What Shall I Do with Jesus?, Part 1
Matthew 27:11‑18
Let's open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 27 for our study of God's Word this morning. Matthew chapter 27, we're going to begin a look at verses 11 through 26. And in this passage, the most important, the most fateful, the most serious question that could ever be posed by anyone is posed. It appears in verse 22.
Matthew 27:22 says, "Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?" That is the key question.
Pilate found himself in an almost unbearable dilemma as to what to do with Jesus Christ. But Pilate is not alone. Every human being on the face of the earth faces that very same question, what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? That is a query that faces every man and woman alive. And the answer to it that you give will determine not only your time but your eternal destiny.
So, Pilate articulates a question that is a question facing every person. Sadly, tragically, Pilate made a wrong choice in response to that question. He asked the right question, what shall I do with Jesus Christ, instead of going to the right source, he went to the wrong source, got the wrong answer and ended up as an eternal tragedy. It is my prayer that you will answer that question better than he did.
In order to get into the scene, let's go back to verses 1 and 2 of Matthew 27. Because here is where we find the transition from the Jewish trial of Christ to the Roman trial.
Remember now, Christ is being tried because the Jewish leaders want Him dead. The three‑phased Jewish trial is now over. He has stood before Annas, He has stood before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin and then again the morning before them to ratify what they illegally did during the night, and that is condemn Him to death for blasphemy because He said He was the Son of God which, of course, was true. They want to be rid of Him.
And in order to accomplish that, they have to get the Romans to get involved. Because for a long time under Roman occupation, the Jews have not had the right of execution. They have had to depend upon the Romans to do that. The right of what was called eus gladii(?), the right of the sword belonged only to Rome. And so they want Jesus executed but they need the Romans to do it.
And so we find in verses 1 and 2 that we see the last phase of the Jewish trial and then they take Him to Pilate to open the three phases of the Roman trial. Let's look at those two verses together.
"When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death."
Very early in the morning, probably a little before five o'clock, before the sun was even up. And the dawn had just begun to give its light, preceding the sun, they met rapidly in a very brief meeting that perhaps lasted no more than ten minutes. And the idea was to try to legalize the illegal decision that they came to in the middle of the night between 1 A.M. and 3 A.M. They have kept Jesus prisoner for two hours bound and now they're going to try to ratify in a proper fashion in the daylight and in the right place, the judgment hall, what they did so illegally during the night.
And so, they meet very early in the morning. When morning has just begun...to finish the decision relative to Christ. And then in verse 2, after that they bound Him, led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. They want the Romans to execute Him. They want the execution legal.
And some people have said, "Well, why didn't they do to Jesus what they did later to Stephen, just take Him out of the city, throw Him down and stone Him? Didn't they have the right to do that?" No. In their action against Stephen, they were acting illegally. It was a mob action. They were not going to act as a mob because they were trying to maintain a form of legality, they were trying to appear as if this was legal. And they weren't about to act in a mob fashion. They wanted to pull it off also as fast as expeditiously as possible so that the crowds already rising now in the dawn didn't get involved, because they knew Jesus was popular. No, they wanted to maintain a facade of legalism. They wanted it to be done right and so they went to Pilate with Jesus to get Pilate to comply with them and execute Him.
So it was very early. The fourth watch of the night, about 5 A.M. when they arrived at Pilate's judgment hall, most likely located in Fort Antonious which was to the north of the temple ground. And they hand Him over to Pontius Pilate.
That brings us to the Roman trial. Now if you go over to verse 11, you will find that we then pick up the scene. Verses 3 to 10, remember, is a digression to describe the tragic suicide of Judas which is going on at the same time. And so we are taken away in verse 3 to Judas. We're brought back in verse 11 to the scene before Pilate. "And Jesus stood before the governor," says verse 11. And that sets the scene for us.
Now we're going to see a three‑phased Roman trial. First, before Pilate. Then before Herod. And back to Pilate. And that will be six different elements to the trial of Jesus Christ. And the thing that comes ringing through all of it is that Jesus Christ is without fault. With all of the things that had gone on all night long with the Jewish leaders, they came up with no legitimate accusation against Him. It's as if the Spirit of God is proving without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is indeed the spotless Lamb of God who has no blemish, who is fit to die for the sins of the world. Matthew, who always wants to present the perfection of Christ, always wants to life up the majesty of Christ, always wants to show His purity, does so even in this scene. All the courts of men, all the efforts of men and demons combined together cannot come up with one single legitimate accusation against Christ and the record stands that He was killed because they hated Him and rejected Him. It was the evil of their own hearts, not anything Christ had done.
