord’s meek yet majestic bearing while under the stress of a trial, it was not a matter for scorn that He made such a claim but one which could not be cast aside. Pilate, therefore, “went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou?” To this our Lord made no reply. Pilate is amazed at His silence and reminds Him that he has power either to crucify or release Him. Our Lord’s reply to this once again reveals that He recognized no second causes. He, therefore, says to Pilate, “Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19: 8-11).
On the strength of this statement of our Lord we are told “from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him”. The Jews, noting this firm attitude of Pilate, resort to a political subterfuge. They triumphantly declare:
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosever maketh himself a king speaketh against Casear (John 19:12)
[The time was now about 6 AM and the opening of “the day of the preparation” for the Jews’ Passover – Friday, Nisan 14th in the calendar].
The record in John continues thus:
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha … and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king! But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar (John 19: 13-15).
The perfidy of these last words is beyond conception when it is realized that the Jews were groaning under the yoke of Caesar and often made insurrections to free themselves and obtain their independence for which they longed.
The end of the trial of our Lord before Pilate had now come. The chief priests and rulers, aided by a multitude whom they incited to the point of a tumult, forced Pilate’s hand and though we know well Pilate should have acted in the light of his own consciousness that our Lord was guiltless and the victim of Jewish envy, he was not strong enough to risk his own position as a ruler by embittering the whole Jewish hierarchy and so endangering his own status with the Authorities at Rome. So Jesus had to be sacrificed on the altar of Pilate’s personal wellbeing.
The record ends thus:
Then delivered he Him therefor unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away (John 19:16).
Mark’s statement is as follows:
And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him (Mark 15:20)
Excerpt from “The Restored Vision” by A. E. Ware, pages 322-32
Light from the Word 