Pilate’s Dilemma (Part 1 of 2)

Sometimes our desire to do the right thing is in direct conflict with popular opinion. That was Pilate's dilemma when Jesus was brought before him. On Truth for Life weekend, Alistair Begg explains why remaining neutral is not an option when it comes to Jesus.

Not for Pilate, not for us. Let's take our Bibles and turn again to John 19, shall we? And before we turn to the Word of the Lord, we turn to the Lord of the Word. Father, as we study material that is familiar to many, new to some, vital for all, we crave the enabling of the Holy Spirit. We pray, O Spirit of God, that you will descend upon our hearts, that you will wean them from earth and through all their impulses move, that you will speak to our weakness, mighty as you are, and teach us to love you as we ought to love. For Jesus' sake we ask it.

Amen. While we're moving towards the scene of crucifixion—this scene that introduces us once again to surely one of the most tortured individuals that ever confronted Christ—surely, if we were to pick somebody out of all of the biblical record who had proximity to Jesus, who had access to him to be able to pose his questions and to seek his answers, and yet who, on account of his own moral perversity and emotional weakness, found that despite the very closeness that he enjoyed, still he was to be separated from him in time and, presumably, in eternity. These verses that introduce us once again to this mockery of a trial, this interrogation, this fraudulent piece of activity, this bad piece of jurisprudence, remind all and any who may want to live with the notion that when it comes to the things of Jesus Christ, there are a number of possibilities open to us.

And one is that it is possible for us to adopt a position of splendid isolation—a bit like Austria at the onset of the Second World War, choosing to annex itself from all activity and claiming that somehow or another it could be disengaged from the whole event. Successfully so in some measure on that political front, but absolutely impossible when it comes to the matter of who Jesus is and what he has done. So let none of us be in any doubt, as we go through this study this evening, that it may be possible for us to remain undecided about who Jesus is and why he came.

The idea that we could register, as it were, a no vote that we could abstain is actually to vote against Christ. And as we will see, it is to follow the sorry pattern that is established for us by this man Pilate, the Roman governor. Now, at the end of chapter 18, we saw that Pilate had gone out to the Jews who were accusing Jesus and had said to them, I find no basis for a charge against him. This was to become, as we will see in a moment, a kind of recurring theme for Pilate—I find no basis for a charge against him. Well, in light of that, what we then discover as we go into chapter 19, and particularly what is described there in the opening phrase in verse 1, then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. If you think about this for just a moment, it is strange treatment for somebody that the governor regarded as innocent. To step out in front of his accusers and say, I find no charge against him, and then to follow that up by delivering him up to this cruel treatment is indication, again, of the fact that Pilate just can't settle in his own mind.

He vacillates between a desire to do the right thing and a kind of downward drag that urges him to the wrong. Presumably, he takes Jesus out to be flogged and removes himself from the sorry sight, the cruel results of his compromise to be enacted out with his view. This flogging was referred to as the pre-death death.

It was a horrible and brutal experience. The individual was taken, their hands were tied behind their backs, they were bent over, they were attached often to a pole in the center of the praetorium, and then those who were to administer the punishment would take short wooden poles to which were attached thongs with pieces, either of lead or of brass or of bone, which were attached to the end of the leather thongs. And with the victim's back bared, they would then unleash their fury against him. In lesser mortals, it often was so severe that the person never went on to be crucified because they were unable to endure the flogging. The body was at times so torn and lacerated that the secular historians tell us that as a result of such an evil punishment, deep-seated veins and arteries, and sometimes even the inner organs of an individual, would be exposed so that they would beat the back of the man until his kidneys actually became public view. I find no basis for a charge against him. Why don't you go ahead and flog him?

Pilot, what's wrong with you? The cruelty of verse 1 is more than matched, as we see then, by the mockery that follows in verses 2 and 3. This mock coronation with the soldiers, taking a crown and, with these thorns, crushing it onto his head, taking presumably one of their purple or scarlet robes, which would have been worn by one of these military officers, one of these men in high position, and essentially they dress him up.

And if you doubt the perversity and baseness of humanity, if you doubt the ability of man to do heinous things, then you need only read the second verse of John 19. And having twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and clothed him in a purple robe, they went up to him again and again, saying, Hail King of the Jews! And they struck him in his face. For what? For healing the lady who was bent double for eighteen years? For giving the dead son back to the widow of Nain? For bringing Lazarus forth from the grave? For taking children on his knee and encouraging his disciples to understand that of such is the kingdom of heaven?

On the basis of what did they find it in themselves to smash him in the face and to abuse him in this way? And when you add the correlative material from the other synoptics—or from the synoptics, I should say—you find that they actually went as far as kneeling down before him, spitting at him, and giving him a scepter that was made out of a reed. And he who spoke and the world came into being, he who set the planets in their place, he who reigned from all of eternity, inhabiting our time-space capsule, subjects himself to this. O, make me understand it!

