Of the history that took place before the governor Pontio Pilato. Matth. 27; Marc. 15; Luc. 23; Joh. 18. 19.
(1) We have now heard two parts of the Passion: first, how the Lord fared in the garden, when he suffered for us the great anguish and distress, sweating blood; by which he overcame in his own body and in his holy flesh and blood the same high, infernal battle; that we Christians may not be afraid of it, but hold fast to him who overcame such a battle too well for us, and gave us his conquest.
002 Secondly, we have also heard that the Lord was led away captive as a mocking bird to Annas; but there nothing was accomplished, but from that time he was led on to Caiphas the high priest, and in that company he was interrogated by the chief priests, elders, and the whole council. False witnesses came forward, and yet they could not bring anything against him that would be true and would be a substantial cause before the Gentile Pilate. Peter not only fled from his Lord, but also denied him three times, which case alone requires special preaching. For it is a very rich consolation for all poor sinners that the great man and apostle makes such a fall, and yet obtains grace and forgiveness. But this is usually preached often during the year; now we want to
Preach the Passion briefly, so that it will be all the easier to grasp and remember.
3 Now follows the third part of the Passion: how the Lord fared before Pilate the governor. In the house of the high priest Caiphä it became apparent, even before the consciences of the witnesses themselves, that the Lord was innocent, since their testimonies did not agree until the high priest asked him if he was Christ, the Son of God? But here before Pilate his innocence is also revealed before all the people, and his adversaries and accusers are disgraced, not only secretly in their council and before themselves among themselves, but also publicly before the Roman court. For the judgment of blood, as said above, was taken from the Jews, and Pilate, the governor, was put there by the Romans for the sake of the whole country. So the Lord stood before the spiritual and temporal authorities and made a glorious confession before the chief priests and before Pilate the governor, so that not only his own people, the Jews, but also the whole Roman Empire, might be witnesses of his innocent death, and so that everyone might see that he suffered innocently and that his suffering was the more highly esteemed in all the world. - This is how the holy evangelists write about this third part:
Matth. 27, 1-10.
In the morning all the chief priests and the elders of the people held a council against Jesus to put him to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pontio Pilato, the governor.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he was condemned to death, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying: I have done evil in that I have betrayed innocent blood. They said: What is that to us? Then you watch. And he cast the pieces of silver into the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
*) Held on the Sunday of Palmarum, that is, March 29, 1534, in the parish church.
But the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said: It is not fit that we should put them into the treasury, for it is blood money. But they took counsel, and bought a potter's field for it, for the burying of the pilgrims: wherefore the same field is called the field of blood unto this day. Then is fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, They took thirty shekels of silver to pay for the sold thing, which they bought of the children of Israel, and gave it for a potter's field, as the Lord commanded me.
The evangelist Matthew indicates two things here. The first is that the chief priests and elders of the people held a council against Jesus and delivered him to Pilate the governor. The other is the outcome of the betrayal of Judah.
5th First, that he writes that all the chief priests and elders of the people held counsel against Jesus, that they should put him to death. This is the counsel that they held among themselves, apart from and besides the testimony of the witnesses. It was a secret, hidden council, that they crawled together and said, "We will declare and betray him in such and such a way to the governor Pilato. Because it is a secret council, the evangelist did not want to report it in this place. But afterwards this advice is found in the indictment before the governor. They accuse him and rebuke him as a murderer and heretic. But here they go to Rath, and decide how they will accuse him, and say: We will accuse him before the governor as a rebel and murderer; if that does not help, we will say that he is a blasphemer and seducer of the people. Here they hold the council secretly, but afterwards the same council comes forth and breaks out.
(6) And here again we see that everything that happens to Christ happens through the two ordinary powers, through spiritual and temporal authority, as it is written: ut eripias animam meam a judicibus (that you may save my soul from the judges). So Christians are not to suffer from murderers, but from emperors, kings, princes, bishops, that is, from those who have both kinds of authority, and yet in such a way that it may be revealed to the world that these do wrong and those suffer wrong; just as Christ suffers from both kinds of authority, but in such a way that his innocence may come to light, and their wickedness may be revealed that they do him wrong. The chief priests
have already condemned him to death; now Pilate comes along, and condemns him also: and yet both high priest and Pilate are right, proper authorities, having the rule.
After that, the evangelist writes what Judas' end was. But I will leave Judas now, because it would be too long. When the betrayer Judas sees that the Lord is bound with a chain and that he is handed over by the chief priests to Pilate, the governor (for just as the pope does not burn anyone with fire or kill Christians, as he writes in his spiritual law, but commands the emperor to do so: so the chief priests do not kill JEsum, but hand him over to Pilato) - when Judas now sees JEsum bound with a chain and led before Pilatum, he despairs and kills himself. Before he was safe, but now his hour has come. But hear how the chief priests comfort him. When he comes and brings back the thirty pieces of silver, saying, "I have done evil in betraying innocent blood," they say, "What is it to us? Then see thou." This is evil comforted. Judah is an example to be taken against the traitors and evil-doers, who do not kill Christ, but help him to be killed.
