Mark 15:1-15
Jesus Before Pilate
1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The chief priests had Jesus tied and bound and lead Him to Pilate...The ropes were nothing for Him, because He is divine...He could have escaped with the blink of an eye, but chose not to...He knew that it was for Him to die on the cross for us and our sins...
Pilate questions Jesus and asks Him if He is King of the Jews...Jesus tells Pilate that He has said so...But Jesus does not answer any questions directly...The Jews make the choice of choosing Barabbas over Jesus...Jesus has never lied, nor never sin, yet He is about to be crucified on the cross for us...Pilate wanted to please the crowd so he releases Barabbas and has Jesus to be flogged and then sends Him off to be crucified...