Pilate's Struggle

Then the whole assembly rose up and brought Him before Pilate. They began to accuse Him saying, "We found this man subverting our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is the Messiah, a King."

So Pilate asked Him, "Are You the king of the Jews?"

He answered him, "You have said it."

Pilate told the chief priests and crowds, "I find no grounds for charging this man." Luke 23:1-4

Pilate and Jesus meet. To be accused of being a King could be a problem for the Roman Empire but Pilate did not take it as so. He would have known that the Jews believed in a Messiah, and here He was and they wanted to kill Him.

This would have seemed ludicrous to an outsider. The promised Messiah stood before them, the One promised for such a long time and here His people were rejecting Him.

Perhaps Pilate had sympathy for Jesus, being rejected by one you come to save was the worst form of rejection you could suffer. When ever I face rejection I remind myself, I am not being rejected by the people I have come to save, not being their Lord and God.

As a man being in charge of this Jewish outpost, Pilate would have been aware of the culture, the religion and their beliefs. The temple was sacred to them. Their scriptures were sacred to them. Their traditions were sacred to them, as was their belief in the Messiah.

Jesus was not the typical rabble rouser, in fact the crowd go on to demand the release of one such person, Barabbas. This man was the type that caused trouble, not Jesus. Pilate would have probably heard about the miracles happening in the city and countryside. Here was the man responsible, and yet He was being rejected. Why?

Pilate desperately tries to release Jesus, to no avail. These people would not settle for anything, except Jesus' blood. That precious blood, from a spotless lamb, the blood that would redeem many. Amen!