St Mark Chapter XV : Verses 1-15
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| Jesus before Pilate. J-J Tissot. |
[2] And Pilate asked him: Art thou the king of the Jews? But he answering, saith to him: Thou sayest it.
[3] And the chief priests accused him in many things.
[4] And Pilate again asked him, saying: Answerest thou nothing? behold in how many things they accuse thee.
[5] But Jesus still answered nothing; so that Pilate wondered.
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| But they cried out the more: Crucify him! J-J Tissot |
[7] And there was one called Barabbas, who was put in prison with some seditious men, who in the sedition had committed murder.
[8] And when the multitude was come up, they began to desire that he would do, as he had ever done unto them.
[9] And Pilate answered them, and said: Will you that I release to you the king of the Jews?
[10] For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up out of envy.
[11] But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas to them.
[12] And Pilate again answering, saith to them: What will you then that I do to the king of the Jews? [13] But they again cried out: Crucify him.
[14] And Pilate saith to them: Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more: Crucify him.
[15] And so Pilate being willing to satisfy the people, released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
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| The scourging. J-J Tissot |
Notes
1. straightway in the morning : i.e. as soon as it was day (St Luke, xxvii. 1).
the chief priests .... ancients .... scribes : these constituted the whole council of the Sanhedrin.
holding a consultation. St Matthew gives us the object of this council. It was against Jesus to put him to death. Hence they consulted how they could best effect this, and what charges they could bring against Him before the civil court. From the sequel, we see that they put religious questions on one side, and determined to accuse Him of —
(a) sedition, perverting the nation.(b) refusing to pay tribute.(c) claiming to be a king.
This was a formal meeting of the council in order to confirm the judgment pronounced during the night. St Luke gives the fullest account of this consultation.
binding Jesus. The bands would have been taken off or loosened during the interrogations before the council.
led him away : from the house of Caiphas to the fortress of Antonia, which adjoined the Temple, or to the palace of Herod, which Pilate and his wife Procla might have occupied. The earliest traditions give the Castle of Antonia, and pilgrims have always begun the Via Crucis from this spot. Pilate generally dwelt at Cæsarea on the sea-coast, but during the paschal season he came up to Jerusalem, as riots occasionally occurred at this time.
delivered him to Pilate. To the procurator, Pontius Pilate, who represented the Roman emperor, and whose duty it was to judge criminal cases. Since the deposition of Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, Judea had been made a Roman province under the governor of Syria, to whom the procurator was directly subject. As “governor” of Judea, Pontius Pilate possessed the powers of “legatus,” and could decree capital punishment, but when he did so, he had to report the condemnation and the charge to the emperor.
Note. — We must place here the remorse and suicide of Judas, since St Matthew records, Then Judas who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients (xxvii. 3).
2. Art thou the King of the Jews ? Pilate questioned Jesus privately in the “ praetorium,” while the chief priests and scribes remained outside. They avoided entering the house of a pagan, lest they should unwittingly come in contact with a false god or a crumb of leavened bread, and thus become legally impure till sunset, and these were the men who had no scruples about planning a judicial murder ! From Pilate’s question, Art thou the King of the Jews ? we learn the accusation brought against Christ by the council, which St Mark omits. St Luke gives it in full : And they began to accuse him, saying : we have found this man perverting our nation , and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar , and saying that he is Christ the King (xxiii. 2). When judging cases, Pilate would have the bema or seat of judgment brought out and placed on the raised tessellated pavement called the Gabbatha. Judgment was always given in the open air, since the Jews could not enter a pagan’s house.
Thou sayest it. This is equivalent to an affirmation.
From the other gospels we learn further details —
(a) Jesus inquired why Pilate questioned Him as to His royalty.(b) He explained to Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world.(c) Pilate asked What is truth ? but did not wait for an answer.
3. the chief priests accused him in many things. They evidently repeated before Jesus the accusations which they had previously made. But they were more earnest , saying : He stirreth up the people , teaching throughout all Judea , beginning from Galilee to this place (St Luke xxiii. 5).
Our Lord was brought outside of the praetorium that He might hear the accusations of His enemies. We learn this from Pilate’s question, Dost not thou hear how great testimonies they allege against thee ? (St Matt, xxvii. 13).
4. Answerest thou nothing ? During the trial Jesus kept silence while false evidence was being given, but He spoke when questioned concerning His claims and authority. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled. The Messiah was to be like a sheep brought to the slaughter — and he shall not open his mouth (Isaiah liii. 7).
5. Pilate wondered. The calm, majestic bearing of Christ was a strong contrast to the loud vindictive accusations of His foes.
Note. — The trial before Herod intervenes here.
6. on the festival day , he was wont to, etc. When and how this custom sprang up, is unknown. It may have been a Jewish custom, for it certainly fitted in admirably with the spirit of the feast which celebrated their deliverance out of Egypt. Perhaps Herod or Pilate may have initiated this custom, in imitation of a similar usage which prevailed among the Romans at the “ lectisternium,” or feast in honour of the gods. A similar custom obtained at Athens.
one of the prisoners. One of the State prisoners, who were confined in the fortress of Antonia.
whomsoever they demanded. From the fact that Pilate himself suggested the name of Barabbas, it has been inferred that the Jews were not free to choose any prisoner, but could select one from a list of names put forth by the governor. St Matthew, however, states that the people chose one prisoner, whom they would (xxvii. 15).
