Behold the Man - Matt 27:15-25; Mark 15:6-20; Luke 23:16-25; John 18:39-19:18

I had to stop and think for a minute, if the Roman soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus because he was a "king" then where did they get it? Purple is the color of royalty and wouldn't have been readily available to just any common soldier. And even if a regular joe could get his hands on a purple robe, he wouldn't throw it away on some regular prisoner who was going to be executed shortly. Plus at this point, Jesus surely is bloody and dirty and sweaty, anything that would have been put on him would have probably been irreparable. So it comes back to the question, where did the soldiers get a royal piece of clothing that could have been ruined on something as trivial as a joke? My guess is that it came from Herod's personal collection. Just another reason why this guy sucks so much.

 
I can only imagine Pilate's disappointment upon seeing Jesus return to his court. His attempt to pawn this problem off on Herod had failed, and so he devises another plan. As part of the tradition of Passover, one prisoner condemned to death must have his sentenced commuted and be released as a kind of "pardon."  Pilate sees his perfect opportunity to release Jesus without dismissing the concerns of the people. Pilate tells the people, "Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, not yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him." The perfect Segway into his plan, Pilate says basically, "hey, I'll just beat this guy up a little bit, and then release him as part of the Passover tradition." But instead, the people come back with "away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas."
 
I have no idea why they would choose Barabbas, of all people because he "for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder was cast into prison." Who was Barabbas? Wikipedia says, "Matthew refers to Barabbas only as a 'notorious prisoner.' Mark and Luke further refer to Barabbas as one involved in a (stasis, a riot), probably 'one of the numerous insurrections against the Roman power' who had committed murder." The article contributes our knowledge of Barabbas to Josephus who indicates that he is a "revolutionary." We know that Jewish revolutionaries are problems for the Romans and that they are crushed without mercy and including regular civilians who just might be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The release of Barabbas almost certainly means that there will be innocent blood spilt and many problems for the Sanhedrin.
 
No one in their right mind would choose to release a prisoner who  has already brought untold misery upon them when they could just have a guy who irritates them instead. And we don't even know how the general Jewish population viewed Barabbas, as "notorious" means well known for bad reasons. The other thing I find interesting about this choice is that the Sanhedrin had convinced themselves that the reason they wanted Jesus dead was to avoid any political unrest that might cause the Romans to destroy them. In fact, Jesus had already been found innocent of sedition by the two highest ranked and ruthless Roman rulers in the area at the time which would indicate that he poses less of a political threat than a known revolutionary and murderer.
 
Perhaps to demonstrate the ridiculousness of their request, Pilate parades both Jesus and Barabbas out in front of the crowd, who I think at this point probably consist mostly of the Jewish leadership, chief priests, scribes, judges, etc. and their households, all those who are invested in a lifestyle that is contradicted by Jesus' teachings. Standing there with both men, "Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him." Pilate is asking them to make a choice that only a crazy person would make, choosing Barabbas over Jesus. My other question about all this is why Barabbas of all people? Surely there are other people in prison that would have been a better request. But these people are so crazed at this point that all logic goes out the window, they can't think to say, "release another guy who is not so bad" because all they can think about is killing Jesus.
 
Unsurprisingly, while Pilate is giving the people time to think, "the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus." But what is surprising is that during this time of deliberation, Pilate "was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." I really love this part of the story because it demonstrates that anyone can receive divine revelation regardless of their religious affiliation, personal righteousness is what matters, just people doing the best they can in their circumstances.
 
This inclusion of this verse demonstrates a woman's bravery and commitment to what she believed to be true. Both the ancient Greeks and Romans expected women to be quiet and subordinate to their husbands. An article on ldsliving.com says, "the impressions she received through her dream were motivating enough to cause her to intervene at a most public and formal moment in the proceedings- when Pilate was seated in the chair of judgment. She was willing to ignite her husband's fiery temper by causing him to be interrupted to advise him against his decision."  Pilate's wife was a courageous woman, and he seems to take her advice to heart because this violent, ruthless man really tries his best to get out of this situation with Jesus still breathing.
 
