15:1-15
– There are a number of interesting
things about Jesus’ trial scene before Pilate. We see that the priests have
cleverly changed the charge against Jesus. A blasphemy charge might be
punishable by death under Jewish religious laws, but at that point in history,
they were under the administration of the Romans, and the Jewish religious
courts did not have authority to carry out executions (although this sometimes
happened anyway as a result of mob violence, as in Acts 7). Only the Romans
were permitted to execute criminals, and the priests knew that they would not consider a blasphemy to be a capital crime. So they changed it to a
charge that Jesus was claiming to be king. This would have been an appropriate
theological-political claim for Jesus to make within the context of Israel,
given his Davidic descent and his position as God’s Messiah—but it’s not
actually a political claim he ever laid down for himself in the Gospels, at
least not in so many words (but probably implied in his actions). It would have
been seen as a treasonous offense by the Romans, and would have summoned an
immediate execution. Pilate, though he has been informed of this charge, is
unimpressed, and sees through the priests’ motives fairly easily. As in the
other Gospels, Mark makes a point of Jesus’ silence in the face of his
accusers. In this he fulfills the prophecies in the Old Testament about the
suffering servant (see Isaiah 53), but he also indicates his submission to the
will of God the Father. Certainly there was more that he could have said—as in
John’s account, he could easily make clear to Pilate the nature of his
kingship. But he knows that Pilate is more concerned with avoiding a riot than
with administering equitable justice, so nothing that Jesus could have said
would have made any difference. Pilate bows to the will of the crowd, because
Passover week was an inflammatory time, and there are records of other murderous
insurrections during that holiday at various junctures in Pilate’s term of
office. The great irony of this passage, though, has to do with the prisoner
that Jesus is traded for. The crowd asks to have Barabbas released to them, a
known insurrectionist. The irony has to do with the fact that Barabbas’ name,
which is Aramaic, literally means “Son of the Father.” In a moment of
blindness, the crowd cries out for the “Son of the Father” to be given to them,
not realizing that they are condemning the true Son of the Father to his death.