When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
John 19:13-16
Most of us like to think we would have stood up for what is right. But history’s most famous trial suggests that sometimes, the greatest evil isn’t committed by monsters, but by people who just want to be liked.
As Jesus was on trial before Pilate, the decisions and actions that followed had consequences far beyond what anyone at the moment had anticipated. The scene describes how a seemingly normal leader could be responsible for the most notorious murder of all time. And the motive behind the murder is the ordinary yet devastating flaw that lurks in every heart.
When Jesus was handed over to Pilate, the Bible says he found “no basis for a charge against him.” He repeated this twice. This means Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He wasn’t confused, ignorant, or even deceived. What could cause a powerful, respected leader to murder a man he knew did nothing deserving of death? The answer is: the crowd. Pilate was afraid of the crowd. The crowd kept shouting: “Crucify him! Crucify him!”, and Pilate couldn’t take it anymore. Pilate then attempts to placate the crowd by offering to turn Jesus over to the them so that they can kill Him, but instead they insisted that he crucify Jesus. So Pilate gave in.
The truth is that while the crowd, Pilate, and the Roman soldiers were in a way responsible for Jesus death, in reality Jesus laid down his own life according to the Father’s will. Regarding his life, Jesus said:
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 10:18
Pilate was never really in control of the situation since this was God’s plan and purpose from the beginning. However, this doesn’t absolve Pilate of his guilt. Pilate still had blood on his hands.
Today we might say Pilate was the ultimate people-pleaser. If your goal in life is to please people, you’ll end up doing things you know you shouldn’t do.
Pilate was also the stereo-typical politician who has ever-shifting opinions while making decisions based on polls and popular opinion rather than on any convictions of his own.
So the Son of God who came to save sinners while never sinning himself died by crucifixion because a man betrayed his own conscience. The truth is most people suffer from this at one time or another. We bend to peer-pressure or become codependent on someone or some group of people. When was the last time you agreed with a friend just to avoid conflict? Or have you ever withheld a hard truth from a colleague because you were more concerned with being liked than being helpful? The only way to be set free from this tyranny of constantly needing others’ approval is to fix our eyes on objective truth, and the Creator behind that truth.
People’s approval shifts like sand. God’s truth stands like stone.
When your identity is rooted in the One who made you, when your hope is anchored in the One who redeemed you, when your direction is set by the One who calls you, then the crowd loses its power. You stop living for applause and start living from conviction.
Live to please God rather than people, and you’ll find yourself on a firm foundation. You’ll be a rock in a volatile world.
“Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken” Psalm 62:2