Delivered Up By Envy, Delivered Over For Expedience

Discipleship Training Ministries, Inc.
1789 Iglehart Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104-5215 : Info: Phone (651) 283-0568 : www.dtminc.org

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Today’s Date: June 25, 2006

Delivered Up By Envy, Delivered Over For Expedience
by Dan Trygg

" For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous Man, for I have suffered much because of Him today in a dream.’ 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus." Matthew 27:18-20

"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. 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." John 19:12-16

We recently saw how the Jewish religious leaders had arrested Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and had run Him through a semblance of legal steps in order to sentence Him to death, and remove Him from the scene. Never mind that they had illegally compressed what was normally a three-day process (at least) into a few hours. They were desperate to get Him out of the way before the city woke up, and Jesus’ supporters could respond in any way that may impede their plot. Thus, we see that they did not waste any time in getting Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. The Romans had removed the right of capital punishment from the Jews, reserving that power to themselves alone. According to law, a Roman court could meet any time after sunrise. John 19:14 tells us that the proceedings before Pilate were all done by "the sixth hour". This included a first appearance before Pilate, an appearance before Herod, and a second appearance before Pilate, all by 6:00 a.m.! Before most people in the city had really gotten their mornings started, Jesus had been tried and convicted by the Jews, and had been brought before the Governor, who delivered Him over to crucifixion, the Roman death penalty for those who were not Roman citizens.

As long as the Galilean contingent, those who were especially loyal to Jesus, did not find out what had happened, and appear before the governor, the chief priests and elders had a good chance of getting what they wanted. Certainly a good percentage of the crowd that appeared before the courtyard of Pilate, and followed the proceedings to Herod’s residence and back again before Pilate, were strongly under the influence of the enemies of Jesus. When you consider the early time of these events, who would have been milling about the city looking for a court hearing to attend before breakfast? Furthermore, considering that this was also the day after the Passover meal, when friends and family came to town for the feast, the size of the crowd at that early hour is even more peculiar. The "public gallery" was heavily stacked against Jesus, so that Pilate certainly did not get an accurate perception of the popularity of Jesus by the multitudes He had ministered to. This explains also the way in which the chief priests were able to motivate the crowd to call for Jesus’ death so profusely. From the representation Pilate would have seen in attendance, certainly Jesus would have appeared unpopular to the extreme.

We have the interviews with Pilate recorded in more detail by John’s gospel (18:28-19:16). The charges the Jews brought against Him were that "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a king" (Lk. 23:2). The only charge which Pilate seemed to take interest in pursuing was the last of these. Recorded in all four gospels is His question, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Each of these four witnesses record Jesus’ affirmative answer, but John gives us more detail. In His account, Jesus asks Pilate if this question was his own, or because others had brought this accusation against Him (18:34). Pilate dismissed Jesus’ probing, saying, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation, and the chief priests have delivered You up to me; what have you done?" To this, Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Pilate responded, "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 bear witness of the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." At this, Pilate said, again probably dismissively, "What is truth?" This was enough for him. He knew now that Jesus had done nothing wrong, but had merely been delivered up by the Jewish religious authorities because of envy. He was no threat to Rome, or to the peace. He went out to the chief priests and the multitudes and said, "I find no guilt in this man" (Lk. 23:4).

That was not the end of the matter, however. They kept on insisting that He was worthy of death, claiming that, "He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place" (Lk. 23:5). Upon learning that Jesus was a Galilean, Pilate was more than glad to send Him to Herod, so that he himself would not have to deal with Him. Luke alone records Jesus’ visit to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem for the Passover (Lk. 23:5-12). Herod was initially pleased to see Him, but when Jesus did not perform some miracles, or even answer his questions, he grew weary of Him. With the chief priests and scribes standing there, vehemently accusing Him, Herod decided to send Him back to the Roman governor, after first mocking Him and treating Him with contempt.