Help me to take it in! What it meant for thee, the Holy One, to bear away my sin! And once more Pilate came out, verse 4, and he said to the Jews, Look, I'm bringing him out to you now, to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.

Pardon? If you find no basis for a charge against him, Pilate, instead of bringing him out to the crowd, release him. If there is no basis for a charge, have the courage of your convictions, man, and let him go. How could it possibly be that bringing him out to the crowd would somehow or another substantiate his conviction that he felt that there was no real reason for Jesus to be subjected to such a pathetic scene? Presumably, the answer lies in the fact that as he brings him out, it almost is a scene that makes one want to turn one's eyes away from even looking at the text, to bring out the Lord of glory, crushed with a crown of thorns, dressed up in somebody's clothes, holding a reed as a scepter, a mockery of humanity. Presumably, he said, Look, do you think this is a king? Do you think this is the basis of insurrection? Do you think this man is a revolutionary about to overturn the world? Look at him. Behold the man. Yeah, behold the man. Behold the embodiment of humanity. There was never a man like this in all of his perfection.

This is not the man of Jesus Christ's superstar. This is the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is the son of man before whom men hid their faces and a sheep before its shearers is done.

So this man opened not his mouth. Do you grasp a little of this tonight? This is not some pathetic piece of humanity, you know, who can do nothing for himself. This is the king of the universe. This is God incarnate. This is the one who in a moment or two from this is able to say, I could call 12 legions of angels and the whole thing would be finished in a moment.

But he goes down this road. Do you understand why? Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan for you.

Yes, you. You know who I'm talking about, don't you? As you know what you're really like, as I know what I am like. Like a sheep constantly going astray. Like someone actually by nature indifferent to God and disinterested in who he is or what he's done.

And here stands the sorry spectacle outside the governor's palace. And part of the reason is because he is the name Alistair Begg before his gaze. He has your name, the name that he has graven on the palms of his hands. Behold, the man he never spoke truer words. And as soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him look at the nature of these people, they shouted, crucify, crucify.

It's amazing, isn't it? And there's not a modicum of sympathy or empathy in any one of these hard-hearted religionists. So secure behind their robes, so settled in their convictions, so convinced that they are right and so dreadfully wrong. And instead of the spectacle inducing in them a lump in their throats and a sense of absolute shame whereby they fell before him and said, Was ever sorrow like this?

They simply rehearse their cry again. Okay, that's good so far, Pilate, but let's not grow weary here. Let's not stop. Let's go the whole way, and let's get him crucified. And again, you will notice, Pilate replies, I think in a spirit of frustration here, you take him and crucify him. You want a crucifixion? You do the crucifixion. Because after all—and here he goes again—I find no basis for a charge against him. Well, let him go, Pilate. Have the courage of your convictions, men.

Stand up to the crowd. Is that your problem tonight, as a young person? Oh, in your heart of hearts, you know exactly why Jesus came. You know exactly what it means that you would follow him and love him and serve him, but somehow or another, the pressure of all the circumstances around you makes you vacillate one day you're here and another day you're there. I understand that perfectly.

I lived my life like that for a while. I find no basis of a charge against him. You go ahead. Their fury produces his frustration, and the monotonous refrain, the ominous chant, crucify, crucify, crucify, crucify, rings in his ears. Says Leon Morris, the commentator, what we have in Pilate's response here in the second half of verse 6 is the sudden, wild statement of a man who is goaded into speaking unreasonably. If you're not going to take any notice of me, then crucify him yourselves if you want.

That's the response. Because he knows he's in a real predicament. Of course, at the same time, he knows that they cannot carry out that kind of execution without him. And so he hates the crowd. He hates these people. He despises these Pharisees.

But his sense of disgust for them is somehow or another not great enough to overcome his fear of them. Otherwise, Christ would have been released. Incidentally, and in passing in all of this, the plan and purpose of God from all of eternity was being fulfilled. Was Pilate an automaton? Was Pilate exercising his prerogative as a Roman governor? Yes. Was Pilate making wrong decisions all on his own? Yes. Was Pilate pre-programmed to make these decisions? No. Was Pilate, by his perversity, fulfilling the plan whereby it was the will of God, as Isaiah 53 says, to bruise him? That according later on, as Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, it was according to the foreknowledge of God that cruel men delivered him up?

Yes. And so the Jews come back forcefully. Verse 7, we've got a law, and according to that law, Jesus has to die. They're not careful to play the race just yet.

It's coming. But he wanted to do enough just to keep Pilate on track. And so what they're saying is, Pilate, you know as well as us that we have freedom within Roman jurisdiction to regulate our own affairs.

