Jesus, the Sanhedrin, the crowd, & Pilate

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you." But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. - Mark 15:1‭-‬20 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The silence of Jesus

The religious leaders put Jesus on trial without due procedure and very unjust way. The Sanhedrin charged him with claiming to be God. The religious leaders wanted to put him to death, but they could not. The nation of Israel was under the rule of the Romans so death sentences could not be carried out without the Romans. Pontius Pilate was not Jewish; he could care less about religious squabbles. If anything at all, Pontius wanted nothing to do with executing Jesus. As the accusations were spun as high treason against Caesar, Jesus only commented upon the accusations. Jesus did not defend himself. 

Do not take Jesus' silence as accepting injustice. In this instance, Jesus was in the role of the silent sacrificial lamb of God. For us, silence in the face of evil is evil. We are called to point out injustice. The religious leaders were hardened in their stance and desire to have Jesus killed.  Jesus has done miracles and taught in the temples. Even if Jesus gave a water tight argument to them at this time, they would not have listened at all. So it would have been fruitless to argue.

The cry of the crowd

Pilate knew that there was no guilt in Jesus. There was a tradition for the Romans to release a single prisoner during this time of year. Pilate knew that the Sanhedrin was trying to kill Jesus out of jealousy. So Pilate brought out Barabbas, a known revolutionary and maybe even a murderer. The chief priests stirred up the crowd to their desire. Barabbas' name meant son of the father. Ironically, they choose the counterfeit son and rejected the real son of God. 

Perhaps the priests had stirred up the crowd, but in some way, the crowd also rejected Jesus. Loving your enemies is so much harder than fighting them and trying to kill them. The status quo of restoring the nation of Israel was so much more comfortable than accepting Jesus and this kingdom of heaven. 

So it is also with us. We may not cry aloud our rejection of Jesus, but do we not still reject Jesus? Our theology is so at odds with our day to day. We claim to follow Jesus but we chase after money, power, and comfort. Our actions speak of our rejection. Are we so different from the crowd?

Jesus delivered

Jesus was delivered to death so that we could be delivered from it. We, the ones guilty of cosmic insurrection, would find life while Jesus paid for our guilt. He was scourged by the Romans for us. This is the love of God for us. When we see this clearly, we will cry "away with my sin!" This hated of sin and all that distract us from Jesus will become a stench to us. We will run to Jesus and turn from the ugliness in us and in our desires.