Jesus at the Praetorium and before Herod: Part 2 of 2

Chapter III: Jesus at the Praetorium and before Herod

John xviii. 28-40; Matt. xxvii. 2, 11-25; Mark xv. 1-14; Luke xxiii. 1-25.

This Prince's suite was quartered in the ancient residence of the Maccabees, to which Herod's sons had retired when their father’s palace was occupied by the Roman governors.  Thither the legionaries conducted Jesus, surrounded by His enemies.  We shall not try to follow the Saviour over this portion of His sorrowful journey; but it is hardly probable that his guards would have forced him to descend the steep side of Moriah and then reascend the Hill of Sion, when by crossing from the western portico of the Temple and over the bridge of Tyropœan, they could at once reach the Prince's palace.

Plan of Jerusalem. Fouard.

The appearance of Jesus before him excited only a frivolous pleasure in Herod's mind, for his depraved soul was now incapable of even such anxieties as were troubling Pilate's conscience.  For a long time he had been kept informed of all the reports concerning the Christ, and he was only too anxious to be an eye-witness of some of His prodigies.  Undoubtedly the young Physician, to escape execution, would satisfy his curiosity by performing some miracle.  Full of such ideas, Herod at first treated the Prisoner with some show of respect, plied Him with questions, and pressed Him to display His supernatural power.

But Jesus had sounded the shallow depths of this Prince's mind; and He, Who had only words of tender mercy for Pilate, deigned not so much as a word in reply to Herod.  This silence disconcerted the Tetrarch; the Sanhedrin-party, on the other hand, were not less deceived.  They had counted upon recovering their ascendancy with a prince of their nation, and without urging any false pretexts, had expected him to strike immediately at what was most hateful to them in Jesus, His Doctrine and His pretensions to the title of the Messiah; but all their furious entreaties and objurgations were thrown away on Herod.

Of Idumean ancestry, though a Jew by birth, and inclining naturally towards the skepticism of the Sadducees, the Tetrarch had long ago stifled his conscience too thoroughly to admit of his now taking any interest in questions of religion.  And, further than this, by condemning Jesus would he not run the risk of a popular movement in His favour?  Or at any rate, there was the possibility of incurring such terrors has had assailed him after the execution of John Baptist!  Anxious above all things not to endanger his own comfort, the despotic egoist lost no time in returning compliment for compliment, by reminding Jesus and back again to Pilate.  

Jesus before Herod. J-J Tissot.

Provoked, however, at having been so set at naught, he desired on his side to display his disdain for the Christ and, in token of division, had Him arrayed in a white robe.  What was this garment meant to travesty?  Perhaps the consul's toga or that of the Roman candidates, thus disguising Jesus as though he were some puppet sovereign of the stage; or was it perhaps the garb assumed by Jews acquitted of capital offence, Herod indicating by this that he regarded the Prisoner as a fool, incapable of any crime?  The Procurator appears to have interpreted it in this last sense, for, in arguing with the people for the life of the Christ, he urged in His defence this burlesque acquittal.

Distasteful as it was to Pilate to resume the trial of which he had thought himself disburthened, yet he took considerable satisfaction from this mark of courtesy on Herod's part, and their mutual deference put an end to all resentment between them.  The Governor's undertakings, hitherto hostile to the Tetrarch's authority; the blood of the Galileans shed in the Temple,— everything in fact was forgotten, and on the same day they became friends.

Jesus led back to Pilate. J-J Tissot.

Once again Jesus was hurried along the road to Antonia.  The insulting magnificence with which He was attired rendered His wretched state more striking. Pilate was touched thereat, and, fortified by Herod's dismissal, endeavoured to wrest their Victim from the Sanhedrin's clutches.  Accordingly he assembled the princes of the priesthood and the magistrates; but they, on their part, bent upon forcing his consent, had collected a mob of the populace in order to influence him further.

With Jesus at his side, Pilate addressed them.

"You have produced this man before me," he said, "and accuse him of exciting that the people; and now I, after having examined him before you, find nothing in him touching what you charge him withal.  And in like manner Herod, to whom I referred you, has found nothing in him worthy of death."

Whether a threatening silence or a fresh outcry greeted these words, Pilate at all events believed it was best to make amends for them somehow, so he added:—

" I will chastise him, therefore, and let him go."

Lightly as he regarded the penalty referred to in these words, it was nonetheless a piece of iniquitous acquiescence on his part, and a sign of weakness which could not escape the Sanhedrin-party.  There he resolved to push their advantage with all their strength.

