Having handed Jesus over to Pilate, the religious authorities hoped to pressure him into executing Jesus as a threat to Rome, an insurrectionist. This is what is behind their focus on Jesus claim to be king of the Jews. If Jesus is claiming to be a king, they insinuate, he is a threat to the peace of Judea, a threat to Rome. Pilate, having no desire to be pressured by the Jews to preside over a kangaroo court, resists initially. He knows that the rules of evidence have been manipulated at best. But he also has a vested interest in placating the Jewish authorities under his jurisdiction.

After questioning Jesus, Pilate had him flogged. A Roman flogging was a brutal event. It was likely carried out by multiple soldiers using leather whips tipped with iron balls, spikes, bone, and the like. The end result is that Jesus would have been reduced to a bloody mess. Added to Jesus’ physical tormets was the mockery he endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers. Before leading him out to face the crowds they robed his bloody body in purple and forced into his scalp a wreath of thorns.

Ironically, it was likely that Pilate put Jesus through this torture as a means of meeting the religious leaders halfway. Perhaps, he thought, this would satisfy them and thus he could avoid crucifying an innocent man. However, in yet another tragic irony, the Jewish religious leaders publically pledged their allegiance to Caesar as a way to pressure Pilate and call into question his allegiance to Rome. This they followed with cries of “Crucify him!” Indeed, friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). But God is not mocked nor is he at the mercy of man’s unjust schemes. What Jesus said to Pilate puts in perspective man’s actions in light of God’s sovereign mercy: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (vs. 11).