Jesus Handed Over to Pontius Pilate

Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.” So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.” But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.” When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him” (for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast). And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”— who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder. Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.” But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will (Luke 23:1-25).

Pontius Pilate knew that what he was doing to Jesus was wrong. He was in a tight spot politically, and he was looking for a way to get out of it. He wanted a solution that would be acceptable to the Jewish leaders who brought Jesus to him, that wouldn’t cause social unrest, and that wouldn’t jeopardize his relationship with the Roman imperial government. He knew that the Jews wanted to get rid of Jesus, but he also understood that, according to Roman law, Jesus had committed no crime. He apparently had some sense of justice. That’s why he tried as hard as he did to get Jesus off the hook. He clearly didn’t believe that Jesus, the annoying Jewish rabbi who claimed to be king, was a serious seditious threat like the other Jewish rebel groups, such as the Zealots. This is why, after Jesus answers Pilate’s direct question, “Are you the king of the Jews,” with a seditious admission, “It is as you say,” Pilate still tells the Jews, “I find no fault in this Man.”[1]

Pilate tries to deal justly with Jesus while still placating the Jews even after Jesus’ treacherous admission. He grabs on to any life line he can find. When he hears Jesus is from Galilee, he tries to pass Jesus off to Herod. Herod and his men question, mock, and beat Jesus but also pass no guilty verdict on Him. Pilate is stuck with Jesus. He continues to rightly proclaim that Jesus is innocent. He hopes to quell the situation by making Jesus the annual olive branch from Rome to Jerusalem; the good-will gesture was that Pilate would release a Jewish prisoner once a year at the feast. Why not release Jesus? Pilate would even beat Jesus a little, just to show Him who was boss and to appease the desire of the Jews to see Jesus suffer, before he let Jesus go. They would have none of it. So, push having come to shove, Pilate’s pragmatism and instinct for self-preservation won out over his sense of justice. Jesus would be crucified.

The people cried out for Pilate to give them a murderer, Barabbas, and to crucify their Messiah. The guilty would go free, and the innocent would die in his place. But this is what Jesus came to do in the first place. He came into human flesh, the sinless Son of God, to die on the cross. He told His disciples this bluntly several times: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And on the third day he will rise again.[2]

But Jesus’ sacrifice is no mere morality play. It is not simply an example for men to follow, to show us how to be loving and self-sacrificial. His death is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. All of mankind, including us, are sinners. We are Barabbas, guilty of the crimes of which we are accused and sentenced to eternal death. We are murderers. We are adulterers. We are liars and slanderers. We are covetous thieves. We are idolaters. We are ungodly. Because of our sin we are as responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion as the Jews who handed Him over to Pilate, and even Pilate who gave the order that Jesus should die:

But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[3]

His death paid the penalty for our sin, and we are justified by His resurrection. His death and resurrection set us free from our prison; we did not deserve such treatment any more than Barabbas did. Jesus did it because He loves us. His favor is undeserved. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.[4]

Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?

It is my sins for which, Thou Lord, must languish,

Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit,

This I do merit.[5]

I’ll think upon Thy mercy without ceasing,

That earth’s vain joys to me no more be pleasing;

To do Thy will shall be my sole endeavor

Henceforth forever.[6]

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[1] Luke 23:4

[2] Luke 18:31-33

[3] Romans 5:8

[4] Romans 8:1

[5] Heermann, Johann. "O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken." In The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Stz. 3.

[6] Heermann, Johann. "O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken." In The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Stz. 12.

Jesus Blesses Little Children

Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (Luke 18:15-17)

How does a little child receive the kingdom of God? Do they go out and look for it? Do they listen to preachers and investigate their claims? Do they study The Case for Christ and then make a rational decision to invite Jesus into their heart, based on the reasonableness of the evidence presented? No. They do none of these things. They receive the faith by having it given to them through the means of God’s Word. They are passive in their conversion. This shouldn’t really surprise us. They are passive in their conversion, just like everyone else who is converted.

This is the same way all men are converted by God, by means of His Word. That’s kind of the point Jesus is making to His disciples. The infants, as St. Luke describes the children being brought to Jesus, are in the same situation as the rest of mankind. Their age is irrelevant. They are part of the group who needs the forgiveness of sins obtained through Jesus’ death and resurrection – the world. That means everyone. There are no exceptions.[1]

The problem is, we don’t like to think of babies as sinful. Babies are cute. How could something so cute be sinful and subject to God’s judgment? How is that fair? They haven’t done anything, good or bad; they pretty much just lay there. What sin have they committed? Infants are, like we adults are, corrupted by the sin of Adam. They are born dead in trespasses and sins.[2] Their sinful minds are hostile to God.[3] Their minds do not submit to God’s law, nor can they do so: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.[4] Incidentally, as far as actual sinning goes, infants don’t have to be taught to be selfish. They are the definition of what the theologians called incurvatus in se - curved inward on oneself.

We were all born with a mind hostile to God, and with a heart inclined to evil, and this inclination to do evil is sin.[5] Consequently, left on our own to make a decision using our reason, whether or not to put our trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we would all choose “not Jesus” every time. The part of mankind, infant and adult, that is needed to make a decision to believe in Jesus, the will, is the very thing that is broken. Our “chooser” doesn’t work. That is what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins.

But probably the most obvious evidence that infants are subject to sin, is the fact that they die. St. Paul says that the wages of sin is death.[6] That means that because we are corrupted by sin, we die, just like Adam in the Garden of Eden. If they were not corrupted by sin, they would not be subject to death.

So, since they are dead in sin, they need to be made alive in Christ, just like every other human being. And, since they cannot go to Christ, just like an unregenerate adult cannot go to Christ, He comes to them in His Word. He comes to them in His Word, attached to a physical element, water. Some way which we do not understand, by this washing of water and the word instituted by Christ,[7] the Holy Spirit comes to them and works faith in them. Incidentally, that’s how He brings you and me to the faith as well. He comes to us. He removes our old “chooser” that doesn’t work right and gives us a new one. He does it by water and the Word. Once we are made alive in Christ, He sustains us through that same Word, by proclaiming it to us, and feeding us with it – His real body and blood, for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ, who died to pay for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead on the third day, died and rose for you. He gives us these things He promises through His word preached, read, administered through the washing of Holy Baptism, and eaten and drunk in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

Should we be surprised that God doesn’t do things the way we think He should? Christ tells us, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”[8] Praise be to Christ that they are.

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[1] Romans 3:9-20

[2] Ephesians 2:1, 5

[3] Romans 8:5-7

[4] 1 Corinthians 2:14

[5] Genesis 6:5; 8:21

[6] Romans 6:23

[7] Ephesians 5:26; Matthew 28:16-20

[8] Luke 18:27