And so, Matthew in taking us to the Roman trial will accomplish the same thing he did through the Jewish trial and that is the exaltation of Jesus Christ. And the record stands in the Scripture for all men and women of all ages to read that Jesus Christ was crucified by the hatred of men an absolutely perfect righteous sinless majestic person, the Son of God indeed He was against whom they could bring no accusation, not Caiaphas, not Annas, not the Sanhedrin, not false witnesses, not Judas, not Herod and not Pilate. All the courts of men failed to come up with any accusation against the perfect Son of God.
Now as we flow through verses 11 to 26, we will see some elements that are important to us. And these are elements that just sort of unfold the passage. But each of them demonstrates the innocence of Christ. Each of them shows His perfect righteousness. Let's begin in verse 11 with the accusation of the Jews. The very accusation itself, or better yet, the lack of a legitimate accusation speaks volumes about the perfection of Christ.
In verse 11, "Jesus stood before the governor, the governor asks Him a question: Are You the king of the Jews? And He said, Thou sayest." Now that precludes the fact that he was asking Him relative to the accusation the Jews had made. Matthew doesn't give that accusation. In order to get it, we have to go to the gospel of John, then we'll understand verse 11 better. So let's look at John chapter 18. Pilate in Matthew 27:11 simply asks Him a question if He's the king of the Jews. We ask the question, why did he ask that? The answer is because that was the accusation which we'll see in John 18.
Now in John 18, we pick up the story in verse 28. And we will have to harmonize the gospels in order to fully understand this tremendous scene. Jesus now in the very dawn, around 5 A.M.
is led to Pilate's judgment hall. It says in verse 28, "Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas"‑‑that is from the house of Caiaphas and then out to the...to the trial which was held, no doubt, in the proper judgment hall presided over by Caiaphas and now that was the third phase there in the right place, early in the morning.
And now He's led to the Hall of Judgment, likely in Fort Antonious, it's still very early. "And they themselves‑‑that is the Jews‑‑went not into the judgment hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover."
They wouldn't go into Pilate's judgment hall because they didn't want to be defiled and they had this tradition that contact with a Gentile is defiling. Entering into a Gentile home is defiling. They had all kinds of bizarre superstitions recorded in the Talmud such as the fact that when a Gentile woman aborts a baby, she throws the baby down the drain and thus the whole house is contaminated by a dead body. And if you go into a Gentile house, you will receive a condemnation and defilement.
And they believed that Gentiles were unclean. And so, in order to maintain the place of cleanliness as they approached the Passover, they wanted to be sure they avoided such contact. It is indeed hypocrisy of all hypocrisies to be preoccupied with some silly tradition like that while busily going about executing the very Son of the living God. But that shows the horrible dissection of their minds. They maintain the fastidious commitment to their religion while they were in a hurry to kill the very one who was the source of it. And so they wouldn't go in. That meant Pilate had to come out.
And he did. In verse 29 it says, "Pilate then went out to them." Out on the porch. They were below him in the street and he was on a porch. "And he said, What accusation bring ye against this man?" Give me an indictment. You brought Him here for a trial, you desire me to render a verdict. Court is open, what is the accusation? What are we trying Him for? And here, frankly, is the first legal thing that has happened in the trial of Christ.
Pilate is a Roman governor. He has been placed in Judea in Palestine to give Roman presence. There were other rulers there.
There were the Herods. There was Herod Antipas who ruled in Galilee and Peraea to the north. There was Herod Philip who was northeast of that in a very unpopulated area. And there was Archelaus...Herod Archelaus who ruled in Judea and Samaria and Idumaea. They were three sons of Herod the Great who was once the Idumite king of all of Palestine. He had killed off some of his sons, the remaining ones had inherited pieces of his kingdom.
They were sort of small‑time kings. A lot of pomp and circumstance and not a lot of power. They did have some power.
They did have some rule. They did amass some fortunes.
But basically the judicial processes and the military might was in the hands of the Roman governor who was placed there to maintain the Roman peace, the pax Romana. So Pilate is really the judicial person. And since the Romans had the right of execution only, they had to approach Pilate...at least from their standpoint that's the reason. From the standpoint of the Scripture, Jesus had to be executed by Romans because He would die a Roman death as we will note in a moment.
Now Pilate had been governor since 26 A.D. and would be governor for about ten years, until 36 A.D. So they bring Jesus to Pilate and in a proper fashion as a judge, he steps out and holds court outside the judgment hall because they won't come in.
He's not going to hassle them about that. Jesus is inside. They stay out. And he says, "What is the accusation?" Which is a fair enough way to begin the trial. Notice their response.
