by Audrey Bauman
Mark 15: 1 – 15 NLT
“Jesus’ Trial before Pilate”
Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law—the entire high council (Sanhedrin) – met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
2Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied,“You have said it.”
3Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes,4and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?”5But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.
6Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested.7One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising.8The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.
9“Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked.10(For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.)11But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.12Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13They shouted back, “Crucify him!”
14“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”
But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”
15So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.”
Bible commentator, Steve Wilmhurst, talks about what Jesus went through the previous 12 hours before he was brought to Pilate.
“It is worth recalling what Jesus has already been through before he faces Pilate. In the course of a totally sleepless night, he has struggled with the horror of death and the dread of God’s wrath as he’s wrestled in solitary prayer; he has been betrayed by an ally and deserted by his friends; he has faced volleys of unjust accusations by people who hate him; and then he’s been beaten up – all in the last twelve hours. In other words, before this story even begins, he has encountered more trauma and provocation than we ever will.”
We often wonder how people could be so fickle. It was just over a week before when they celebrated Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. In his commentary, Steve Wilmhurst mentions that the crowd we see in this scene is not the crowd who sang Hosanna to Jesus. Those people were Jews from all over the countryside who were on their way to Jerusalem, and met Jesus along the way. They would likely camp out outside Jerusalem at night, and not be present at this early morning hour. The crowd in this chapter probably had gathered near where the Sanhedrin met, and they followed the Temple leaders as they brought Jesus to Pilate. They were more likely under the influence of the Temple leaders.
Pilate has obviously figured out that Jesus is not really a problem. “For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy”. (v. 10) He has questioned Jesus himself, and really found nothing to convict him of. He likely thought he could avoid the whole situation by offering a release of a prisoner, a custom practiced at this time of year. Instead, the crowd calls for Barabbas, not Jesus. (“But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus” – v. 11)
Steve Wilmhurst tells us more about Barabbas. “Thirdly, let’s look at Barabbas. All the gospel writers mention Barabbas, but while Mark’s account of Jesus and Pilate is barely half the length of what we find in the other three gospels, he tells us more about Barabbas than any of them do. Mark clearly wants us to think about this man. What does he want us to see? Whatever his precise motives, Barabbas is a murderer. In one of the frequent failed uprisings of those days, he has killed people – perhaps he even managed to kill a Roman soldier, or maybe it was just some Jewish collaborator. He is a big sinner; a certainty for crucifixion, he fully deserves what he is going to get. By rights, it should be Barabbas carrying his cross out to Golgotha with the other criminals, that spring Friday morning. But instead, the soldier who comes and takes him from his cell this morning does not drag him outside the city walls to the place of execution. Instead, he leads him to the gates of the fortress, pushes him outside and turns his back, Go on – you’refree!
And that is what the cross of Jesus does. The cross substitutes an innocent victim for a guilty criminal, so that the guilty criminal walks free. Barabbas is you and me – the offenders, the criminals, the guilty ones: released from our cell, taken out into the light, and set free. Like us, Barabbas deserves his sentence. Like us, Barabbas contributes nothing to his freedom except for his sin. As with us, the action takes place somewhere else while he reaps the benefit – just outside the city, where the innocent victim is nailed to the cross and takes the wrath of God on himself; and meanwhile we walk free.”
Jesus’ trial was certainly unfair. Sometimes I think I tend to skip over the details of Jesus’ trial and crucifixtion. I don’t like horrible, gory stories. I’d rather read about positive events where everyone feels good at the end even though they might have faced some difficulties. Just stop and think about what Jesus has gone through so far – and horrific things are yet to come. His physical response of bleeding when he was praying shows how deeply emotional he was at the time. His followers deserted him. He’s been tried and beaten by the Jewish leaders all night, and now he is on trial in a Roman court. The trial is completely unfair. Even Pilate, the judge, knows this man is not guilty of what he is accused of.
How do you think you’d react if you were in this situation? Stop and ponder that for a few minutes.
Yet Jesus is quiet and calm. Jesus is thinking about you. Jesus loves you!
Our song for today is God You Are by We Are the Messengers with Josh Baldwin.
Steve Wilmhurst, A Ransom for Many: the Gospel of Mark Simply Explained, Welwyn Commentary Series, Evangelical Press, 2011 – Chapter 22
