Mark 15

Mark 15:6

Parallels: Matthew 27

Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, who, having treated him with great contempt, sends him back again. Pilate in vain endeavours to persuade the Jews to consent to his release, who impiously prefer Barabbas, and persist in their demands of a sentence of crucifixion against Jesus. Mat. XXVII. 15—18, 20—23. Mark XV. 6—14. Luke XXIII. 5—23. John XVIII. 39, to the end.

LUKE XXIII. 5.

IT was observed in the preceding section, that clxxxvii. when Pilate came out of the palace he bore Luke an open testimony to the innocence of Jesus, xxiii. 5 and declared to the priests, in the presence of the people, that “he found no fault at all in him:” but they not only continued strongly to urge their accusation, but were more violent than before, saying, We assuredly know that he stirs up all the people, teaching the most dangerous and seditious doctrines throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, that factious country, where he has been most busy, and from thence making a progress even to this place, and gathering up followers every where by the way, to the apparent danger and damage of the state. 6 And when Pilate heard them speak of Galilee, he presently inquired if the man whom they had 7 brought before him was a Galilean. And finding that he was of that country, and therefore that he properly belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, who was tetrarch of Galilee, he willingly embraced this opportunity to clear himself of so perplexing an affair, and immediately sent 6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. 7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent

ilate finding he was a Galilean, sends him to Herod.

him away to Herod, who being himself a Jew, was also at Jerusalem in those days, having come up to celebrate the passover there.

And when Herod saw Jesus he rejoiced exceedingly; for he had a long time been very desirous to see him, because he had heard much concerning him in Galilee; (compare Luke ix. 7, 9, sect. lxxvii.) and he now hoped that he should have an opportunity so far to satisfy his curiosity as to see some miracle done by him, and might be able also to determine whether he was, as he had once suspected, John the Baptist risen from the dead. (Compare Mat. xiv. 2, Vol. I. p. 423.) And he examined him in many words, concerning a variety of particulars, both as to his pretensions and the proof of his mission, as well as the tenor of his doctrine: but as Jesus knew this was not a proper time and circumstance to enter into those questions, of which Herod might long ago have been sufficiently informed, he made him no answer.

And the chief priests and scribes, whose malice had prompted them to attend him thither, stood in the presence of the king, eagerly accusing him of the same crimes which they had before charged him with in their application to Pilate.

And Herod, with those of his soldiers who now attended him as his lifeguard, looked upon Jesus with disdain, and treated him in a very contemptuous manner, like a poor inconsiderable creature, who no way answered the account they had heard of him, neither saying nor doing any thing to gratify their curiosity; and having derided [him] for pretending to be a king (as it was urged by his accusers he had done),

He sent him to Herod.] It may not be improper, for the sake of those who are less acquainted with the Jewish history, to observe, that this was Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, by whom John the Baptist had been beheaded, and whom Christ had justly represented as a fox. (Luke xiii. 32, p. 137.) He was son to Herod the Great, under whom Christ was born; and uncle to Herod Agrippa (by whom James was beheaded, and Peter imprisoned),

who was eaten by worms (Acts xii. 2, 3, 23); and great uncle to that Agrippa who was by Paul’s discourse almost persuaded to become a Christian (Acts xxvi. 28). Christ’s arraignment before him, when he was sent back uncondemned, was a great additional proof of the falsehood of those accusations which the Jews had brought against him as a seditious person, and particularly as one who had stirred up the people in Galilee.

VOL. 2.

Herod having treated him with contempt, sends

in public contempt of that claim, whatever it was, Herod clothed him with a splendid robe, and sent him back to Pilate; thereby intimating, that he left him to do what he pleased with his prisoner, but that for his own part he apprehended his pretensions to royalty worthy of derision rather than serious resentment.

And, whatever Pilate’s real intentions were, the compliment of sending Jesus to be examined by him, was so well taken by Herod; and Herod’s sending him back to the Roman governor was, on the other hand, such a public instance of regard to him; that the same day Pilate and Herod became friends, and were reconciled to each other: for before this, they were at enmity between themselves.

And Pilate, having received an account of what had passed before Herod, called together the chief priests, and the rulers, and with them the rest of the people who had appeared against him as his accusers; And said to them, you have brought me this man, Jesus of Nazareth, as one that has perverted the people, and taught doctrines injurious to your religion, and also to the civil peace and the Roman government; and behold, I have examined [him] both in your presence, and in private, and heard all that could be alleged against him; but I must solemnly declare that I have found no crime in this man as to the things that you have charged him with; nor can I in my conscience think that you have made good any of the accusations you have brought against him: Nor yet has Herod been able to make any such discovery; for I sent

A splendid robe.] This expression Εὐδῆλ λαμπερὰν does not so properly signify (as Le Clerc renders it) a white robe; nor was it, as he supposes, intended as a declaration of his innocence. It was rather some gorgeous garment which belonged to Herod or some of his officers, and was, perhaps, grown old, and they clothed him with it in derision of his having pretended to be a king. This usage was exceeding insolent: perhaps the remorse of conscience which Herod had felt on account of the murder of John the Baptist might render him cautious how he joined in any attempt on the life of Jesus, which we do not find that he did.

