John 18:33-38
What is truth
The interview turns on whether the kingdom is of this world. Pilate asks the largest question in the book and leaves the room before it can be answered.
People of the Bible
Pontius Pilate
Said three times that he found no fault in him, and signed the order anyway.
Pilate is the Roman governor of Judea, which makes him the only man in the city who can order an execution. He does not want the case. He tries to hand it back to the council, tries to send it to Herod on a jurisdictional technicality, offers a prisoner release, and offers a scourging as a substitute for a cross. Every move is an attempt to be rid of the decision without making it. John gives him the longest private conversation with a prisoner in the gospels.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Pontius Pilate
- 01
- 02
Luke 23:6-12
He sent him to Herod
Learning the man is a Galilean, he moves the case to another jurisdiction. It comes back, and the day makes Herod and Pilate friends.
- 03
Matthew 27:15-23
Which of the two
He offers the crowd a choice he expects to win and loses it. Asked why, what evil has he done, they only cry out the more.
- 04
Matthew 27:24
He washed his hands
He declares himself innocent of the blood of this just person with water and a sentence, and then delivers him to be crucified in the next verse.
- 05
John 19:19-22
What I have written I have written
The title over the cross names a king of the Jews in three languages. The priests ask him to change it and this, finally, is the thing he will not do.
Why it matters
He is the study of a man who knows the right answer and is not willing to pay for it. His wife sends word to have nothing to do with that just man. He asks what is truth and does not wait for an answer. He washes his hands in front of the crowd, which is a religious gesture from a man who does not share their religion, and it changes nothing about who gave the order. The sentence is decided by one line from the chief priests: if you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend.
12 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42
A Stone at the Door
Matthew 27:1-31; Mark 15:1-20; Luke 22:63-23:25; John 18:28-19:16
Behold the Man
Matthew 27:32-56; Mark 15:21-41; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:16-37
It Is Finished
