NOT GUILTY

John 19:1-6
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Jesus Sentenced to Death

1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”

6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

“Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”


This is a portion of a prayer used in the Kairos Prison Ministry titled, “Prayer to Christ, The Prisoner.”

• “… You were cuffed and shackled, and led stumbling to court,
• You were forced to stand in front of judges and prosecutors, with no attorney to help you,
• You were accused by lying, paid witnesses,
• You were tortured with beatings, insults, and whippings,
• You had men spit in your face,
• You had sharp thorns shoved into your scalp, …”
  

And Pilate declared not once but twice, “I find him not guilty.” What a way to treat an innocent man, let alone the Son of God.

THE TRUTH

John 18:37-40
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. 39 But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”

40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)

The truth is Jesus was not just a king. He is The King.

To borrow from ‘The Glorious Appearing’ ­– (LaHaye & Jenkins): My Bible says He is a king … He’s a seven-way king.

• He's the king of the Jews; … that’s a racial king.
• He’s the king of Israel; … that’s a national king.
• He’s the king of righteousness.
• He’s the king of the ages.
• He’s the king of heaven.
• He’s the king of glory.
• He’s the king of kings.

Besides being a seven-way king, He’s the Lord of lords … That’s my king.

Pilate was seeking the truth. He wanted to know who Jesus really was. Do you know Him? Is He your King?

OUT OF THIS WORLD

John 18:33-36
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”


When we say that something is ‘out of this world’, we are admitting that we can’t find the words to describe something which is awesome.

Pilate was trying to understand Jesus. On one of his albums, Kirk Whalum says that’s an oxymoron … understand Jesus. The clay is not going to understand the potter. With all our Bible translations and transliterations, commentaries, dictionaries and studies, we still struggle to understand many things in the Scriptures.

Jesus told Pilate, “… my Kingdom is not of this world.” In my imagination, I can hear Jesus telling Pilate, “My Kingdom is out of this world. It is too awesome for you to understand. We don’t have enough time for me to explain it to you. Just go on and do what you have to do,”

Yes, we struggle just as Pilate did but we have the Holy Spirit to help us and the promise of God that we will see it all clearly one day (1st Corinthians 13:12).

MAJORING ON THE MINOR

John 18:28-32
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Jesus’ Trial before Pilate

28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man?”

30 “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.

31 “Then take him away and judge him by your own law,” Pilate told them.

“Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone,” the Jewish leaders replied. 32 (This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way he would die.)


It was the week of the Passover celebration and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For those of the Jewish faith, this was big. It was like Christmas or Easter is for Christians. No Jew would want to miss any portion of this tradition, established in Mosaic Law.

The Jewish leaders were concerned about being defiled. If they entered the residence of a Gentile – Pilate – they would be unable to participate in the remainder of the Passover celebration. They were careful not to break this law.

What about falsely accusing an innocent man, framing him and setting him up to be executed. If this were ‘Law and Order’, it would be called conspiracy to commit murder. Surely this is a major offense in the Law (see the Ten Commandments). If this didn’t defile the Jewish leaders, nothing would. They focused on a minor violation of the law, missing the atrocity of their primary actions.

Two points … first, sin is sin, no matter what the offense and second, this was God’s plan … a fulfillment of prophesy.