Upon His return, Pilate made a stronger effort to release Jesus. He summarized his findings, which had been confirmed by Herod, that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. He appealed to a well established custom, where the Roman governor would release one prisoner as a show of clemency (and of confident power) in honor of the Jewish holiday. He tried to offer to release to them "the King of the Jews", making light of the situation. The crowd rejected his offer, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas" (Jn. 18:39,40). Tradition says that Barabbas’ first name was also Jesus. The name "Barabbas" literally means "son of a father", probably indicating that he was an illegitimate child. He was a notorious criminal, an insurrectionist, or violent revolutionary against Rome. He was also a murderer and a robber (Mk. 15:7; Jn. 18:40). He was not even a good guy in the eyes of the Jews. He was not a folk hero, like Robin Hood. He was a criminal, in everyone’s eyes. He was, in reality, everything that the chief priests and elders were falsely ascribing to Jesus. They were trying to make the case that Jesus of Nazareth was a revolutionary, a rabble rouser and insurrectionist, and a threat to Roman stability, which He was not. Barabbas, on the other hand, was worse than all they had ascribed to Jesus. Partly in reaction to Pilate’s arrogance, the chief priests moved the crowd to cry out for Barabbas, and to call out for Jesus’ death. Unbeknownst to them, they were rejecting the true King, the virgin-born Son of God, who was innocent of all charges, in order claim Jesus Barabbas, the illegitimate child of an unknown father, who was guilty of all Jesus of Nazareth was accused of, and more. They were rejecting the King of heaven in exchange for an earthly wannabe.

While this was going on, Pilate received a message from his wife, saying that she had suffered greatly in a dream about Jesus, and warned him to have nothing to do with Him (Matt. 27:19). This motivated him all the more to release Jesus, but seeing the insistence of the crowd, Pilate thought he might appease them if he gave them some measure of what they wanted. He determined to punish and publicly embarrass Jesus, ordering Him to be scourged, saying, "I will punish Him and release Him" (Lk. 23:16). A Roman scourging utilized the infamous "cat of nine tails", a whip consisting of leather strips with bits of bone or lead attached to them. The weight of the lead would increase the punishing force of each blow, and the sharp bits of bone would penetrate the flesh, tearing it as the whip was pulled back. By the time a scourging was completed, a man's back and legs would be a shredded, pulverized, bloody mass. Victims of a Roman scourging often died under the whip, or as a result of the beating. After the scourging, the soldiers had taken it upon themselves to mock and beat Jesus, making a crown of thorns, beating Him in the face, and arraying Him in a purple robe. When Pilate called Him out, he again asserted that he had found no guilt in Him (Jn. 19:4).

When Pilate tried to release Him again, the Jews played their trump card. They cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar." Pilate already had a somewhat checkered administrative record. His arrogance and high-handedness had offended the Jews on more than one occasion, and he knew that he did not need any more negative feedback from those in his charge. Tiberius Caesar had become very intolerant of any rumors of insurrection. To dismiss the charges against Jesus would not play well with his superiors. He would have some explaining to do. Even if his actions could be explained, he would be under the emperor’s eye of suspicion, which was never a healthy place to be. He was cornered, and he knew it. Rather than take a stand on principle, it was politically expedient to give this Man over to their wishes.

The governor knew that this was unjust, though he could make a defense for condemning Jesus to die on the cross. This was a distasteful business, however, and it bothered him. Matthew records (27:24) that he ordered a basin of water to be brought to him, and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves," putting the responsibility upon His accusers. They responded, "His blood be upon us and on our children!" He had Jesus brought out before them, proclaiming, "Behold, your King!" They cried out, "Away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests then exclaimed, "We have no king but Caesar." (This was a serious contradiction to their professed faith that God Himself was their only true King, and His Messiah would come to reign as His earthly representative.) Having had the last word, and having clearly, on record, established his loyalty to Rome, so there would be no grounds for accusations, Pilate delivered Jesus over to be crucified.

Thus, Jesus was delivered up to the governor because of the envy of the Jews, and delivered over by him to crucifixion out of fear and political expedience. None of these rulers had the backbone to stand up for truth and justice. This truly was the "hour and the authority of darkness" (Lk. 22:53).