The were at enmity between themselves.]

The cause of this enmity can only be conjectured: perhaps it might be the slaughter which Pilate had made of some of the Galileans who had come up to sacrifice at Jerusalem. (See Luke xiii. 1, sect. cxvi.) But Mons. Saurin truly observes, that, considering on the one hand the jealousy of the Jews where any foreign power was concerned, and on the other the oppressive measures generally taken by those who are invested with commissions like this which Pilate bore over conquered countries, and especially the accounts we have of his own bad character and conduct, their reconciliation is much more wonderful than their enmity. See Saur. Serm. Vol. X. p. 246, 247.

Pilate proposes to scourge, and discharge him.

you to him with the prisoner, that you might do your utmost to convict him before that prince, who being a person of your own religion, and well acquainted with your laws and customs, might have known more of the matter than myself; and yet behold, it appears to have been Herod’s judgment, that nothing worthy of death has been done by him, for, instead of sending him back like one who deserves a capital sentence, he has treated him like an idiot rather than a traitor, so as plainly to shew that he thinks him merely the object of ridicule, or to deserve at most but some slight punishment. And therefore, when I have chastised him by scourging, which will be an admonition to him for the future not to use those wild enthusiastical expressions which have given so much umbrage and suspicion, I will let [him] go: and I believe you may depend upon it that he will give us no farther trouble; nor would he have interest enough to do it if he were inclined to the attempt.

Now it was usual at the feast of the passover, [and] even was grown by custom in a manner necessary, for the Roman governor, when such multitudes were assembled from all parts, to release to the people any one prisoner, whom they desired to be set at liberty, whatever crime it was that he was charged with. And there was then in Pilate’s custody a very infamous and noted prisoner, whose name was Barabbas, that lay bound with some other ruffians who had made an insurrection in the city in conjunction with him, and who had also committed murder in the insurrection; and, besides the part he had acted in this seditious riot, he was a fellow of a most abandoned character, and known to be a robber, who had infested the highways with

Nothing worthy of death has been done by him.] The phrase σκυραμιανν αϋλα must here have this signification, as the margin of our Bible renders it; for though this is something of an unusual construction, yet as Raphelius (Annot. ex Polyb. p. 259) has produced many instances of the like nature, it would be much harsher to suppose that a capital sentence, or any treatment from Herod which should intimate he thought Jesus deserved it, should be called ξιονδαναλα, somethin worthy of death.

Usual, — and in a manner necessary.] There was no law to oblige him to this; but as acts of grace are generally popular things, this seems to have been first freely used by the Romans to please their tributaries, and now by custom was in a manner established. I find no substantial reason to believe there was in the original of this custom any reference to the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage at this time.

It was usual at the feast to release a prison his villany; so that it was generally concluded he would receive sentence of death, and would be executed that day. And, as the power of reversing or executing such sentences then lay in the Romans, the people therefore, when they were gathered together about the tribunal, began with a great noise and clamour to demand of Pilate [that he would do] at this passover as he had always done to them upon the like occasions, and would discharge a prisoner. And Pilate hoping that he might preserve the life of Jesus, whose innocence he so clearly saw, determined to attempt it by this method; and accordingly, that he might induce them to choose him, he proposed no other alternative than that scandalous and outrageous criminal whom we have just now mentioned, and answered them, saying, You have indeed a custom, that I should release to you one at the passover, and I am ready now to oblige you in this affair: whom will you therefore choose that I release unto you? Barabbas, that seditious and barbarous robber? or this Jesus, who is called Christ, who in I know not what strange sense is pretended to be the king of the Jews, and whom you see before you in the fine robe in which Herod has thought fit to array him? For he knew that the chief priests and rulers had not delivered him up into his hands from a regard to justice, but merely out of envy at his popularity; and therefore he was willing to make the proposal to the people in such a form as might be most likely to secure his life. But the chief priests and elders, who were exceedingly solicitous to obtain their end, lest this artifice of the governor should defeat all their laboured scheme, excited the most forward of the people, [and] effectually persuaded the mob they had brought with them, that they should ask the governor, with a continual noise and clamour, that he would rather release Barabbas to them; that by this means the point they had in view might be secured, and they might be sure to destroy Jesus. And therefore when the governor answered them in this manner, and said to them again, Take notice that your choice lies only between these and therefore now determine for

e Jews pre er Bara as to Christ.

ourselves, which of the two do you desire I should release unto you? Then, as their principles had prompted them, they all cried out gain with one consent, in the same noisy and umultuous way as before, saying, We will not ave this [man], but Barabbas; away with this man], and release unto us Barabbas. And thus, when Pilate would have let him go, they denied the holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto them. (Acts. iii. 14.)

