Pilate’s Last Appeal and Surrender 

Pilate was terrorized by the insistent noise of the mob, acting under the direct leadership of the chief priests and the councilors of the Sanhedrin; nevertheless, he decided upon at least one more attempt to appease the bloodthirsty crowd and save Jesus.

Pilate tried to appeal to their pity. Being afraid to defy this mob who cried for the blood of Jesus, he ordered the Jewish guards and the Roman soldiers to take Jesus and scourge him. This was in itself an unjust and illegal procedure, but the guards took Jesus into the open courtyard of the praetorium for this ordeal. Though his enemies did not witness this scourging, Pilate did, and before they had finished this wicked abuse, he directed the scourgers to stop and indicated that Jesus should be brought to him.

Then Pilate took Jesus, a bleeding and lacerated prisoner, and presented him to the mob, saying: "Behold the man! Again I declare to you that I find no crime in him, and having scourged him, I would release him."

Pilate spoke more truly than he knew when, after Jesus had been scourged, he presented him before the multitude, exclaiming, "Behold the man!" Indeed, the fear-ridden Roman governor little dreamed that at just that moment the universe stood at attention, gazing upon this unique scene of its beloved Sovereign thus subjected in humiliation to the taunts and blows of his darkened and degraded mortal subjects. And as Pilate spoke, there echoed throughout the whole universe, "Behold God and man!"

Pilate finally understood that it was futile to appeal to their supposed feelings of pity. He stepped forward and said: "I perceive that you are determined this man shall die, but what has he done to deserve death? Who will declare his crime?"

A high priest himself stepped forward and approached Pilate with anger in his voice. He declared, "We have a sacred law, and according to that law, this man deserves to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God." When Pilate heard this, he became even more frightened. He began to tremble at the idea that Jesus might truly be a divine being. Pilate signaled for the crowd to be quiet and then took Jesus by the arm, leading him back inside the building for further examination. At this point, Pilate was torn by fear, confused by superstition, and deeply troubled by the stubbornness of the crowd.

As Pilate, now very frightened and trembling with emotion, sat down by the side of Jesus, he asked: "Where do you come from? Really, who are you? What is this they say, that you are the Son of God?"

Jesus was not willing to speak further to this unjust and weak man; he looked Pilate straight in the face, but he did not answer him. Then said Pilate: "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not realize that I still have power to release you or to crucify you?" Then said Jesus: "You could have no power over me except if it were permitted from above. You could exercise no authority over the Son of Man unless the Father in heaven allowed it."

This last talk with Jesus thoroughly frightened Pilate. This moral coward and judicial weakling now labored under the double weight of the superstitious fear of Jesus and mortal dread of the Jewish leaders.

Again Pilate appeared before the crowd, saying: "I am certain this man is only a religious offender. You should take him and judge him by your law. Why should you expect that I would consent to his death because he has clashed with your traditions?"

Pilate was just about ready to release Jesus when Caiaphas, the high priest, approached the cowardly Roman judge and, shaking his finger in Pilate’s face, said with angry words which the entire multitude could hear: "If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, and I will see that the emperor knows all."

This public threat was too much for Pilate. His own personal standing and the fate of his own fortunes now became paramount to him; he ordered that Jesus be brought out to the judgment seat. As the Master stood there before them, he pointed to him and said, "Behold your king." And the Jews answered, "Away with him. Crucify him!" And then Pilate sarcastically said, "Shall I crucify your king?" And the Jews answered, "Yes, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar." And then Pilate realized that there was no hope of saving Jesus since he himself was unwilling to defy the Jews.

Pilate was afraid of a riot. He dared not risk having such a disturbance during Passover time in Jerusalem. And he did not want to risk a reprimand from Caesar. The mob cheered when he ordered the release of Barabbas. Then he ordered a basin and some water, and there before the multitude he washed his hands, saying: "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You are determined that he shall die, but I have found no guilt in him. See you to it. The soldiers will lead him forth." And then the mob cheered and replied, "His blood be on us and on our children."

After Pilate had washed his hands before the multitude, thus seeking to escape the guilt of delivering up an innocent man to be crucified because of his own weakness, he ordered the Master turned over to the Roman soldiers and gave the word to their captain that he was to be crucified immediately.

From first to last, in his so-called trial before Pilate, the onlooking celestial hosts could not refrain from broadcasting to the universe the depiction of the scene of "Pilate on trial before Jesus."