XLI. Trial before Pilate
152. The Sanhedrin Brings Charges against Jesus
28Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover.a 29So Pilateb went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”30They answered him, “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have handed him over.”
31Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.”
2And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is a king.”
12But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. 13Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor wondered greatly .
(Jn. 18:28–31; Lk. 23:2; Mt. 27:12–14)
a “They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover.”—The praetorium was an addition to the Roman fortress of Antonia, where Pilate and his wife resided during his visits to Jerusalem. The praetorium was a gentile building; the Jews would not enter it because it would render them ceremonially unclean and would bar them from participating in the Passover feast.
b “Pilate”—Pilate was the Roman procurator who governed Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.
Lk. 23:2 is a king. / is Christ a king. (RSV) (185:0,2/1987,89–90)
