1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
Why did Pilate have Jesus flogged? What was the purpose? Was it just out of his sadistic nature? Looking at what he said in Luke 23:14-16 gives a possible motive.
15 “I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. 16 I will therefore punish and release him.”
It is possible that Pilate hoped that when they saw the results of a Roman flogging or scourging as it is often translated would appeal to their sense of outrage. The brutal treatment would peel off strips of skin and flesh from Jesus’ back. As we’ll see below, Pilate really did want to release Jesus.
Apparently, when Pilate left Jesus with his soldiers to be flogged, he really didn’t care how they treated Jesus. Their brutality wasn’t limited to physical torture, but included the worst humiliation they could muster. Certainly, they knew as much as Pilate in that Jesus was being called King of the Jews. Why would anyone want to treat a prisoner to this kind of mockery after a brutal flogging? It boggles my mind. Perhaps it is a fulfilment of Micah 5:1, “With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.” As well as Isa 52:14, “As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.” Indeed, the mockery and cruelty can be attributed to Satan’s hatred of Jesus. But these things could only be done to the Lord in accordance with God’s plan.
4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
This is the second time that Pilate finds Jesus without guilt. As pointed out before, this is an important legal declaration. The sinless Jesus is not guilt in the eyes of the state. The government is appointed to carry out justice according to Rom 13:4, “For he [the government] is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” Obviously, we will see that the flawed government doesn’t always act justly. In this case, Pilate is spot on in his judgment.
Pilate still tries to get Jesus released by calling Jesus “the man.” The Jews have more to say about Jesus, but Pilate downplays the fact that Jesus is the King of the Jews. Yet, he allowed Jesus to appear in the purple robe, a sign of royalty.
6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
They saw Jesus with the robe, but they couldn’t see that he had been flogged. There was blood on his face from the crown of thorns, but the real brutality had been hidden. Was that a mistake by Pilate or was it the way the sovereign Lord arranged it? The result is obvious that the Jewish leaders were not going to be pacified by mere torture. They wanted blood and they wanted all of it.
But Pilate is trying to save his own neck. He pushes back on the leaders to take responsibility for Jesus’ crucifixion and for the third time repeats that he finds Jesus not guilty. He knows full well that they have no authority to crucify Jesus. If they did, he would have something to hold over their heads.
7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
Back and forth goes the posturing. The Jews don’t take Pilate’s bait and up the ante. The stakes are getting higher as they reveal their real reason for requiring the death penalty. It shakes Pilate to the core. Now, he is on the run. You would think that this claim by the Jews would have no affect on a Roman who probably has many gods but as a military leader and governor, doesn’t really give a rip about gods. Yet he has been in the presence of Jesus. When we are in the presence of holiness, we are changed. We should have a realistic fear of the holy Jesus. This is the fear that Simon felt when he realized who Jesus was in Luke 5:8, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate still wants to be in control of the situation. After all, that is what a governor is supposed to do. But he can’t even get Jesus to answer him. Then he uses the threat of his position to “force” Jesus to answer him. But Jesus’ answer isn’t what he expected.
Who has the authority here? Clearly it is God and God is allowing Pilate to stew over this mess. What Jesus says is very important for all of us. Jesus knows that Pilate will turn him over to be crucified. Jesus knows that this is a horrendous miscarriage of justice. Jesus is declaring that even though Pilate is carrying out God’s plan, it is still injustice and therefore a sin. Yet this sin is not as great as the ones who have accused Jesus of blasphemy and are crying for is crucifixion.
This brings up the question, does the magnitude of a sin cause a lost person to suffer more in hell than one who has not been as evil. Will Hitler have it worse in eternity than a “good” person who has never received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? I think so. Jesus told us three times that it would be more tolerable for Sodom than the cities that rejected his disciples (Matt 10:15) or his miracles (Matt 11:23-24). We should take careful note that this doesn’t mean that there will be anything pleasant about hell for anyone who has rejected Jesus.
Just as there are worse punishments for the evilest people who reject Jesus, so will there be better rewards for those who know and obey Jesus better than others. Consider the several parables that Jesus taught about giving minas or talents to servants then going away. Those who obeyed better than others had greater rewards. Paul also tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” He reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15, “If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha.
So Pilate is still trying to release Jesus. The Jews are becoming even more adamant that Pilate authorize his crucifixion. What they say is an unveiled threat to Pilate’s political position. They are telling Pilate that if he releases Jesus, they will make sure Ceasar will hear that he released a pretender to the throne over Israel.
Pilate is not savvy enough to get out of this predicament. What a contrast to the way the Jews had tried to trap Jesus on multiple occasions, but they couldn’t deal with his wisdom. It just shows that human wisdom and manipulation is no match for God’s wisdom and his plan.
14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
This is the final moment when Pilate could have rescued Jesus. But it is obvious that he had already made up his mind to give in to the chief priests’ demand. If he really wanted to save Jesus, he would not have announced to them that Jesus was their King. He knew it would infuriate them. But since he couldn’t have his way, he made sure that he would at least have the last jab.
It makes me think of arguments we have. I’m not talking about good discussions, but when we are emotionally invested in trying to win another over to our way of thinking or action and it isn’t going well. There comes a point where we know we won’t win so we throw out a verbal rejoinder that is not designed to win the other over but to make them feel as angry as we are. It is not the way we are taught by the Word. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col 4:1).
Pilate’s statement pushes the Jewish leaders’ buttons, and they respond showing how great Satan’s stronghold is in their lives. Deep down the must know that Jesus is King but they have committed themselves to having Jesus crucified. When they say they have no king but Caesar, they have just announced to the world that their allegiance is not to God but to the world and its system. They are committed to Satan’s governance.
Earlier, when Pilate “washed his hands” of the affair and declared he was innocent of Jesus’ blood (Matt 27:24), the people responded, “And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” (Matt 27:25). Now the chief priests confirm this horrible curse upon themselves and their descendants who reject Jesus as their Messiah. Indeed, anyone, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, who does not acknowledge Jesus as the Lord, King, Savior, Priest, and Judge, will suffer the eternal condemnation that these swore on themselves that day.
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