said to them, Ye have brought to me this man as turning away the people [to rebellion], and behold, I, having examined him before you, have found nothing criminal in this man as to the things of which ye accuse him;
Pilate calls the chief priests, the rulers, and the people together, and repeats their charge that Jesus was misleading the people. His own examination found nothing, so this verse is a judge's formal acquittal — and the whole chapter that follows sits in its shadow.
The charge Pilate is answering had a true fact inside it. One commentator shows where the lie was hidden:
There was a measure of truth in what they said, and yet it was false in the way it was presented. There are many words spoken in this world that are true, which are pressed into the service of falsehood. How often a person tells the truth to hide the truth! It was perfectly true that Christ was a King... Their aim was to put forward His royal titles and glories as if He were claiming them to overthrow the power of Rome.
Pilate does not say this only once. One writer counts how often the verdict comes, and sees God's hand in it:
First of all, there is abundant witness that Jesus was faultless. Pilate had said this at the earlier examination (verse 4). Now he repeats it twice (verses 14, 22). He states it a fourth time as Herod's verdict (verse 15). God took care that there should be abundant and official witness to this.
An acquittal leaves a judge only one lawful step. One writer measures Rome's boasted fairness against what Pilate did next:
Such was the boasted fairness of the Roman empire, of man. There was no doubt of the innocence of Jesus. The charges of the people had been proved to be false. The hardened judge could not condemn, but had to acquit as a matter of justice.
The acquittal never turned into release. Two parties share the blame:
Pilate passed the death sentence while saying he found no fault in our Lord. That made the Gentiles guilty. The Jews who shouted for His death made the Jews guilty.
Pilate was no enemy of Jesus, and he knew the prisoner was innocent. One writer asks why he handed Him over anyway:
Look at Pilate for a moment. He was said to be a cruel man; but, as far as we know, he had no hatred of Christ. On the contrary, he would have released Him if he could. Certain things moved that man. His natural conscience was uneasy; he was not at rest... He had the conviction as a judge, "That is an innocent Man. He is not guilty of the crimes laid to His charge." All these things acted on his conscience... How clearly the evidence left him without excuse, that at his bar stood One without guilt... Why could he not follow his natural conscience? Why not decide in favour of the Lord Jesus Christ, and free Him as One in whom there was no blame? Why not? Because Pilate could not afford to give up his friendship with the world.
The same writer turns Pilate's position into a question for the reader. Wanting to be on Christ's side is not the same as being there:
Are there not many people here in the same moral position as Pilate? Your conscience touches you; you would like to be on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ... you would like to stand up for Him, would like to be His friend. But then there is the world. You cannot give up the world; you cannot break with it... They cannot give up their Caesar.
One writer reads the scene against the old rule for sacrifices. Pilate's finding then joins a long line of unlikely witnesses:
The Jews had to search carefully for their sacrifices, to find animals without blemish or spot... for only such could picture the Holy One of God, who was holy, harmless, and undefiled... Wicked Pilate declared again and again before all the people that he found "no guilt in Him." The self-convicted traitor said he had "betrayed innocent blood."... The thief on the cross, dying beside Him, cried, "This man has done nothing wrong." So all beings in heaven and on earth — angels, men, demons, saints, sinners, Jews, Gentiles — have borne witness that He was "without spot or blemish."
- Charge — they took a true thing, His kingship, and bent it into a lie — that He was claiming a throne to topple Rome.
- Examination — Pilate tested the charge in public and it collapsed. His innocence was not assumed. It was proved.
- Witness — the "no guilt" verdict comes four times in this chapter. God saw to it that the record was full and official.
- Verdict — justice left one step, release. Pilate refused it and made the Gentiles guilty. The crowd's cry made the Jews guilty.
- Lamb — the judge, the traitor, the dying thief and the angels all say one thing. The Sacrifice was without spot or blemish.
nor Herod either, for I remitted you to him, and behold, nothing worthy of death is done by him.
Luke alone tells us that Jesus stood before Herod as well as Pilate. Here Pilate quotes Herod's verdict back to the crowd — so why did a man cleared by both rulers still end up on a cross?
Pilate does not give this verdict only once. One writer counts the times:
In the first place, there is abundant witness that Jesus was faultless. Pilate had said this during the earlier examination (verse 4). Now he repeats it twice (verses 14, 22), and states it a fourth time as Herod's verdict (verse 15). God took care that there should be abundant and official witness to this.
Justice left Pilate no other verdict. Yet he still wanted to please the crowd:
There was no doubt of the innocence of Jesus. The charges of the people had proved false. The hardened judge could not condemn Him. Justice required him to acquit. He was willing to concede something to please the people, but he was anxious to release the Prisoner.
Pilate had sent Jesus to Herod to get the case off his own desk. He did not escape. The move only drew more men together against Christ:
The sending to Herod is set before us. So we see all men fully united against the rightful Lord of the world — the Christ. It is a solemn but all too natural picture: opposition to Christ unites those who in their personal interests and passions were otherwise enemies. They can compliment each other while treating Christ this way. No doubt Pilate hoped to quiet a troubled conscience by throwing the matter onto Herod, or to avoid the guilt. But so it was to be. Men cannot escape the fruit of their own wickedness that way.
That shared hostility even made the two rulers friends:
In Luke 23 Jesus stands not only before Pilate, but before Herod. The two men had hated each other until then. Here they are reconciled, now that it is a question of rejecting Jesus. It is only Luke who gives us this touch. What a league of peace over the rejection of the Saviour!
Pilate's very next words still propose punishment. One writer names the principle behind that:
He repeats his own evidence, that he had "found no guilt in this man" (v. 14). He then tries to strengthen his case by citing Herod's judgement (v. 15). But his conclusion must surprise any fair observer: "I will therefore punish and release him" (v. 16)… In one word, Pilate built his proposal on the principle of compromise. Here the Christian can see one of the marks of politics. When people are ready to compromise their principles, they will soon fall back on the principle of compromise.
Pilate would not act on his own finding. The result turned justice upside down:
The man proven guilty of rebellion against the government and of murder went free. The One whom the judge had three times declared faultless was condemned to crucifixion! Surely Pilate carried a torturing, burning conscience for the rest of his life.
Rome held all the power in that room. Power was not what that court lacked:
How sad! Here was the judge and governor of the proudest nation on earth, with his own subjects standing before him. Yet he lacked the moral courage to do what he knew was right! It shows us that what the world needs is not so much power as moral uprightness.
Nothing in Jesus called for death. So His death must have a cause outside Himself:
You and I die because we are sinful men, whereas Christ became a man in order that He might die. You and I had to die; He had not. On Him death had no claim whatever… His very foes had to confess His excellence and spotlessness. Herod found nothing worthy of death in Him. Pilate had to declare, "I find no guilt in him." The dying thief said to his neighbour, "This man has done nothing wrong."… You and I were sinners under sentence of death. But in grace the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in and died in the place of those who were guilty and lost.
- Fourfold — Pilate calls Jesus faultless in verse 4, and again in verses 14 and 22. Here he adds Herod's verdict as a fourth witness.
- Deliberate — the repetition is no accident. God made sure the innocence of Jesus had full and official testimony.
- United — Luke alone records the trip to Herod. Enemies became friends over rejecting Christ, and Pilate still kept his guilt.
- Compromised — Pilate quotes two acquittals, then offers to punish Jesus anyway. That is a man trading principle for peace with the crowd.
- Substituted — nothing in Him deserved death, so the cross was never His own debt. The guilty man went free, and the faultless One died in his place.