"They answered and said unto him, If He were not a criminal we would not have delivered Him up unto thee."
What an amazing answer. They impugned Pilate for even asking the question. They say, "What right have you to question our motives? To question our integrity? We wouldn't have brought Him to you if He weren't a criminal." Pilate asked a proper judicial question: what is the accusation? They don't give an answer. They just indict Pilate for even asking the question. They weren't looking for a judge, they were looking for an executioner. They didn't want another trial, they wanted Pilate to just agree to take His life. And again, may I suggest to you, that the absence of any accusation here is another affirmation of the perfection of Jesus Christ.
Pilate had no information about Jesus Christ that would let him know what their accusation might be. Pilate saw Jesus Christ as no threat. Pilate knew of no crime He'd committed. And when asked about an accusation, the Jews had none to give. They have no charge. So Pilate says to them, verse 31, "Take Him and judge Him according to your law." Do it yourself. He may have even been giving them the right to execute Him. If you feel He ought to be executed, execute Him, I don't want to get involved in this.
Now he knew who Jesus was. There's little doubt in my mind that the night before, when the Roman soldiers came along with the Jews to the garden to take Jesus captive, the Roman soldiers were there because Pilate had granted permission for them to be there. So he knew what was going on. And he even had an opinion about it. He even had an opinion about why they wanted to take Jesus Christ. So he was up to speed, at least in part. So he says, "What's your accusation?" And they say, in effect, "We don't want you to be a judge, we want you to be an executioner.
You think we'd bring somebody to you who's not a criminal?"
And Pilate says, "Take Him and judge Him yourself." To which they reply in verse 31, "It's not lawful for us to put any man to death." They sure did it when they wanted to. They put Stephen to death. Later on they tried to put Paul to death and the Romans had to rescue Paul and take him to Caesarea and put him in a cell for his own protection for two years. So they...if they really wanted to badly enough they could have. But they were trying to maintain a legal appearance so that when the people started asking questions they could say it was all very legal and the Romans did it and so forth and so on. And, of course, there was the plan of God which demanded it as well. And that's what verse 32 says, "In order that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke signifying what death He should die." And that He spoke in John 12 when He said, "The Son of Man shall be lifted up." Remember that? "This spoke He signifying what death He should die." So they were fulfilling prophecy but thinking in their own minds that they were doing this to maintain legality, they were really doing it to fulfill the plan of God.
And then Pilate went back into the judgment hall. "And he called to Jesus and he said," and that's where Matthew 27:11 comes in, "He said, Are you the king of the Jews?" Now where did he get that accusation if they didn't answer anything?
Well, you have to go to Luke at this point. And Luke says, and it's a very fascinating thing, but Luke says‑‑you don't need to turn to it, I'll just refer to it‑‑in 23:2 of Luke, you write it down somewhere, Luke 23:2, Luke says that they then concocted an accusation. And this is what it was. "That He is perverting our nation forbidding to pay taxes and claiming to be king, making Himself a king."
Now that isn't why they convicted Him in the Jewish trial.
They convicted Him in the Jewish trial of blasphemy because He said He was the Son of God. But they know that a blasphemy charge in a Roman court isn't going to hold water because the Romans aren't interested in executing people for their religious persuasion. That is not going to handle...that is not going to be handled by Pilate. So they've got to come up with an accusation against Jesus that appears to be high treason against Rome. The only way they can get Pilate they see involved is to accuse Jesus of something that is a threat to Roman security.
And the Romans had very, very small toleration for rebels and revolutionaries and insurrectionists as they had proven by crucifying many, many Jews who had tried to revolt against their government, even in Palestine. And so, they come up with this idea that Jesus is a threat to Roman security, that He perverts our nation, that is He is a rebel, stirring up the nation against Rome. Secondly, that He forbids to pay taxes, that is that He's not rendering to Caesar what is due Caesar. And He's telling people not to as well. And thirdly, that He's claiming to be a king, that is He's setting Himself up as a rival to the Caesar himself.
Now this is brand new. They just concoct this on the spot.
And, of course, the accusations are totally false. Jesus didn't pervert the nation into rebellion against Rome. He never led a social revolution. He never rebelled against Roman oppression.
He never called the people to do that. He never incited anybody to do that. He was very very submissive. He even taught that if a Roman solder's going along and asks you to carry his burden a mile, carry it two miles. He taught the people to respond to those in authority over them properly. He also taught to pay taxes. When He was approached and asked if He paid taxes through Peter the Apostle, He said yes we pay taxes so we don't offend anyone. He even said, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." That is pay your taxes to the government, but save your worship for the Lord.
