The Gospel of John, Chapter 18:33-40

³³ Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

Jesus was brought before Pilate because the leader of the Jews, Caiaphas, was concerned over the people who were now following Jesus and as a result he was losing his influence over them. Jesus had been in the synagogues teaching the Word with wisdom and with such understanding and knowledge that the scribe, Pharisees and Sadducee were all besides themselves. Caiaphas thought that Jesus could cause an uprising of the people and this would cause Rome to step in and as a result the Jewish people would lose the control and freedoms they had. Caiaphas then said that it was a good idea for one man, Jesus, to die for the good of everyone.
Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time, making him the leader of the Jews, head of the Pharisee, Sadducee and the Sanhedrin. While he actually prophesied about the death of Jesus for the remission of sins and the salvation of mankind, Caiaphas was focused on stopping an uprising by putting the most influential person out there to death. He thought he could put Jesus to death, he could regain control of the people. Since the Romans didn’t give the Jews the authority to put people to death, Caiaphas had to appeal to the Roman leader/judge over their area, who had the power to pass and carry out a death sentence.
Romans commonly crucified people who were accused of insurrection. By appealing to Pilate who, was the Roman judge over the Jewish people in that area, Caiaphas knew if he was successful in getting what he wanted, Jesus would be crucified. After Caiaphas and Annas, his son-in-law…another powerful high priest, had both examined Jesus trying to find fault with him and finding none, they took him to Pilate accusing him of trying to stir up a revolt in the people. One of the accusations was that Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews. Pilate didn’t want to even have this case before him… but because the High Priest insisted he hear it and because of the known popularity of Jesus among the people, Pilate agreed to hear the case. That brings us to this verse where Pilate is asking Jesus, ” Are you the King of the Jews”?
Before I move forward, I want to make a note that the passover was upon the people. The passover is a celebration of remembrance of the time God saved the firstborn child in every household who had the lambs blood applied to the door post of their home.
When an animal is offered up for a sin offering according to the Law, it is delivered to the High Priest and the high priest offers it up for sin. Caiaphas is the high priest, and he is unwittingly offering up Jesus. Caiaphas prophesied in John 18:14 “¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.” While he prophesied about putting Jesus to death for all the people, he wasn’t aware the true meaning of what he was saying….he was speaking from his own motives and logic…. but God was informing us of his divine plan to redeem all mankind.

³⁴ Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

Jesus is questioning Pilate if he heard this himself, or was someone else accusing him of claiming to be the King of the Jews. This response causes Pilate to think about the validity of the accusation.

³⁵ Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Pilate doesn’t want to judge Jewish matters, but he is obligated to by his appointment from Rome. He asked Jesus what has he done to cause his own nation and Chief Priest, who is the head of the Jewish supreme court ( the Sanhedrin), to bring him before his court to be judged.

³⁶ Jesus answered, 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: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

³⁷ Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, 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.

My pondering: Jesus came here to die for his people, those who know him as King and Lord… the ones who will hear his voice and incline their ear… and who follow him and fight for him and the truth he gave us. This kingdom is like no other… it’s born first in the spirit and when Jesus comes back again and takes his throne in Jerusalem, then it will be visible to the world. Until then, the world can’t even comprehend it unless the Holy Spirit gives them understanding. Jesus explained this to Pilate, and it seems that Pilate understood, so he went out to speak with the leaders of the Jews with his verdict. He had to go out to talk to them because they would not go into the judgment hall because they wanted to eat the passover and entering would have defiled them.

³⁸ Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

³⁹ But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

⁴⁰ Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

The Jewish leaders were out there influencing the crowd and working them up so when they were asked, they would call for Barabbas to be released and Jesus would be crucified. Pilate had found Jesus innocent, Barabbas was found guilty… but Jesus was put to death and Barabbas was freed.