Section 128 & 129, Jesus Brought Before Pilate

Section 128
JEWISH TRIAL
JESUS FORMALLY CONDEMNED BY THE SANHEDRIN AND LED TO PILATE
(Jerusalem. Friday after dawn.)
MATT. 27:1, 2
MARK 15:1
LUKE 22:66-23:1
JOHN 18:28

My summary:  In the morning, the chief priest and counsel condemned Jesus to death and sent him to Pilate.

Background from the Believer's Bible:  "The religious trial was ended, and the civil trial is about to begin. The scene is the hall of judgment or the palace of the governor. The Jews did not want to go into the palace of a Gentile. They felt that they would have been defiled and would thus be prevented from eating the Passover. It did not seem to bother them that they were plotting the death of the Son of God.

It would have been a tragedy for them to enter a Gentile house, but murder was a mere trifle. Augustine remarks:
O impious blindness! They would be defiled, forsooth, by a dwelling which was another's, and not be defiled by a crime which was their own. They feared to be defiled by the praetorium of an alien judge, and feared not to be defiled by the blood of an innocent brother."

"Since blasphemy was by no means a criminal offense among the Romans, the Sanhedrin consulted together and sought for some charge of which the Romans would take notice. As we follow their course it will become evident to us that they found no new ground of accusation against Jesus, and, failing to do so, they decided to make use of our Lord's claim to be the Christ by so perverting it as to make him seem to assert an intention to rebel against the authority of Rome" -Fourfold

 And they said, What further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from his own mouth. [Thus they unconsciously admit their lack of evidence against Jesus.  -Fourfold

Section 129
FIRST STAGE OF THE ROMAN TRIAL.
JESUS BEFORE PILATE FOR THE FIRST TIME
(Jerusalem. Early Friday morning.)
MATT. 27:11-14
MARK 15:2-5
LUKE 23:2-5
JOHN 18:28-38

My Summary:  Jesus is delivered from the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate.  The accusations against him are shaped to suit the nuances of the Jewish and Roman laws.

The Fourfold Gospel commentary does a fine job teasing out these nuances:

"The Jewish rulers first attempt to induce Pilate to accept their verdict and condemn Jesus upon it, and execute him without a trial. If they had succeeded in this, Jesus would have been put to death as a blasphemer. But as Pilate had insisted upon trying Jesus, and as blasphemy was not a capital offense under the Roman law, Jesus was condemned and executed as the King of the Jews...."

"As the Jews insisted on their own verdict, Pilate bade them pronounce their own sentence, declining to mix jurisdictions by pronouncing a Roman sentence on a Sanhedrin verdict. But the Jews responded that it is not in their power to pronounce the sentence for which their verdict called, since they could not put to death. Jesus could only be sentenced to death by the Roman court, and crucifixion was the mode by which its death sentence was executed...."

"The Jews now profess to change their verdict into a charge, they themselves becoming witnesses as to the truth of the matter charged. They say "We found," thereby asserting that the things which they stated to Pilate were the things for which they had condemned Jesus. Their assertion was utterly false, for the three things which they now mentioned had formed no part whatever of the evidence against Jesus in their trial of him...."

"The first charge, that Jesus was a perverter or seducer of the people, was extremely vague. The second, that he taught to withhold tribute from Cæsar, was a deliberate falsehood. The third, that he claimed to be king, was true, but this third charge, coupled with the other two, was intended to convey a sense which was maliciously false. Jesus was a spiritual King, and claimed to be such, and as such was no offender against the Roman government...."

"Using the Hebrew form of affirmative reply (see p. 698), Jesus admits that he is a king, but asks a question which forms the strongest negation that he is a king in the sense contained in the Jewish accusation. Had he been a king in that sense, Pilate would have been the one most likely to know it. The question also, by an indirect query as to the accuser, reveals to Pilate's mind that no Roman had accused him...."

"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? [This question has been regarded as an earnest inquiry (Chrysostom), the inquiry of one who despaired (Olshausen), a scoffing question (Alford), etc. But it is evident that Pilate asked it intending to investigate the case of Jesus further, but, suddenly concluding that he already knew enough to answer his purpose as a judge, he stifles his curiosity as a human being and proceeds with the trial of Jesus, leaving the question unanswered." -Fourfold Gospel

Jon Courson adds the additional context that Pilate had floundered in dealing with the Jews three times before this and had been warned by Tiberias Caesar that he would be replaced if he messed up again.  This framework suggests Pilate needed to be particularly careful in how he handled the Jews and Christ.  It's ironic in the sense that it's the biggest screw up ever.