They then led Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of Judgment of Pilate.[413] It was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. John xviii. 28.
Singular scrupulousness! and truly worthy of the Pharisees! They were afraid of defiling themselves on the day of the passover by entering the house of a heathen! And yet, the same day, only some hours before presenting themselves to Pilate, they had, in contempt of their own law, committed the outrage of holding a council and deliberating upon an accusation of a capital crime.
As they would not enter, “Pilate went out to them.” John xviii. 29. Now observe his language. He did not say to them, Where is the sentence you have passed; as he must have done, if he was only to give them his simple exequatur, or permission to execute the sentence; but he takes up the matter from the beginning, as would be done by one who had plenary jurisdiction; and he says to them: What accusation bring ye against this man?
They answered, with their accustomed haughtiness: If he were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him up to thee. John xviii. 30. They wished to have it understood, that, being a question of blasphemy, it was the cause of their religion, which they could appreciate better than any others could. Pilate, then, would have been under the necessity of believing them on their word. But this Roman, indignant at their proposed course of proceeding, which would have restricted his jurisdiction by making him the passive instrument of the wishes of the Jews, answered them in an ironical manner: [pg 560] Well, since you say he has sinned against your law, take him yourselves and judge him according to your law. John xviii. 31. This was an absolute mystification to them, for they knew their own want of power to condemn him to death. But they were obliged to yield the point, and to submit to Pilate himself their articles of accusation.
Now what were the grounds of this accusation? Were they the same which had hitherto been alleged against Jesus—the charge of blasphemy—which was the only one brought forward by Caiaphas before the council of the Jews? Not at all; despairing of obtaining from the Roman judge a sentence of death for a religious quarrel, which was of no interest to the Romans,[414] they suddenly changed their plan; they abandoned their first accusation, the charge of blasphemy, and substituted for it a political accusation, an offence against the state.
Here we have the very crisis, or essential incident, of the passion; and that which makes the heaviest accusation of guilt on the part of the informers against Jesus. For, being fully bent on destroying him in any manner whatever, they no longer exhibited themselves as the avengers of their religion, which was alleged to have been outraged, or of their worship, which it was pretended was threatened; but, ceasing to appear as Jews, in order to affect sentiments belonging to a foreign nation, those hypocrites held out the appearance of being concerned for the interests of Rome; they accused their own countryman of an intention to restore the kingdom of Jerusalem, to make himself king of the Jews, and to make an insurrection of the people against their conquerors. Let us hear them speak for themselves:
“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying, that he himself is Christ a king.” Luke xxiii. 2.
What a calumny! Jesus forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar! when he had answered the Pharisees themselves, in presence of the whole people, by showing them the image of Cæsar upon a [pg 561] Roman piece of money, and saying, Give unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's. But this accusation was one mode of interesting Pilate in respect to his jurisdiction; for, as an imperial procurator, he was specially to superintend the collection of the revenue. The second branch of the accusation still more directly affected the sovereignty of the Romans: “He holds himself up for a king.”
The accusation having thus assumed a character purely political, Pilate thought he must pay attention to it. “Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall,” (the place where justice was administered,) and having summoned Jesus to appear before him, he proceeds to his Examination, and says to him: “Art thou the king of the Jews?” John xviii. 33.
This question, so different from those which had been addressed to him at the house of the high priest, appears to have excited the astonishment of Jesus; and, in his turn, he asked Pilate: “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?” Ib. 24. In reality, Jesus was desirous of knowing, first of all, the authors of this new accusation—Is this an accusation brought against me by the Romans or by the Jews?