Taking all the different view points together, Pilate asks the chief priests, "Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?" And I'm sure to his surprise, "they said, Barabbas." Really? They are going to have this crazy guy back into their society because they personally hate Jesus so much? Pilate asks the next logical question, "what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" And to everyone afterwards horror, they cried loudly, "Let him be crucified." No one has mentioned crucifixion up to this point, and death by crucifixion is one of the most horrific ways to die imaginable. Because it is inherently Roman, the Jews must have absolutely hated the practice. In fact, it was illegal for Roman citizens to be crucified and were to be given a more humane death if ever necessary. Crucifixion was reserved mostly for slaves and rebels, of which Jesus was neither, and was probably only done to Jews by Romans, so for the Jews to want another Jew to be crucified by the Romans must have gone against everything they believed in, but this is just another example of how crazed the Jewish leadership was at that point, they weren't acting as concerned Jewish leadership, they were acting as power hungry bloodthirsty demons.
 
Pilate is obviously disturbed by the answer to "let him be crucified," and asks, "why, what evil hath he done?" But we are past logic now, there is no answer, so "they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him." In any movie that portrays this scene, the crowd crying "crucify him" as Jesus stands there completely bloody and beaten is incredibly powerful. Even just reading the account makes my heart sink just a little bit. So Pilate releases Barabbas and decides to try his "let's just beat him up a little bit and maybe they'll be satisfied" so he scourges Jesus. Scourging might not sound too bad, but it is absolutely horrific. The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as commenting, "This brutal practice, a preliminary to crucifixion, consisted of stripping the victim of clothes, strapping him to a pillar or frame, and beating him with a scourge made of leather straps weighted with sharp pieces of lead or bone. It left the tortured sufferer bleeding, weak, and sometimes dead." Even though this scourging was terrible, the IM points out that it is fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he as bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
 
After the scourging, "they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews." The IM says, "a theme in Matthew is that Jesus Christ is the rightful King of Israel... The robe was purple, a color known to be used by royalty." It seems like so much more effort to put into this execution than is necessary. If Jesus had performed the atonement in Gethsemane and then gone right to the hill and was crucified, I feel like that would have been sufficient. But like we learned a couple of weeks ago, Satan had to have full opportunity to get the Savior to sin or quit or get angry. Jesus might have agreed to be crucified, but did he agree to have his sacrifice mocked by those who didn't even care or understand it? Satan could argue that Jesus wouldn't have been able to withstand that level of degradation, so he couldn't really take on himself the worst temptations regular people could be exposed to. Satan had to have the opportunity to trip up Jesus in the most extreme way he could, he had to experience the worst that Satan could come up with, and still take it all perfectly.
 
Jesus comes back from the scourging, and I can't even begin to imagine how he looks at this point, even without the pain and blood loss from atoning for our sins in the garden, Jesus had lost so much blood and experienced so much pain because of the beatings throughout the night. I think that the vast majority of people who would have experienced just Jesus' morning would have not come out of it alive just from the blood loss and shock. Probably hoping that the people would take pity on Jesus, "Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!" To which "when the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him." At this point, Pilate is probably thinking "how much more depraved can these people get?"
 
He still doesn't want to get involved, and basically tells the people, "I haven't found him guilty of anything, you take him and crucify him! I'm not going to do your dirty work." But this doesn't work for the chief priests' plans because they can't be the ones to kill Jesus or there will be an uprising of the people against them. The Romans have to be the ones to kill Jesus in order to keep the peace among the people, and if Pilate refused, which is what he was doing, then they would either have to let Jesus live or kill him themselves, and risk a riot. In order to get their way with a Roman execution, the chief priests start to get shady, telling Pilate, "we have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid."
 
Exasperated, Pilate went back into the Judgment hall to talk to Jesus further, saying, "whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer." I probably would have shouted, "look dude, I'm trying to help you out, give me something to work with!" This is a probably very unusual experience for a man who is used to dealing swiftly and fatally with problems, and always surrounded with people begging for their lives. He's still astounded that Jesus isn't saying anything, and this is probably not what Pilate expected from the Jesus he'd heard so much about. He makes sure that Jesus understands the stakes here, saying, "Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" But really, it was Pilate who didn't understand. The IM says, "Neither Pilate nor anyone else had the power to take the Savior's life, as President Boyd K. Packer of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained:... "One can only imagine the quiet majesty when the Lord spoke. 'Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.' What happened thereafter did not come because Pilate had power to impose it, but because the Lord had the will to accept it."
 
