John 18
At the time of his trial no one handling Jesus cared anything about the truth - they all had other purposes for dealing with him. The Pharisees wanted him dead while Pilot just wanted this troublesome incident out of the way.
Pilot wanted Jesus off his back. Pilot couldn't get the Jews to handle him. The Jews wanted him crucified but under Roman rule they had no authority for capital punishment. They had to contrive some way to get it done by the Romans. So, they told Pilot he was claiming to be a king. This required a death sentence – no one could be king but Caesar. Taking up the Jews’ line he started by trying to get Jesus to admit he was a King. He was trying to get Him to admit some guilt, to accuse himself. “So, you’re a king then,” said Pilot. “You’re the one saying that,” said Jesus. Pilot could not get Jesus to incriminate himself. Finally he made a public statement that he found no guilt in Jesus. This apparently riled the people enough to make for a possible riot. Now a good Roman Governor can not have riots on his record so he released Jesus to the executioners.
