Jesus Is Brought before Pilate (23:1-7).
Having convinced themselves of His blasphemy the majority of the court now acted and brought Him to Pilate. But once again their perfidy is revealed. For they did not bring against Him the charge of blasphemy, or of claiming to be the Son of God, rather they twisted what He had said and turned it into a political charge. And in doing this they also twisted other evidence. They probably hoped that Pilate would give in to their request without taking too much trouble over it. After all, they were the recognised Jewish authorities, and Pilate had no reason for doubting their word. But for some reason Pilate was not compliant. One reason was probably because he was not on the best of terms with these Jewish leaders, and rather despised them, and was delighted to have the opportunity to annoy them. And secondly he appears to have sensed that there was something that was not quite right about the whole affair. For we do have to take into account the impression that Jesus would make on him.
Pilate would not seem a very good candidate to act as one who would defend Jesus. Philo describes him as unbending and callous in nature and speaks of him as, ‘a man of inflexible disposition, harsh and obdurate'. He makes clear that in his view he totally failed in the fulfilment of his official duties. But even such men occasionally come face to face with something that for a moment pierces their hard shell, and that was what, unknown to him, was about to happen to Pilate.
Analysis.
a And the whole company of them rose up, and brought Him before Pilate (Luke 23:1).
b And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ (the Messiah) a king (Luke 23:2).
c And Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Luke 23:3 a).
d And He answered him and said, “You say so” (Luke 23:3).
c And Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:4).
b But they were the more urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judaea, and beginning from Galilee even to this place” (Luke 23:5).
a But when Pilate heard it, he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And when he knew that He was of Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem in these days (Luke 23:6-7).
Note that in ‘a' He is brought before Pilate, and in the parallel He is brought to Herod. In ‘b' an accusation is made against Him, and in the parallel a further accusation is made against Him. In ‘c' Pilate questions Jesus and in the parallel says that he finds no fault in Him. While centrally in ‘d' Jesus agrees that He is the King of the Jews.