We've talked about it before, but for a man who has controlled the lives and deaths of millions of people for so long, to have someone not be phased by his authority must have been incredibly powerful for Pilate. We talked about the same thing when it came to Abinadi and king Noah, Alma and Amulek and the people of Ammonihah. There are so many examples of people who were content to die for their beliefs and the impact that that attitude had on those who sought their destruction. The real power comes when we are strong enough in our beliefs to stand up and say "kill me if you want, but I'd rather die then get what's coming to you." The Savior's power is overwhelming and Pilate succumbs to it "and from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him."
 
Butwe have to remember that Pilate might have been the governor of Jerusalem, but he was not king of anything at all. The IM says, "Pilate initially resisted the entreaty of Jewish leaders to get involved with the case against Jesus and thereafter sought repeatedly to release Jesus. Pilate had a troubled history with the Jewish population he governed during an 11-year appointment in Judea- which included several violent clashes with the Jewish people and an official reprimand from the emperor." The chief priests would have known this and manipulated him by implying that there would be political trouble for him if he didn't cooperate.
 
They responded to his efforts to release Jesus by saying, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." This is one of those instances when people go against everything the love and believe in because they are so neurotic about an idea. If any of these chief priests had been told 5 years earlier that they would be pledging loyalty to Rome so that they could have another Jew killed, they probably would have had the messenger bludgeoned to death with big frickin rocks. But here we are, when Pilate really asks them if they are going to go through with this, "shall I crucify your King?" and the chief priests answer, "We have no king but Caesar!" If the common Jewish people knew that their leadership was proclaiming Caesar as their king and Jesus as their enemy, there would have been riots in the streets.
 
 Pilate immediately recognizes the words of the chief priests as what they are, a threat. He's loyal to himself more than Jesus and he knows that if word goes back to Caesar of even more trouble in Judea and if he's accused of treason, it will be him hanging on that cross as well as Jesus. With all this, the IM continues, "So his eventual capitulation to the crowd is no surprise. To quell a possible riot and avoid allegations of political disloyalty, Pilate consented to crucify Jesus of Nazareth." Matthew says, "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it." The IM points out that the washing of hands was a Jewish tradition, so the chief priests would have recognized Pilate's use of their own ritual. The IM says, "One provision of the Mosaic law stated that if a person was found to have been killed, the elders of the city could wash their hands to signify that they were not responsible... Thus, when Pilate washed his hands, he may have been claiming innocence in a way the Jewish leaders would have understood. Washing his hands, however, did not allow Pilate to evade responsibility. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland... noted that 'Pilates freshly washed hands could not have been more stained or more unclean.'" However, like Judas, while he did contribute to Jesus death, Pilate was not a make or break character as the atonement played out. Like Judas, Pilate was used by Satan as a tool, but Jesus could have stopped everything at any time with just a whisper.
 
The Jewish leaders do in fact recognize what Pilate is doing, and "answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." The IM says, "Over the past 2,000 years, people have sometimes used the statement 'His blood be on us, and on our children' to blame all the Jews of Jesus' time, or even Jews of later generations, for the death of Jesus Christ. Such accusations ignore scriptural accounts stating that a great many Jews of Jesus's time believed in Him and that HIs crucifixion was brought about by Roman authorities in cooperation with a relatively small group of Jewish leaders. Any anti-Semitism based on Matthew 27:25 also ignores scriptural testimony that the Lord loves the people of Israel and has a plan for their salvation." Again, we are getting to the point of ridiculousness here.
 
After all this, Pilate "delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified." John points out that Jesus was sent to crucifixion at "about the sixth hour," which was also "the preparation of the Passover." This wasn't a big deal to me, but the IM says, "The first chapter of John's Gospel contains the testimony that Jesus Christ is 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' Now, at the end of the Savior's life, John recorded that Jesus Christ was led away to be crucified at the sixth hour on the day of the preparation for the Passover. Concerning this, President Russell M. Nelson said, 'Pilate delivered the Lamb of God to be crucified at the same time Paschal lambs nearby were bring prepared for sacrifice.' At the very hour when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed, the 'Lamb of God' began HIs journey to the cross to make the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind." I really need to look more into what the Passover consists of because when I read this, it was such a powerful tie in to the whole gospel from the beginning. I love that the atonement was so planned out that even the details of the time when Jesus would be crucified was coordinated to the time when the sacrificial lambs who were a symbol of Christ's death were sacrificed as well. I love that, I feel like it gives so much meaning to the whole Mosaic law and to the deaths of those poor animals.