I’ve no idea, why they brought him to me. Probably trying to get me to do their dirty work, make it all official. They wanted rid of him, and I was the person they thought would do it.
But I couldn’t do anything. The rules they insisted he’d broken were religious ones, not ones I could deal with.
They were brutal with him. Who wants thorns pressing into their skin? Being beaten, whipped – such physical mocking. Then not content with that they put a purple robe on him too. Total public humiliation.
I tried again. To get them to see sense, realise I could condemn him of nothing.
But they were having none of it. Nothing was going to satisfy them. They were baying for blood – and determined to get it. This poor man. He really had done nothing wrong. But he’d obviously made some influential people very angry.
They insisted they were Jewish laws that he’d broken. What could I do?
I wanted to free him. I tried to give them a get out clause, but they were having none of it.
It really isn’t my fault he died.
I did nothing to make him hang on the cross.
Did I?
John 19:1-16 (CEV)
19 Pilate gave orders for Jesus to be beaten with a whip. 2 The soldiers made a crown out of thorn branches and put it on Jesus. Then they put a purple robe on him. 3 They came up to him and said, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” They also hit him with their fists.
4 Once again Pilate went out. This time he said, “I will have Jesus brought out to you again. Then you can see for yourselves that I have not found him guilty.”
5 Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, “Here is the man!”
6 When the chief priests and the temple police saw him, they yelled, “Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”
Pilate told them, “You take him and nail him to a cross! I don’t find him guilty of anything.”
7 The crowd replied, “He claimed to be the Son of God! Our Jewish Law says that he must be put to death.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was terrified. 9 He went back inside and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not answer.
10 “Why won’t you answer my question?” Pilate asked. “Don’t you know that I have the power to let you go free or to nail you to a cross?”
11 Jesus replied, “If God had not given you the power, you couldn’t do anything at all to me. But the one who handed me over to you did something even worse.”
12 Then Pilate wanted to set Jesus free. But the crowd again yelled, “If you set this man free, you are no friend of the Emperor! Anyone who claims to be a king is an enemy of the Emperor.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out. Then he sat down on the judge’s bench at the place known as “The Stone Pavement.” In Aramaic this pavement is called “Gabbatha.” 14 It was about noon on the day before Passover, and Pilate said to the crowd, “Look at your king!”
15 “Kill him! Kill him!” they yelled. “Nail him to a cross!”
“So you want me to nail your king to a cross?” Pilate asked.
The chief priests replied, “The Emperor is our king!” 16 Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be nailed to a cross.
