SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 27:11-31
Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews. Jesus said yes. The governor listed the testimony against him, but Jesus gave no reply. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and only handed over to him out of envy. At the Feast, it was tradition for the crowd to free one prisoner. They could free Jesus or Barabbas. Pilate’s wife had sent him a message saying not to have anything to do with Jesus because she had suffered greatly in a dream.
The chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas. Pilate asked the crowd what to do with Jesus. They responded to crucify him. Pilate asked why, but no one listened. Pilate washed his hands to show he was innocent of Jesus’s blood and said it was their responsibility. The crowd agreed and said it was on their children, too. Barabbas was released, and Jesus was flogged.
The soldiers stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him. They put a crown of thorns on his head. Next, the soldiers put a staff in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him. They spit on him and then hit him repeatedly. They took the robe off, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to be crucified.
BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 27, Day 5: Matthew 27:11-31
13a) Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews. Jesus said yes. The governor asked if Jesus had heard the testimony against him, but Jesus gave no reply.
b) Pilate’s wife had sent him a message saying not to have anything to do with Jesus because she had suffered greatly in a dream. The chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas. Pilate asked the crowd what to do with Jesus. They responded to crucify him. Pilate asked why, but no one listened. Pilate washed his hands to show he was innocent of Jesus’s blood and said it was their responsibility.
c) He tried to get Jesus to defend himself. He tried to have him released out of mercy. He even asked the crowd why crucify him, and he symbolicaly washed his hands of Jesus’s blood. It shows that Pilate might have understood who Jesus was, that he had mercy, that he was sympathetic to Jesus. He also knew Jesus was innocent and didn’t want to execute him.
14) Pilate did fight for Jesus, but in the end he bowed to political pressure. We must fight to the end for Jesus.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 27, Day 5: Matthew 27:11-31
Powerful and sad lesson. Shows what Jesus suffered for us and how he was treated. Deepens our gratitude for Jesus and the cross.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 27, Day 5: Matthew 27:11-31
The Jews have to go through Roman law in order to execute someone. They have no authority to do it themselves. They cook up the charge of Jesus calling himself King, which is against Roman law.
Pilate does not believe the charges, and his wife’s premonitions confirm them. He appeals to Herod who only returns Jesus to Pilate. This is the recording of the second time Jesus appears before Pilate (Luke records the first Luke 23:1-6. ). He declares Jesus innocent, but the crowd won’t relent. Since the crowd is on the verge of becoming a mob, he washes his hands of sin, but he knows he is still responsible. Jesus’s crime of “King of the Jews” is posted above the cross as a result.
The reply Jesus gives to Pilate when asked if he is king is the same reply he gave the high priests (Matthew 26:64). Pilate could not believe Jesus would not defend himself. He kept silent and let God defend him.
Pilate knew there was something special about Jesus and did not want to kill him. So he hopes the crowd will let him go free. Barabbas was a murderer Mark 15:7
Pilate could have released Jesus on his own, but he did not. He even ignored his wife’s dream. All of this was God’s mercy, which he refused. He gave in to the multitudes. All of them sinned. People today still reject Jesus.
Pilate washing his hands was meaningless. Jesus’s blood rested on him, too, since he could have stopped it.
The blood of Jesus would be on the children 40 years later when the temple was destroyed.
The Scourging of Jesus
Scourging was the treatment prisoners got before crucifixion. They were beaten with a whip that had leatehr strands with sharp bone or metal bits on it. Every time it hit the body, it made a cut. In fact, many prisoners died from scourging before they were crucified. Only women and Roman senators or soldiers were exempt.
The point of scouring you could say was merciful. It was to shorten the length of time that a prisoner hung on the cross before they died. Scourging resulted in blood loss and shock to the point of death. Crucifixion was just the final straw.
The whole garrison gathered to mock Jesus; normally only 4 soldiers (called a quaternion) did the scourging. They meant to humiliate and mock him. A scarlet robe was what a king would wear. The crown of thones would indeed hurt Jesus. The scepter was a reed, not an ornamental beauty item.
How did Matthew know about this scene? He was probably told it by one of the Roman soldiers who was present.
The procession to the cross and the execution area was a time for Rome to show what would happen to those who broke the law. A centurion on horseback would lead the way, shouting the crime of the condemned as they went. Jesus would carry the crossbar of his cross, which was probably between 75 and 125 lbs in weight. He was stripped naked, and his hands were tied to the wood. The upright beams of the cross were already in place.
No one stood up for Jesus. In the end, he was abandoned, but he never abandoned us.