Epaggelia

Different Parties Opposed to Christ:  “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?”  (Romans 5:10)

Bystanders in Curiosity, v66-70, “looking”, and again said, “you are one of them”. The desire to label and learn about Jesus, is not for wisdom or admiration, but to incriminate the followers of a fraudster in Jesus. Once everyone is labeled, they will take the sentence ordered from the Council and apply it to each follower. This kind of guilt by association work can backfire, and it was the reason the Council decided to work at night as quickly as possible. For they were afraid of the crowds, Mt. 14:5, 21:46, Luke 22:2 & 20:19.

Peter in Denial, v68-72, Peter failed to show any integrity because he had not prayed for strength in the garden and his Savior had already warned him of his impending denial. Peter is most likely lingering in the background to learn how the unexplainable will unfold, and as he does, he cowers in shame, going “out into the gateway”, v68. The cursing Peter does is probably out of hate for his own guilt ridden shame as he tries to lie his way out of the questioning. This is the nature of deceit, it complicates our conscience into self-hate for falling deeper and deeper into sin and guilt.

Chief Priests, Elders, Scribes & Sanhedrin Council in Scheming Judgment, 15:1. The Roman authorities would not have prosecuted Jesus as a blasphemer. So the Sanhedrin, evidently now at full strength, decided to charge Jesus with treason against the Roman government. This verse does not explain that decision, but Pilate’s examination of Jesus that follows shows that was the charge the Sanhedrin had made against Him. Binding Jesus and leading him to be delivered was a formal and determined effort to impress upon Pilate that Jesus was guilty and a threat. Have you ever wondered why the Sanhedrin didn’t order a stoning to kill Jesus for blasphemy? Roman policy was to let local courts and customs deal with most civil and criminal matters, except those that threatened Roman interests. But in 6 AD the right to execute capital punishment had been withdrawn from the Jews and given to the governor exclusively – except for punishment of pagans who entered into the Temple. Nevertheless, mob actions, such as the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) sometimes occurred. And so the true reason they have brought him to Pilate comes out; they want nothing less than the death penalty, and can’t inflict it without Pilate’s cooperation! The Jews want Jesus crucified so that he will be humiliated, accursed & killed according to the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

Pilate in a Trap, 5:2-5, Jesus stated the truth according to Pilate’s question about kingship, with an enigmatic agreement. Jesus didn’t try to offer a defense against the accusation of kingship, instead, he welcomed their charge of insurrection. In John’s gospel, 18:36-38 Jesus attempts an explanation of the nature of his Kingship, but Pilate doesn’t care to differentiate and see the spiritual nature, instead he apathetically replies, “what is truth.” The rest of Pilate’s attempt to free an innocent man leaves Pilate astounded at the reality of Jesus giving all his enemies an opportunity to do their worst. Even after flogging Jesus, Pilate is stuck in between quelling a riot and/or losing his job. If he stands up for Christ’s innocence and denies them a crucifixion, then he’s caused a riot & lost his job, but if he authorizes the death sentence, he quiets the streets of Jerusalem and keeps his job. So he washes his hands of it and keeps the peace and his job for now. Sadly, Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiae ii: 7) quotes some early apocryphal accounts which tell us Pilate fell under misfortunes in the reign of Caligula (37–41AD), was exiled to Gaul, and eventually committed suicide there.