What to do with Him? - Jesus visits Herod and Pilate

Bible Verses

Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying,

"I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? You see to it." He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said,

"It's not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood." They took counsel, and bought the potter's field with them, to bury strangers in.

Therefore that field was called "The Field of Blood" to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of the children of Israel priced, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

Matthew 27:3-10

 

The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Christ, a king." Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." But they insisted, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place."

But when Pilate heard it, he asked if the man was a Galilean. When he found out that he was in Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him. He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers. The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him. Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.

Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, "You brought this man to me as one that subverts the people, and see, I have examined him before you, and found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him. I will therefore chastise him and release him." (Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.)

But they all shouted out together, saying, "Away with this man. Release to us Barabbas" (one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.) Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus, but they shouted, saying, "Crucify. Crucify him." He said to them the third time, "Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him." But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. And their voices, and those of the chief priests, prevailed. Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done. He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.

Luke 23:1-25

 

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him. They stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him. They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, "Greetings, King of the Jews." They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:27-31

Explanation

After the Jewish leaders had sent Jesus to Pilate for the official sentencing to death, Judas realised that his friend Jesus was about to be killed and he became full of shame and sorrow for betraying Jesus. He went to the Jewish leaders in the temple courtyard to try and take back his accusations about Jesus and to ask for forgiveness from them.

But the priests and leaders treated him as a common grass, saying it was all his own fault (as it was!). To prove he felt ashamed, Judas threw the 30 silver coins that the Jewish leaders had given him for betraying Jesus back into the temple. He then went and committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree outside the walls of Jerusalem.

(There were a few other legends about how Judas died in the early church, all very gruesome! Some people said that when he hanged himself, his body broke the branch of the tree and that a cart on the road next to the tree ran over his head: and some people said that his body inflated like a balloon until his heart exploded!)

The money that he threw back into the temple gave the priests a real problem. They called it blood money, not because it had been paid to an informant which lead to a prisoners death, but because it was special temple money used to purchase the sacrifices with and was thought to be holy. (This was the money that Jesus got so upset about on the afternoon on Palm Sunday.) It could not be used again within the temple. So they decided to by a field outside the city walls that they could bury strangers who died in Jerusalem and this was where Judas was buried.

It was called the Potter's field, because it would have been mostly clay (plants couldn't be grown in it), so it would not have been worth very much. The buying of this field completed another old testament prophecy.

Whilst this was happening, the Jewish Authorities took Jesus to the Roman Governor, Pilate, as he was the only one that could pass the death sentence on Jesus. It would have been about 6.30am when Jesus and the Jewish leaders arrived and Pilate's house. Under Jewish law, Jews were not allowed to go into the house (or even courtyard or garden) of a gentile (a non Jew) during festivals, especially Passover. Doing so would make them 'unclean' and meant that they could not take part in anymore of the Passover festivals. On the Friday evening, the last Passover meal was to be held and the Jewish leaders would have needed to attend this meal. Because of this law, Pilate came out to meet with the Jewish leaders at his front gates!

Pilate probably didn't want anything to do with the trial of Jesus (as you will see more of later!), but because of the busy time in the city, he wanted to keep the Jews happy!

The Jewish leaders started by accusing Jesus of being a possible riot starter, by saying that he had told people to not pay taxes. However, in fact the opposite was the case! At an earlier time in Jesus' ministry, Jesus was asked if it was right to pay taxes to the Romans. As the coins used to pay taxes had Caesar's head on it. Jesus replied 'Give unto Caesar, what is Caesar's.'

Because of this, the only possible crime for which Jesus could have been arrested under Roman law, was claiming to be a 'King' and so saying that he was higher than Caesar. The Jewish leaders knew this and so must have prompted Pilate with the question. This was the same type of law that the Jews had 'convicted' Jesus on. But the Jews also had a 'King' called Herod, so they really had some very large double standards!