7. Barabbas. This has been interpreted in two ways : Bar- Abbas, son of a Father, or Bar-Rabbas, son of a Rabbi.
From the different gospels we learn that—
(a) He was a notorious prisoner.(b) He had headed some seditious men (who were with him in prison).(c) Barabbas was a robber.
(d) He was cast into prison for sedition made in the city , and for murder.
8. the multitude was come up. It was “ the people ” who had the right to ask for the release of a prisoner, not the rulers.
9. Will you that I release , etc. Pilate evidently was sincerely anxious to release Jesus, or at least to have no responsibility in the matter, and from the four gospels we gather that he made six attempts to do so, viz. —
(a) Pilate four times proclaimed the innocence of Jesus. I find no cause in him.
(b) He tried to throw the responsibility on the Jews. Pilate therefore said to them ; Take you him, and judge him according to your law (St John xviii. 31).
(c) He endeavoured to give Jesus the benefit of the custom of releasing a prisoner at the paschal time.
(d) He sent Him to Herod.
(e) He proposed to scourge Jesus, instead of crucifying Him.
(f) He tried to move the people to pity, Behold the man.
10. out of envy. The chief priests and ancients could not deceive Pilate, who must have heard of the wonderful deeds done by Jesus of Nazareth. It is also probable that Pilate had employed spies to watch Jesus, for when vast multitudes constantly followed Him, and when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Romans would naturally have been on the alert, lest the popularity of Jesus of Nazareth should lead to a tumult, such as Pilate had previously been obliged to quell, on more than one occasion.
11. the chief priests moved the people , etc. They profited by an interruption caused by the arrival of the messenger from Pilate’s wife.
St Matthew alone gives this incident : And as he was sitting in the place of judgment, his ivife sent to him, saying: Have thou nothing to do with that just man. For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him (St Matt, xxvii. 19). While Pilate was occupied in reading the letter, or listening to the messenger, the chief priests and ancients were cunningly doing their best to move and stir up the people, since Pilate had, as it were, taken the cause of Christ out of their hands and appealed to the multitude.
13. Crucify him. Nothing short of condemnation to the death of a slave would satisfy the implacable vengeance of the Jews.
14. Why, what evil hath he done ? This was the third time that Pilate declared Jesus to be innocent. He had besides the testimony of Herod and of his own wife Procla ; nevertheless he lacked courage to oppose the Jews.
cried out the more , etc. Urged on continually by the chief priests.
15. Pilate , being willing to satisfy , etc. Pilate yielded at last. He feared the Jews might report him to the emperor, as they hinted, when they cried out, saying : If thou release this man , thou art not Cæsar's friend : For whosoever maketh himself a king , speaketh against Cæsar (St John xix. 12).
released to them Barabbas. Pilate would have sent guards to the fortress to fetch Barabbas, who was then handed over to the people. It was just before releasing Barabbas that Pilate washed his hands, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just man : look you to it (St Matt, xxvii. 24).
delivered up Jesus. Pilate formally pronounced the sentence of condemnation. Recent writers affirm that the sentence ran thus : Condemno, ibis ad crucem. ( I condemn thee, thou shalt go to the cross.)
when he had scourged him. Those who were condemned to death by crucifixion were always scourged first.
This was a terrible punishment. In the case of our Lord it was inflicted by the Roman soldiers, as Pilate had no “ lictors.” The prisoner was stripped and fastened by the hands in a stooping attitude to a low column. The flesh was torn off and the bones were laid bare. Truly the prophecies were fulfilled, They have numbered all my bones (Ps. xxi. 18). From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein; wounds and bruises and swelling sores; they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil (Is. i. 6). St Bridget tells us that Christ received more than 5000 blows. The column of the flagellation, or a part of it at least, is preserved in Rome (since 1223 A.D.) in the church of St Praxedes.
Additional Notes
Note on Pontius Pilate.
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| Pilate and his wife Procla. J-J Tissot |
On another occasion he desecrated Jerusalem by hanging up in his palace gilded shields on which were inscribed the names of heathen gods, and these remained there until Tiberius himself ordered them to be removed. His next act of tyranny was to employ money from the Temple treasury to defray the expenses of an aqueduct ( Wars, ii. 9. 4). Lastly, we read in St Luke xiii. 1 that Pilate had slain a number of Galileans who were in the act of offering sacrifice, and it was perhaps this cruel deed which had estranged Pilate and Herod (cf. St Luke xxiii. 12). From these facts, as related by Josephus, we gather that Pilate was tactless, crafty, avaricious and tyrannical. From the line of conduct he adopted during our Lord’s trial, we see that he was extremely weak in character, and that though he showed some sense of justice, it was subordinate to his own interests. The position, which Pilate sacrificed the blood of the Just One to keep, was lost three years later, when he was disgraced and banished to Vienne by Caius Caligula, 36 A.D.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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