seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 18:28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
Right away we get a new clue to the timeline. This all started on Thursday night, the night before Preparation Day [when they prepared everything so they wouldn't work on the Sabbath], and now the sun is about to rise on Friday. I found this in the commentary.
They themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled: John used an ironic touch to expose the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers. They refused to break relatively small commands regarding ceremonial defilement but broke much greater commands in rejecting God’s Messiah and condemning an innocent Man to death.
And then, for those who are following....
That they might eat the Passover: This statement introduces a controversy, namely this — was the Last Supper a Passover meal, and was Jesus crucified on the Passover or the day following? This statement in John 18:28 seems to indicate that Passover was the coming day, the day Jesus would be crucified and that the Last Supper was the day before Passover. Yet several passages seem to indicate that the Last Supper was a Passover meal (Matthew 26:18, Mark 14:12, 14:16, Luke 22:15). The best solution to this difficult chronological problem seems to be that Jesus was crucified on the Passover, and the meal they had the night before was as Passover meal, held after sunset (the start of the day in Jewish reckoning). We can speculate that Passover lambs were sacrificed on both days, a necessity due to the massive number of lambs sacrificed in Jerusalem at the temple on Passover (later described by Josephus as being more than 200,000).
and....
Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again: John combined two appearances of Jesus before Pilate, separated by an appearance of Jesus before Herod Antipas (Luke 23:8-12). Pilate hoped to give this problem to Herod because he ruled over Galilee, where Jesus was from. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate, and this is the likely start of the second appearance.
And now all the timing stuff is taken away.... for a minute.The Jews didn't like occupation. The land of Israel was "given to them by God". It's where they landed when they left Egypt with Moses. It was their "Promised Land" and they did not want to be occupied by the Roman Government. There were uprisings and apparently there were murders over the issue.
There was a resistance fighter named Barrabas in the Roman jail. He was probably waiting for his "proper" hearing. The crowd, at night, probably didn't have a lot of "Christians" in the midst. At night the "Christians" would be home, getting ready for the "Sabbath". Yep even though they followed Jesus, they were still Jewish by blood and the Sabbath was traditional, and Passover... was even bigger on their calendar.
Let's face it.... there were no streetlights. It was not customary for people to be wondering around at night. The people in the crowd, just before dawn, were those who would know Barrabas better than they knew Jesus.
I doubt you're still reading... but this is from another commentary.
To this day, Jews all over the world celebrate the Passover in obedience to this command. Passover and the story of the exodus have great significance for Christians also, as Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, including the symbolism of the Passover (Matthew 5:17). Jesus is our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7; Revelation 5:12). He was killed at Passover time, and the Last Supper was a Passover meal (Luke 22:7–8). By (spiritually) applying His blood to our lives by faith, we trust Christ to save us from death. The Israelites who, in faith, applied the blood of the Paschal lamb to their homes become a model for us. It was not the Israelites’ ancestry or good standing or amiable nature that saved them; it was only the blood of the lamb that made them exempt from death (see John 1:29 and Revelation 5:9–10).
Pilate found Jesus guilty of being "King of the Jews".
