The Civil Trials

(In order to have Jesus crucified, the Jewish leadership had to somehow get Rome to sanction their plans. The encounter Pontius Pilate has with Jesus, and the truth of Christ, is one all people must have with Christ as well.)

Primary Texts: Matthew 27:1-14, Mark 15:1-5, Luke 23:1-5, John 18:28-38a

Last week we learned about the religious trials Jesus faced. Today we move into the civil trials... The religious leaders had already determined that Jesus should die – but they had no authority to carry out the execution they wanted! Rome has been in control of Israel for almost a century, and they have taken the authority away from Israel to determine capital punishment... They did this, not because they are opposed to capital punishment, but because ... they rule wherever they occupy! In fact, the Romans became the masters in the art of execution, which we will see in weeks to come...

The Religious leaders wanted Jesus dead, and the only way this would come about is for Rome to sanction their desire!

Again, all four gospel writers record some detail of the trials Jesus faced in the civil courts of Rome. In fact, there is so much detail, we will consider them in today’s message, and Lord willing, next week as well...

Let’s stay with John’s report for our main text today. We read that immediately upon the conclusion of the “religious trials” –

John 18:28-38
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” 30 They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.” 31 So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” 32 to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

Let’s simply think through this passage as it is given to us... In the first part of verse :28 we see –

1. The Necessity of the Trial

There was the need for the Jews to get Jesus tried by Roman authorities, simply because the Jewish leadership had no authority to carry out what they were determined to do to Jesus! So –

John 18:28a
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early;

It’s early – we’re not told exactly how early, but it’s right after Jesus went before the sanhedrin, and they couldn’t meet until the sun rose... These “trials” started early ... and they moved quickly.

2. The Hypocrisy before the Trial

John 18:28b
... and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

Listen, hypocrisy is no minor point, so it is not one in this message... These “religious”, haters-of-Christ, are so blinded by their wilful rejection of the Messiah, that they fail to see the hypocrisy of their actions here...

They refuse to enter ... a Gentile’s space this close to Passover! It would ceremonially “defile” them!... They are so concerned to not violate the religious expectations of their contemporary version of Judaism, that they fail to see the putrefying sin that is lodged in their hearts!

Their hatred for Christ has blackened their hearts worse than any so-called “defilement” they would have suffered for entering Gentile space!

C.H. Spurgeon – “The Jewish counsellors little knew that they were already far too defiled to have any real fellowship with God’s passover, and were unconsciously slaughtering the true Lamb, whose flesh they were not privileged to eat.”

3. The Reason for the Trial

John 18:29
Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

Pontius Pilate becomes the principal part of what is about to happen... Pilate has been the Roman governor of Judea for less than 10 years at this point, and the last thing he wants is anything that could threaten his standing in the eyes of the Emperor, Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus...

What Pilate doesn’t realize is that ... this very trial will be what history will remember about him...

Luke 23:2
And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

Notice... half of this is true, but the first half of this charge is false!...

John 18:30-31
30 They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.” 31 So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,”

The argument the Jews are presenting is – Trust us! We’ve examined him, and found him guilty and worthy of death! We’ve tried him, you only need to go ahead and ... condemn him!

John 18:32
to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

You could put parentheses around verse :32, because John is simply saying that Jesus had already prophesied how He was going to die, and this dialogue between the Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate leads to the appeal to Rome to have Jesus crucified – which is the only way to fulfill Jesus’ own prophecy...

John 3:14-15
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Numbers 21:7-9
7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Acts 2:23
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

4. The Crux of the Trial

● The interrogation

John 18:33-35
33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”

● The defense

John 18:36
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Bob Utley – “It should be translated ‘If My kingdom were of this world, and it is not, then My servants would be fighting, which they are not.’”

A.W. Tozer – “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)... So, the true Christian is a child of two worlds. He lives among fallen men, but when he is regenerated, he is called to live according to the laws and principles that underlie the new kingdom. He may, then, find himself trying to live a heavenly life after an earthly pattern—and this is what Paul called ‘carnal’ living. That is why it is vitally important to move up into the life of the Spirit of God. Give up your earthly ‘treasures’ and the Lord will keep them for you unto life eternal!”

John 18:37
Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

1 Timothy 6:12-14
12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

John 18:38
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

Vance Havner – “I think Pilate must have shrugged his shoulders as he asked, ‘What is truth?’ But let us be patient with Pilate. He had listened to Greek philosophers and Roman lawyers and Oriental jugglers, all ranting about truth. Little did he dream that standing before him was One who not only knew the truth but was the Truth.”

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

● The verdict

John 18:38b
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

Luke 23:5
But they kept on insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place.”

● The tragedy

Matthew 27:3-4
3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”

Matthew 27:5-10
5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. 8 For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel; 10 AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER’S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME.”

2 Corinthians 7:10
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

C.H. Spurgeon – “Judas had been with our Lord in public and in private; and if he could have found a flaw in Christ’s character, this would have been the time to mention it; but even the traitor, in his dying speech, declared that Jesus was ‘innocent.’”

Deuteronomy 27:25
‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Mark 14:21
For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Acts 1:16-18
16 “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.)

J.C. Ryle – “Sin is, in truth, the hardest of all masters. In its service there is plenty of [promise], but an utter dearth [in] performance. Its pleasures are but for a season. Its wages are sorrow, remorse, self-accusation, and too often death... Let us be sure that sooner or later, in this life or in the life to come, in this world or in the judgment-day, sin and the sinner will meet face to face, and have a bitter reckoning. Let us be sure that of all trades, sin is the most unprofitable. Judas, Achan, ... Ananias and Sapphira, all found it so to their cost. Well might Paul say, ‘What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed?’ (Rom. 6:21)”

Questions to Consider in Community Group

• Why did the Jews bring Jesus to Pilate - why could they not have simply stoned Him to death, if they wanted Jesus dead?
• Why was it necessary for Jesus to die by means of crucifixion anyway?
• What is the evidence, in the text, that the Jews were being hypocritical? What is the danger of hypocrisy anyway?
• What can we say about the exchange between Pilate and Jesus - specifically, what is really the crux in the trial?
• What are your thoughts about any of the quotes shared?