Now, we want you to remember that it is your duty to respect our laws in matters such as this. And by our law, this man should die, verse 7b, because he claimed to be the Son of God. And so they manipulate him.

Now look at verse 8. That's why I say there was no more tortured individual who met Christ than Pilate. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. The fearfulness which had been rising in him has almost reached epidemic proportions. After all, the Romans knew about gods.

They had all kinds of gods, as did the Greeks. They were aware of the fact that in their minds, at least, the gods came down and did things to people. And here he is confronted by one who is apparently a son of God, if not God himself, and he cannot get out of his predicament. And so his fear is overwhelming. His wife had actually told him earlier in the day, don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him. So his wife had been tossing and turning the previous evening. And when he gets his breakfast in the morning and he goes out to the day, she says, Pilate, before you go in there today, let me give you one word of caution. Whatever happens, have nothing to do with that innocent man. I've been awake half the night and troubled most of this morning as a result of him. So you see how it all moves around in his mind. Here he has him.

I find no charge. Flog him. Now he has the guilt on his heart as a result of having been the one who introduced him to such brutal treatment. Then he thinks that perhaps he can justify that by using the sorry spectacle as a means of inducing sympathy on the part of the rulers, and instead of creating sympathy, it creates fury. Their fury creates his frustration. His frustration says, do it yourself. Their forcefulness says, we can't, but you can, and their forcefulness leads to his fearfulness. And he's jammed. I say to you again, there was never a more tortured individual that met Christ than Pilate.

In fact, it is interesting if you just look at the verbs in and out. You find that he was in and out constantly. In chapter 18, Pilate came out to them and asked, What charges are you bringing? In verse 33, Pilate then went back in and summoned Jesus.

In verse 38, What is truth? Pilate asked, and with this he went out. In verse 1 of chapter 19, Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And he goes back in. In verse 4, once again, he comes out. And in verse 9, once again, he goes back in.

This is the proverbial cat on the hot tin roof. He doesn't know whether he should be in or out or just where he should be, because he has Christ like the hound of heaven on his back. He has his face fixed in his mind's eye. He cannot evade the challenge of the man. He cannot get to the bottom of it.

He doesn't understand why he doesn't do something, why he wouldn't say something, at least. And so you will notice that in verses 9 and 10, there are three questions that come staccato. Question number one, he goes back inside the palace, and he said to Jesus, Where do you come from?

Where do you come from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Presumably, it wouldn't have made any difference. Presumably, he wouldn't even have been able to get his head around the fact when Jesus said, Well, actually, I come from heaven. He really didn't have any interest in that at all.

It was just a superstition that was so riddling him. He said, Well, I better try and find out something about him. Where do you come from? And Jesus gave him no answer. Then comes the second question. Do you refuse to speak to me? Actually, in the Greek, it goes, To me, you do not speak?

Question mark? To me? And he said, Jesus, do you know who you're talking to here?

Do you get the irony? Pilate, do you know what you're doing? To me, you do not speak? Pilate pulls rank.

He rests on his dignity. I'm the Roman governor. Don't you think you should speak? Do you know there are some people here tonight and that's the reason you're not a Christian? Because you don't think that Jesus knows who you are. You, somehow or another, are stuck on the fact that Jesus is not impressed with you. Because the way to get to you is to be impressed with you. For you have lived your whole life to become impressive to people.

And the way that people access you is on the basis of being impressed. And now you come to Christ, and like Pilate, you say, To me, you do not speak? To me, you don't come and do a special miracle? To me, you do not do this? Or to me, you do not reveal that?

Listen, my dear friend, who in the world do you think you are? God is not impressed by your resume. He's looking to redeem us from our pride and our sin and to give us humble hearts. You're listening to Truth for Life weekend.

That is Alistair Begg with the convicting message. We'll hear part two of this message next week. It can be tempting at times to want to skip over the difficult parts of scripture, like today's message. But our mission at Truth for Life is to teach God's Word without adding to it or taking away from it. This is teaching you can trust to be true, and as the Bible says, to make you wise for salvation. And as you aim as parents to make your children wise to salvation, we want to recommend to you a family devotional you can read together in preparation for Easter. It's called Darkest Night, Brightest Day.

This book is perfect for families who have school-aged children up to maybe fifth or sixth grade. There are 14 daily readings taken directly from scripture that will take you through the events from Palm Sunday all the way to Pentecost. Seven of the readings lead up to the darkest night in history, the night that Jesus died. The other seven readings record the impact of Jesus' resurrection and his ascension on his followers then and now. Find out more about the book Darkest Night, Brightest Day when you visit our website at truthforlife.org.

I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for including us in your weekend. Join us next weekend for the conclusion of the message titled Pilate's Dilemma. We'll find out why the Jews couldn't evade responsibility for Jesus' death even though it was Pilate who condemned him. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.