And Pilate, to divert them from the purpose they were so unreasonably set upon, again answered and said to them, What therefore would you have me do with this Jesus, who is called Christ, and whom, if I may believe your own rulers, so many of you are ready to call and own as the king of the Jews? And they all presently renewed their clamour, and cried out again, as before, [and] with one voice said to him, Crucify him: let him immediately be crucified; for he is fit to be treated as the vilest slave, rather than to be called our king.

Pilate therefore, being still desirous to release Jesus, spake to them yet again; urging them seriously to consider what they did, in thus preferring such an abandoned miscreant as Barabbas to so innocent a person. But they, without so much as offering any farther reason, persisted in their importunity, and cried out as before, saying, Crucify [him], crucify him.

And Pilate was so intent on delivering him, that he said to them the third time, Why will you be so cruel as to insist upon it? what evil has

¶ Whom you call the king of the Jews.] Pilate often repeats this title; and it may seem strange that he should use it so frequently. Probably he might do it partly to ridicule those pretences, and bring contempt on the scheme of a Messiah; and partly to procure from the Jews, in their zeal against Jesus, the strongest and most public professions of their subjection to Cesar.

¶ Let him be crucified.] By this cry they declared the greatest degree of rage that can be imagined; for it was as if they had said, “Let him whom you call our king be treated like one of the vilest of

your slaves, who has committed the most enormous crime.” To have inflicted such a punishment as this on any free Jew would probably have been sufficient to have thrown the whole city and nation into an uproar; but now they were deaf to every thing but the clamour of passion, and in their madness forgot with how dangerous a precedent they might furnish the Roman governor. And indeed it turned dreadfully on themselves, when such vast numbers of them were crucified for their opposition to the Romans, during the time of their last war. See note • in the next section, on Mat. xxvii. 25.

Reflections on their violence in persecuting

he done ?ʰ I declare to you all, as I told you but now (ver. 14, p. 520), that I have found no capital crime in him: I will therefore, as I said (ver. 16), chastise him by scourging, and then I hope your rage will be moderated, and you will be prevailed upon to agree that I should let [him] go without any farther punishment.

But they, without pretending to answer the argument he had alleged, overbore it by a wild fury, and were urgent in pressing him with loud and importunate voices; and the more he opposed them, they cried out the more abundantly and violently, demanding that, whatever was the consequence of it, he might be crucified: and, on the whole, notwithstanding the farther remonstrance of Pilate on the admonition of his wife (which will be mentioned in the next section), their voices, and [those] of the chief priests (who, to encourage the cry, had so little sense of common decency as themselves to join in it), prevailed with the governor, though contrary to the convictions of his own conscience, to comply with their request.

IMPROVEMENT.

Luke BEHOLD, how all imaginable circumstances seem to conspire to increase the infamy thrown on that sacred head, which now most worthily wears a crown of eternal glory! Of a truth, O Lord, against the holy Child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the chief priests, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel had determined before to be done (Acts iv. 27, 28). The wisest person on earth was by *Herod and his soldiers derided as a fool; the most deserving was condemned by the chief priests; and the most innocent was treated as a criminal by Pilate, and furiously demanded as a public victim by the Jews. All the proofs of his innocence are overborne by a loud and a senseless cry; and those hosannas with which the streets and temple were so lately echoing, are exchanged into Crucify him, crucify him. So uncertain is human applause, and so unrighteous may human judgments be!

ʰ Why? what evil has he done?] T ters, and particularly Xenophon, as an Raphelius (Annot. ex elegant expletive, especially to introduce a Xenoph. p. 64) has well proved, that rejection is question. often used by the correctest Greek wri-

Jesus is scourged.

But in the midst of all the blessed Jesus stands collected in himself. Firm as a rock he bears the violence of the storm, and is not moved by all the furious waves that beat upon him; and when he saw a robber and a murderer preferred before him, and a sentence of the most cruel death clamorously called for and demanded against him, he silently commits himself to him that judgeth righteously, who ere long brought forth his righteousness as brightness, and his salvation as a lamp that burneth. (Compare 1 Pet. ii. 23; and Isa. lxii. 1.)

Lord, if thou callest us out to share in thy sufferings, may the Spirit of God and of glory thus rest on us! And may neither the scorn nor the rage of our enemies separate us from thee, who did so courageously bear all this for us; nor may they ever sink us into any weakness of behaviour unworthy of those who have the honour to call themselves thy followers!

clxxxvii. verse 18, 19 Mark xv. 13, 14