| PILATE ~ 2 |
| The few Temple leaders who were bad next took Jesus over to Roman Governor Pilate's palace. They did not like Pilate because he was a foreigner ruling them. But the Jews were not allowed to execute anyone. Only a Roman governor could do that. "Put him to death!" they cried. Pilate ordered all of the Temple leaders to leave. He wanted to be alone with Jesus. Pilate saw how badly the soldiers had beaten Jesus and felt sorry for him. He had a long talk with Jesus. Jesus answered all his questions because he really wanted to know the truth. Jesus explained the kind of kingdom he was going to rule was "not of this world." Pilate believed him and liked him even more. Pilate told the Temple leaders he would not put Jesus to death because he didn't do anything wrong. But the men just got madder. Once a year Pilate let a guilty prisoner go free as a favor to the Jews. He told them he would release Jesus. But they said they wanted a killer released instead. "What am I supposed to do with Jesus, then?" Pilate replied. They kept saying they wanted Jesus put to death. Pilate replied that he would have Jesus beaten real bad instead and let him live. But they kept shouting that they wanted Jesus put to death. Pilate ordered that Jesus be beaten real bad anyway, hoping the Temple leaders would change their mind. But they didn't. So Pilate ordered a bowl of water brought to him. Pilate washed his hands in front of the people and said he was washing off the bad that was about to happen to Jesus. Of course you can't really wash bad off your hands, but it was another "stand-in" like bread standing in for Jesus' body. The dirt on Pilate's hands stood in for treating Jesus bad. It was now morning. They had been up all night. Then Jesus was led away from the palace to walk up a hill where he would die in our place for our sins. Jesus could have stopped the bad way they were treating him and talking about him. He could have just gone to heaven right then. But he stayed. Why? Because he loved us. |