Meanwhile the crowds were beginning to ascend the approaches to the Fortress Antonia, attracted by the assembly drawn up before the Praetorium or to take part in a ceremony which was always performed just at this time.  During the morning of the Parasceve, the Roman governors, in order to heighten the solemnity of Passover-time, had always granted a pardon to some prisoner designated by the Jews.  This custom, of which we find no trace either in Scripture or in the Rabbinical traditions, had doubtless been introduced by some procurator, anxious to conciliate his new subjects.  Rome, always ready to extend amnesties, either in public calamities or at the anniversaries of the Caesars, afterward consecrated this favour accorded by one of her magistrates, and we see Pilate respecting the observance as though it had all the force of the law.

The sight of the multitudes thronging the square of Gabbatha, and with loud shouts demanding this privilege, suggested a new expedient to Pilate's mind.  Among the condemned who were to be executed according to custom during the Paschal season, there was a man named Barrabas, notorious for his wickedness.  At the head of a riotous herd, he had caused bloodshed in Jerusalem itself, and headed a revolt, not only against the authority of Rome, but against that of the Sanhedrin as well; for it was from their prison that the Governor was about to procure him.  Saint John's explanation, remembering how that the divine Master was compared to him, is testimony enough as to the contempt with which the criminal was popularly regarded:—

"Now Barrabas was a robber!"

Barrabas. J-J Tissot.

Pilate hoped that between this scoundrel and the innocent One Whom they were pursuing, the Jewish populace would not hesitate to give the latter the preference.

"Whom do you wish me to deliver to you?" he cried, "Barrabas, or Jesus who is called Messiah?" And so speaking, he ascended the steps of the tribunal, set before the Praetorium.

No sooner was he seated than some of his servants came in search of him, sent thither by his wife.

From her apartments in the Fortress, she was now looking down upon the scene.  Tradition tells us that her name was Claudia Procula, and that she was a pious lady, one of the "Proselytes of the gate" so numerous just then in the ranks of the Roman nobility; a divine light had shown her that the doctrine of Jesus was still more perfect than the Law of Jehovah.  All the night previous a strange uneasiness had taken possession of her at the first report the young Teacher was to be arrested; nor had sleep in the least calmed her anguish of spirit, but all night long terrible dreams had disturbed her slumbers.  Consequently, when she saw Jesus encircled by the furious mob, with Pilate hesitating and half-prepared to condemn Him, she bade some of her people bear this message to her husband:—

"Let there be nothing between you and that just man, for I have been greatly distressed in a dream this day because of him."

Alone against all these wicked judges, these false witnesses, these inhuman wretches, a pagan woman found, deep down in her heart, enough of strength and tenderness to plead the cause of Jesus.  Of this deed Christians have ever cherished a grateful memory, while the Greeks have given her a place in their Menology in the company of the Saints.

But these few moments had been turn to their own advantage by the priests and magistrates.  Spreading their views through the multitude, they finally succeeded in inflaming them with their fierce passions, persuading them to choose Barrabas in preference to the Saviour.

And so, when Pilate demanded for the second time: " Do you wish me to deliver to you the King of the Jews?" one unanimous shout rose from the surging populace:—

"Rid us of him and release Barrabas!"

"What shall I do, then, with him a whom you call the King of the Jews?" replied the Governor.

"Crucify him, crucify him!" responded the crowd with one voice.

"But what evil has he done?" persisted the judge, now become advocate for his prisoner.  "As for me, I find no cause of death in him.  I will chastise him therefore and let him go."

But then the multitude repeated with wilder tumult,—

"Crucify him, crucify him!"

"Crucify him, crucify him!" J-J Tissot.

"And their horrible efforts against Him grew in strength ever more, clamouring that he might be crucified, whilst still the shouts continued to increase."

Seeing that he gained nothing, while on the contrary the uproar was only swelling, Pilate wished to declare plainly that he looked upon Jesus as a just man, and that he intended to disclaim any responsibility for His death.  There was a custom in Israel which ordained that the magistrates of any city where the author of a murder remained undiscovered should wash their hands over the corpse of the victim, in witness of their own innocence.  This indeed, prescribed by Deuteronomy, served the Governor in place of further speech with the people, who were sharply watching his every action.  He therefore ordered water to be brought, and therewith washed his hands.

" I am innocent of the blood of this just man," he said; " now, then, it is your own concern!"

Whereupon all the people answering said:—

" His blood be upon us and upon our children!"

Pilate had not courage to resist further, and discharging Barrabas, released from his chains, he delivered over the Christ into the hands of the soldiery.  Doubtless he did not mean as yet to abandon Him; but, because whipping was the first preliminary for crucifixion, he hoped that the blood of Jesus would appease His enemies and enable him, even yet, to rescue Him.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.