And yes He was a king, but not a king who was a threat to Caesar. Because when they tried to make Him a king, He disappeared from their midst lest there be a riot and a revolution. So all of their accusations were lies and again marvelous marvelous testimony is born to the perfection of Jesus Christ. The only thing they can come up with are lies of such obvious nature that anybody reading the Bible knows they're lies.
All you have to do is read about Jesus and you know that He didn't do any of these things they accused Him of doing.
And again, it is more testimony to His perfection. More testimony to His sinless, spotless blameless purity and making Him fit to be the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
And so, Pilate calls Him back in and says, "Is it true? Are You the king of the Jews?" And you remember His answer, don't you?
"He said, "Well, I am a King." First He said to Pilate, "Is this your idea, are you asking Me this for your sake or are you just carrying a message? Are you an errand boy?" And Pilate says, "Am I a Jew? This isn't my problem. Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You unto me. What have You done?"
he says in John 18:35. "What have You done? I'm not accusing You of this, this is Your own people."
And Jesus answers him and tells him, "Yes I am a King, but My Kingdom is not a kingdom like you know kingdoms. If it was, My servants would fight. My Kingdom is not of this world. I was born a King, for this cause came I into the world." But what He is saying to Pilate is My Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom, My Kingdom is an internal Kingdom.
In verse 38, after this little dialogue, John 18 says in verse 38 that Pilate went out to them and said to them all, "I find no fault in Him." What is that? That's the verdict. Did you get that? "I find" is a courtroom term. The jury has found, the judge finds, the finding of the court is, he was found guilty, he was found innocent...that is a term that's carried down even today to show that the proceedings having been followed, the verdict is rendered. And when he came out and said, "I find no fault," he rendered the verdict "not guilty" on Jesus. He was not guilty of being an insurrectionist rebel who called people not to pay their taxes and to defy the government of Rome, no proof was brought for that...none at all. Pilate did not see any. Jesus said to him, "Is this your accusation? Is Rome making this accusation against Me?" He says, "This is your own people," and Pilate in saying that knew he had no case. How could Rome convict Him of a crime Rome wasn't even accusing Him of? So, he says "no fault...no fault."
Now go back to Matthew chapter 27. "Jesus then stood before the governor," in this condensed portion which leaves out what we just said, "and the governor asked Him, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus said, You said it." And then He explained what He meant as we saw in John. Then Pilate comes back out to the people and says to them, "I find no fault, He's not guilty."
And you know what happens? Verse 12 then, "And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders," the whole crowd started to verbalize their accusations against Jesus. Here's Pilate out on the porch again, and the whole crowd is stirred up. In Luke 23:5 which cuts across this very same moment, it says, "And they were the more fierce saying, He stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea beginning from Galilee to this place." And they started to cry against Him, more fierce, more fierce. They started to put the heat on Pilate...really put the heat on him.
And he is no match for the furious hatred of Jesus that is in the hearts of these leaders who are Satan possessed.
The accusation is empty talk. Pilate knows it. Let the whole world know. The record stands, dear friends, you pick up the Bible and you read about Jesus Christ and there is no fault in Him. The courts of the world whether they were the religious court that mocked Jesus in a trial under Caiaphas and Annas, or a pagan court conducted by a coward named Pilate, they came up with the same verdict. They had to manufacture lies to kill Jesus Christ. Pilate could see it all. I mean, he wasn't dumb. It was obvious. I mean, was he supposed to believe for one minute the Jewish leaders who absolutely despised him, despised Rome, hated Roman oppression, hated the Roman presence would bring to him someone to be executed because he was a threat to Rome?
Ridiculous. Anybody who was a real threat to Rome, they would hide and join in his revolution. They wouldn't expose him.
Pilate knew the whole thing was a farce.
And he knew what is recorded in verse 18 of Matthew 27, they did it for envy. They hated Him because He could do what they couldn't. He could heal people and He could teach wisdom and He could remove disease and raise the dead. And they couldn't do that. And He was popular and they were not and they hated Him because of it. It was that simple. Even a pagan unbeliever could see the real issue was envy. So the whole thing was ridiculous. Jesus had never posed a threat to Rome. And if He was a real threat to Rome, the Jews wouldn't have brought Him there to be exposed by Rome and executed for doing that. No, he knew it was all a matter of envy.
He must have even suspected that when they came to ask for Roman soldiers the night before to take Him captive. He must have known then what the real issues were. No, let the record stand, there's no fault in Jesus. And Pilate knew it and pronounced Him not guil