This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
Outside Pilate's hall, the religious leaders admit they have no power to put anyone to death. John stops the trial story to tell us why that admission matters. Their legal limit, and Rome's method of killing, matched what Jesus had already said about His own death.
Why the case had to go to Rome
Their claim was true, and the rule behind it was new.
William Kelly"It is not lawful for us." According to the Talmud, it was in the year just before this that the Romans took from the Jews the right to carry out the death penalty — that is, exactly "forty years" before the fall of Jerusalem.
Pilate tried to hand the case back to them. Their answer left Jew and Roman alike carrying out a word neither of them meant to serve.
Hamilton SmithPilate tries to put the responsibility of judging the Lord on the Jews. Their reply shows their fixed purpose. Whatever Pilate decides, they have already settled that the Lord must die. But the Romans had taken from the Jew the power to carry out a death sentence, so they have to leave the matter in Pilate's hands. In this way Jew and Gentile alike become the instruments that fulfil the Lord's own words about the death He was about to die (Acts 4:27-28).
The word Jesus had already spoken
Jesus had said in advance how He would die, and He said it more than once. Other faithful men died in other ways. His death would take one form only.
William KellySo the word of Jesus had to be fulfilled, showing by what death He should die (verse 32). Compare John 3:15, John 8:28, John 12:32-33; also Matthew 16:21, Matthew 17:12, 22-23. The Jews might stone Stephen in an outburst of religious fury, and Herod might kill James with the sword. But the Jewish chief priests and scribes had to condemn the Son of man, and the Gentiles had to crucify Him.
Why the manner of death mattered
Crucifixion was not a Jewish penalty at all. That mattered, because the law made hanging on a tree the public sign of the curse.
Numerical Bible NotesCrucifixion was not a Jewish penalty: they might hang the dead on a tree, but not the living. There was a spiritual reason behind all of this. The curse of the law was to fall on Him, and the public, open sign of that curse was hanging on a tree (Deut. 21:23). But if the Jews had used it as their own penalty, it would have gone beyond death and changed its meaning. Only in Gentile hands could crucifixion serve its purpose.
Their refusal served His word
Pilate offered them the case, and they pushed it back.
Numerical Bible NotesThe people refused to take the matter into their own hands when Pilate would have put it there. Even that refusal only serves to fulfil the word of Jesus.
The rule they longed to throw off became the tool they were willing to use.
J T MawsonThey hated Jesus more than they hated Roman rule. That rule had been unbearable to them, but now they were ready to put up with it and accept it, if only it would let them get rid of Him. So they confessed, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." But above and behind it all stood His own words, which could not fail: He showed by what kind of death He was going to die.
What the cross was meant to end, and what it began
Rome supplied the method, and the hatred came from the Jews.
F. B. HoleHe showed that crucifixion would be the manner of His death. This was the Roman way of carrying out a death sentence. But all the hostility against Him was in the heart of the Jew. So it meant He would die a death of utmost shame, rejected by both Jew and Gentile. They lifted Him up from the earth to throw Him aside in contempt — like a snuffer dropped over a candle, to put out His cause and His Name. Yet the result will be the exact opposite. He who was once crucified is to be the universal and everlasting Object of attraction!
Summary
- Word first. Jesus had already said how He would die, and every step at Pilate's door fulfilled that word.
- Word over law. Rome had taken the death penalty from the Jews a year before, so the limit on their power drove the case to Pilate.
- Word over refusal. Pilate tried to give the case back. They refused, and their refusal carried out what Jesus had said.
- Word over method. Hanging on a tree was the public sign of the curse, so only Gentile hands could crucify Him.
- Word over shame. They lifted Him up to be rid of Him for good. He is now the everlasting Object of attraction.