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Christ’s Trial Before the Roman Governor
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therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice.” Christ desired Pilate
to understand that only by receiving and appropriating truth could
his ruined nature be reconstructed.
Pilate’s mind was confused. His heart was stirred with a great
longing to know what the truth really was and how he could obtain
it. “What is truth?” he inquired. But he did not wait for an answer.
The priests were clamorous for immediate action. Going out to the
Jews, he declared emphatically, “I find in Him no fault at all.”
As the priests and elders heard this from Pilate, their disappoint-
ment and rage knew no bounds. As they saw the prospect of the
release of Jesus, they seemed ready to tear Him in pieces. They
loudly denounced Pilate, and threatened him with the censure of
the Roman government. They accused him of refusing to condemn
Jesus who, they affirmed, had set Himself up against Caesar. An-
gry voices declared that the seditious influence of Jesus was well
known throughout the country. “He stirreth up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
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Pilate at this time had no thought of condemning Jesus. He knew
that the Jews had accused Him through hatred and prejudice. Justice
demanded that Christ should be released. But should he refuse to
give Jesus into the hands of the people, a tumult would be raised,
and this he feared to meet. When he heard that Christ was from
Galilee, he decided to send Him to Herod, the ruler of that province,
who was then in Jerusalem. By this course, Pilate thought to shift
the responsibility to Herod. He also thought this a good opportunity
to heal an old quarrel between himself and Herod. And so it proved.
The two magistrates made friends over the trial of the Saviour.
Amid the insults of the mob Jesus was hurried to Herod. “When
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad.” He had “heard many
things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by
Him.” This Herod was he whose hands were stained with the blood
of John the Baptist. When Herod first heard of Jesus, he was terror-
stricken, and said, “It is John ... risen from the dead.” Yet he desired
to see Jesus. Now there was opportunity to save the life of this
prophet, and the king hoped to banish forever from his mind the