Chapter XXXVI: Section IX: The Accusation Made Before Pilate

At this point I must entreat the particular attention of the reader. The irregularities and acts of violence, which I have hitherto remarked upon, are nothing in comparison with the unbridled fury, which is about to display itself before the _Roman Judge_, in order to extort from him, against his own conviction, a sentence of death.

“And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders, and scribes, and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.” Mark xv. 1.

_As soon as the morning was come_; for, as I have observed already, every thing which had been done thus far against Jesus was done _during the night_.

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: 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 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_?

Pilate replied to him—“Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me; what hast thou done?” Ib. 35.

All the particulars of this procedure are important; I cannot too often repeat the remark, that in no part of the transactions before Pilate is there any question at all respecting a previous sentence, a judgment already passed—a judgment, the execution of which was the only subject of consideration; it was a case of a capital accusation; but an accusation which was then just beginning; they were about the preliminary _interrogatories_ put to the accused, and Pilate says to him, “What hast thou done?”

Jesus, seeing by the explanation what was the source of the _prejudging_ of his case, and knowing the secret thoughts which predominated in making the accusation, and that his enemies wanted to arrive at the same end by an artifice, answered Pilate—“_My kingdom is not of this world_; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews;” (we see, in fact, that Jesus had forbidden his people to resist) but, he added, “now is my kingdom not from hence.” John xviii. 36.

This answer of Jesus is very remarkable; it became the foundation of his religion, and the pledge of its universality, because it detached it from the interests of all governments. It rests not merely in assertion, in doctrine; it was given in _justification_, in _defence_ against the accusation of intending to make himself _King of the Jews_. Indeed, if Jesus had affected a _temporal_ royal authority, if there had been the least attempt, on his part, to usurp _the power of Cæsar_, he would have been guilty of treason in the eyes of the magistrate. But, by answering twice, _my kingdom is not of this world_, my kingdom _is not from hence_, his justification was complete.

Pilate, however, persisted and said to him: “Art thou a king then?” Jesus replied, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. John xviii. 37.

Pilate then said to him: _What is the truth?_

This question proves, that Pilate had not a very clear idea of what Jesus called _the truth_. He perceived nothing in it but _ideology_; and, satisfied with having said (less in the manner of a question than of an exclamation) “_What is the truth_,” he went on to the Jews (who remained outside) and said to them, “_I find in him no fault at all_.” John xviii. 38.

Here, then, we see Jesus absolved from the accusation by the declaration of the Roman judge himself.

But the accusers, persisting still farther, added—“_He stirreth up the people, teaching_ throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.” Luke xxiii. 5.

“He stirreth up the people!” This is a charge of sedition; and for Pilate. But observe, it was _by the doctrine which he teaches_; these words comprehend the real complaint of the Jews. To them it was equivalent to saying—He _teaches_ the people, he instructs them, he enlightens them; he preaches _new doctrines_ which are not _ours_. “He stirs up the people!” This, in their months signified—the people hear him willingly; the people follow and become attached to him; for he preaches a doctrine that is friendly and consolatory to the people; he unmasks our pride, our avarice, our insatiable spirit of domination!

Pilate, however, does not appear to have attached much importance to this new turn given to the accusation; but he here betrays a weakness. He heard the word _Galilee_; and he makes that the occasion of shifting off the responsibility upon another public officer, and seizes the occasion with avidity. He says to Jesus—you are a _Galilean_ then? and, upon the answer being in the affirmative, considering Jesus as belonging to the jurisdiction of Herod-Antipas, who, by the good pleasure of Cæsar, was then tetrarch of Galilee, he sent him to Herod. Luke xxiii. 6, 7.

But Herod, who, as St. Luke says, had been long desirous of _seeing Jesus_ and had hoped to see some miracle done by him, after satisfying an idle curiosity and putting several questions to him, which Jesus did not deign to answer,—Herod, notwithstanding the presence of the priests, (who had not yet gone off, but stood there with their scribes,) and notwithstanding the pertinacity with which they continued to accuse Jesus, perceiving nothing but what was merely chimerical in the _accusation of being a king_, made a mockery of the affair, and sent Jesus back to Pilate, _after having arrayed him in a gorgeous robe_, in order to show that he thought this pretended royalty was a subject of ridicule rather than of apprehensions. Luke xxiii. 8, &c., and De Sacy. Ib.