John began his version of this civil trial by narrating the initial public meeting of Pilate and Jesus' accusers.543
18:28 "They"(NASB) refers to all the Jewish authorities (cf. Matt. 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1). They led Jesus from Caiaphas in the sense that he was the head of the Sanhedrin that had passed sentence on Jesus (cf. Matt. 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71). The Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus for blasphemy (Matt. 26:63-66; Mark 14:61-64), which was a capital offense in Israel (Lev. 24:16). However the Sanhedrin could not execute the death sentence for this offense without Roman agreement, and there was little hope of Pilate giving it. Therefore the Jewish leaders decided to charge Jesus with sedition.
The word "Praetorium"transliterates the Latin praetoriumthat identified the headquarters of the commanding officer of a Roman military camp or a Roman military governor's headquarters.544Pilate was such a governor.545His normal headquarters stood at Caesarea, the capital of the Roman province of Judea. However during the Jewish feasts Pilate came to Jerusalem with Roman troops to discourage uprisings. His headquarters in Jerusalem was either in Herod's palace on the western wall of the city or in the Fortress of Antonia immediately north of the temple enclosure. The traditional site is the Fortress of Antonia, the beginning of the Via Dolorosa or "way of sorrow"that Jesus travelled from the Praetorium to Golgotha.
It is not clear just when Jesus first appeared before Pilate on Friday morning. John said that it was "early"(Gr. proi). This may be a reference to the technical term that the Romans used to describe the night watch that began at 3:00 a.m. and ended at 6:00 a.m. Probably it is just the normal use of the word that would not necessarily require a time before 6:00 a.m. It would have been early nonetheless, perhaps between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. Roman officials customarily began their work around sunrise and often finished their day's business by 10:00 or 11:00 a.m.546John wrote that Jesus was still in Pilate's presence late in the morning (19:14).
The Jews who brought Jesus to Pilate stayed outside the Praetorium because they wanted to avoid ceremonial defilement. The Jews thought that merely entering a Gentile's dwelling made them ceremonially unclean (cf. Acts 10:28).547This was because the Gentiles did not take precautions to guarantee kosher (i.e., proper) food as the Jews did. Specifically Gentiles might have yeast in their homes that would have made participation in the Passover feast unlawful for a Jew (cf. Exod. 12:19; 13:7).548
Ironically these Jews were taking extreme precautions to avoid ritual defilement while at the same time preparing to murder the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (cf. 2 Sam. 11:4).
". . . they are anxious to avoid external defilement in order to observe a festival whose realsignificance was that, as well as reminding God's people of the ancient deliverance from Egypt, it pointed forward to the true Passover Lamb, whose sacrifice would bring to an end all distinctions between what was ceremonially clean and unclean, and effect an inward cleansing; and it was the death of that true Passover Lamb that the Jews at this moment are anxious to bring about."549
These Jews' superficial commitment to the Mosaic Law resulted in it becoming more difficult for them truly to obey that law. Their punctiliousness separated themselves from Jesus. Pilate had to shuttle between the Jews outside his headquarters and Jesus inside as his examination proceeded.
We have already drawn attention to the evidence that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples in the upper room on Thursday evening (cf. 13:1, 27).550Why then were these Jews concerned that entering Pilate's Praetorium might preclude them from eating the Passover? Had they too not already eaten it the night before? The "Passover"was the name that the Jews used to describe both the Passover proper and the entire festival that followed it including the feast of Unleavened Bread (cf. Luke 22:1). Evidently it was their continuing participation in this eight-day festival that these Jewish leaders did not want to sacrifice by entering a Gentile residence.
18:29 Pilate evidently addressed the Jews who had assembled outside his headquarters, or perhaps in its courtyard, from a balcony. He wanted to know their formal charge against Jesus. Pilate probably knew something of Jesus' arrest since Roman soldiers had participated in it (vv. 3, 12). Moreover Jesus was a popular figure in Galilee and Jerusalem. The high priest may well have communicated with Pilate about Him before Jesus appeared on Pilate's doorstep.
18:30 The spokesmen for the Jews eventually evaded Pilate's question. Luke recorded that they initially charged Jesus with misleading Israel, with forbidding the Jews to pay their taxes to Caesar, and with claiming to be Israel's king (Luke 23:2). However they could not impress Pilate with those charges sufficiently.
They hesitated to bring the charge of blasphemy against Jesus because Pilate might dismiss it as unworthy of his consideration (cf. Acts 18:12-16). They evidently did not accuse Him of treason because this too would have incited His many followers, and they would have had difficulty proving it. Consequently they did not name the charge but assumed that it was serious and implied that Pilate should trust them and "rubber stamp"their decision. Perhaps the fact that Pilate had provided troops to arrest Jesus encouraged them to think that he had already judged Jesus guilty. They did not appreciate Pilate's question since it suggested that they would have to go through a formal trial from beginning to end.
"It is possible that they were taken by surprise at Pilate's indication that he would try the case himself. They had had his cooperation in making the arrest; now they apparently expected that he would take their word for it that the man the Romans had helped to arrest was dangerous and should be executed."551
Pilate realized that the Jewish leaders had determined to do away with Jesus (cf. Matt. 27:18), but he had no evidence that Jesus had done anything worthy of death.
18:31 Since the Jews did not charge Jesus formally there was nothing that Pilate could do except hand Him back to them for discipline in their courts. The Jews' response explained why that was an unacceptable alternative. They wanted Jesus executed, but they did not have the authority to execute Him themselves.552
"The Pilate disclosed in the [ancient] historical documents almost certainly acted like this not so much out of any passion for justice as out of the ego-building satisfaction he gained from making the Jewish authorities jump through legal hoops and recognize his authority."553
18:32 John noted that the Jews' admission that they could not put anyone to death was in harmony with the sovereign plan of God. Jesus had predicted that He would die by crucifixion, not by stoning (cf. 12:32-33). The Romans were the only ones who could condemn a person to death by crucifixion. The Jews did stone people to death for blasphemy (e.g., Acts 6:11; 7:58), but these seem to have been instances of mob violence rather than independent legal action. They probably wanted Jesus crucified too because the Mosaic Law regarded such a death as proof of God's curse (Deut. 21:22-23).
"Ironically, the death that the Jewish hierarchy regarded as a final negation of Jesus' claims became the means of justification apart from the law (Gal 3:13)."554
"It was necessary for three reasons for Jesus to be crucified by the Romans at the instigation of the Jews: (a) to fulfill prophecies (e.g., that none of His bones be broken; cf. 19:36-37); (b) to include both Jews and Gentiles in the collective guilt for the deed (cf. Acts 2:23; 4:27); (c) by crucifixion, Jesus was lifted up' like the snake in the desert' [3:14] . . ."555