Herod did not usually stay in Jerusalem, but because of the Passover festival he was staying in the old Jewish Palace during the festival. Herod was really a token King who had no real power (the Romans had all the power!) and was allowed to remain by the Romans as it kept the Jews happy! (Most Jews hated Herod and saw him as a 'conspirator' with the Romans.) As Herod was in Jerusalem, Pilate saw a way out of holding a trial for Jesus - by sending him to Herod and letting him deal with Jesus! So Jesus was sent off to Herod.

Herod was very pleased that Pilate had sent Jesus to him. It made Herod look important to the Jewish leaders (they thought Herod was weak for letting the Romans tell him what to do!). Herod had heard a lot about Jesus but hadn't seen him before. Herod wanted and hoped that, if Jesus really was an important or magical prophet, he would make a good prophesy about Herod or would do some magic for Herod. But Jesus simply stood in front of Herod and said nothing. Again the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of telling the people to rebel and accused him of being a King, but Jesus still said nothing. Herod became angry and mocked Jesus, by getting his own soldiers to put one of Herod's old royal robes on Jesus and pretending to bow to him. Still Jesus said nothing, so Herod could not find Jesus guilty of anything. So he had Jesus beaten up (again illegal under Jewish Law!) and sent him back to Pilate. So Pilate still had to decide what to do with Jesus. Pilate then tried another way out...

As a friendly gesture, it was traditional on the Friday morning during the Passover festival, for the Romans to release a prisoner, who had been given a death sentence. When Jesus came back to Pilate, he hoped that he could get rid of and free Jesus using this tradition. It would have now have been between 7.30am and 8.00am. Because of the release of the prisoner, a small crowd had gathered to watch the release. The criminal who had been scheduled for release was a murderer and riot leader called Bar-Abbas. Pilate would have been sitting on the official 'judgment seat' which could be seen from the gates by all the crowd. Pilate offered to release Jesus instead of Bar-Abbas. He pleaded with the crowd to let him release Jesus (after he had been whipped again), but the Jewish leaders had put people in the quickly growing crowd to stir them up and call for Bar-Abbas to be released and Jesus to be killed.

Again Pilate appealed to the crowd to let him release Jesus, as he hadn't done anything wrong. But again, led by the Jewish leaders, the crowd called for Jesus' death.

Pilate then did something that would have been very surprising to the Jews, perhaps even shocking, he washed his hands in front of them. This was a Jewish tradition that normally only Jewish judges did after they had found nothing wrong with a prisoner, but he had still been condemned to death. It basically meant "Whatever you do to him, it's nothing to do with me!" and is where we get the expression, 'washing our hands of something'. This is the only recorded time that a Roman judge did this and it would have been very symbolic that Pilate thought Jesus was a good man and completely innocent. This was still not the official final verdict although Bar-Abbas would have been released at this point.

Jesus was then taken by the Roman guards and again beaten. This would have taken place on the courtyard between the judgment seat and the gates, so everyone would have seen it. Jesus was stripped naked, his hands were rebound and he was tied to a wooden stake. The whip used was made of thin strands on leather with animal knuckle bones tied along the strands. It was designed to cause the most pain and suffering possible and was known as scourging. When it had finished, the soldiers put his upper clothes back on him and lead him back in front of Pilate. At this point the soldiers again stripped Jesus naked and put a purple or scarlet robe on him (purple and scarlet were the colours worn by a King), rammed a 'crown' wreath made of sharply spiked thorns on his head and gave him a reed staff in his hand (like a King's sceptre) and mocked Jesus, calling him the King of the Jews.

Pilate again hoped that this severe beating and mocking would be enough for the crowd and that Jesus could be freed, but again the crowd shouted that Jesus should be killed and crucified (the Roman way of a executing prisoner by hanging them on a cross). Pilate saw that, to avoid a riot, he no choice but to send Jesus for execution. When he gave this final decision the crowd (led by the Jewish leaders) cried "We have no King but Caesar!". This was completely blasphemous against God and was a Jewish crime, the same one Jesus had been convicted of!

Jesus was then led away to be crucified. This would have been about 8.15am.