Matth. 27, 11.
But Jesus stood before the governor.
(8) The judge's house must have been such a house, which had an oriel, which stood out before the other chambers of the house; in the same oriel the governor and judge sat on a chair, and the guilty man stood before him, so that all the people, who stood outside in the street, could well have seen it; for the court proceeded magnificently.
John 18:28-32.
And they went not into the judgment house, lest they should be defiled, and eat the passover. Then Pilate went out to them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an offender, we would not have delivered him unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take him therefore, and judge him according to your law. Then said the Jews unto him, We may kill no man. That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.
(9) When the chief priests and elders have brought Jesus before the judgment seat, first of all this is their counsel, that they will thus accuse him, saying: This man has been interrogated by God's people and condemned to death; we deliver him up to you, Pilate, and request that you judge him as one guilty of death. For they think that Pilate will not ask any more questions, but will leave it at that, since they are not the tail but the head of all the people of Israel. So they think that Pilate should go straight away and say yes and amen to all their undertakings.
(10) This is what St. John says, that they came rolling along, thinking that Pilate should run with him to the cross from that moment on. But when Pilate came out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" they answered proudly, "If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up to you. For this was their first counsel, that they would not report their accusation, but that Pilate should thus put him to death, that he had not heard him before.
(11) It is written in the Passion how Christians fare in the world. For as Christ, the head, fared in the world, so fare Christians at all times. The chief priests and elders wanted Pilate to consider their majesty and authority, both spiritual and temporal, and not to think otherwise of them, because they were the most noble of the people according to the law of God, so they could not err or fail.
But our Lord God wanted this to come to light and not to happen under the cover. Therefore he also gave the neck judgment at Jerusalem to the Gentiles, so that it would come to light, because the Gentiles were naturally hostile to the Jews, and again the Jews to the Gentiles.
012 Pilate therefore saith, Take him therefore, and judge him according to your law." As if to say, If I am to punish him, I must interrogate him beforehand. But if you know that he is guilty and want to punish him, why do you come to me? They would have gladly marauded in the dark and murdered him. But he was to be judged publicly: therefore God had also taken the judgment of blood from the Jews and given it to the Romans. Now it was Roman law, and is still Roman law today, that no one should be put to death without a hearing; just as Festus answered the chief priests and elders of the Jews, who asked him to have Paul judged, "It is not the way of the Romans that a man should be put to death before the accused has his accusers present and has room to answer the charge. Apost. 25, 16. So it is also with us that no one is to be executed on the charge of a man. And God had also forbidden the Jews to do so in the Law, Deut. 35, 30:
Ad unius testimonium nullus condemnabitur: "A witness shall not answer concerning a soul unto death." But the chief priests and elders knowingly did not want to know this. Therefore the innocence of the Lord must be revealed to them for sins and for shame, even before the Gentiles.
Luc. 23, 2.
And they began to accuse him, saying: This one we find turning away the people, and forbidding to give the bosom to Caesar, saying that he is Christ a king.
013 Then they begin to accuse him; and this is the other piece of their counsel. The first counsel failed them, therefore now they try the other counsel. For, as I have said, so they had determined and spoken: If Pilate will not follow, and
not let him be judged without interrogation, let us make our accusation thus, saying, We accuse this man as an evil-doer, who seduces the people, and forbids the womb to be given to Caesar, and has said that he is a king. There are two causes: St. Lucas sums them up; but St. John has finely divided them. He is a rebel and a villain, they say; he turns the people away, and has forbidden to give the womb to Caesar, and wants to be Caesar himself. Therefore he is guilty of death. They decided on this council, not publicly in front of everyone, but secretly, for example in a small room.
These are grave grievances. He who is a rebel is not only a man's murderer and assassin, but the murderer of a whole country and kingdom. For he who would take foreign power and destroy the kingdom murders and beheads many. This is what Christ must suffer, to be accused of being a rebel and a murderer.
Joh. 18, 33.
Then Pilate went into the judgment house again, and called JEsu, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
Pilate has heard the plaintiffs. Now he asks the defendant what he has to say. For it is said: Audiatur altera pars: One should also hear the other part. Is it true, he says, that you want to be a rebel and king of the Jews? No evangelist has described in so many words what Jesus answered before Pilate than the evangelist John. It is no wonder that the evangelists do not describe all of them in the same way and in the same words, because no history is so certain that it is not told and described differently by another. Especially St. John describes the answer of the Lord to the question: "Is he the king of the Jews? For this was the main complaint, for which Christ also suffered and was crucified. So the chief priests and elders think that even if all the other complaints are lacking, this complaint will still break through, that he has caused a riot and forbidden to give the bosom to Caesar. That is why St. John also described it diligently.
John 18:34, 35.
Jesus answered, "Do you say this about yourself, or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your people and the chief priests have delivered you to me; what have you done?
(16) They talk sharply with one another, the Lord Jesus and Pilate the governor. The Lord saith, Pilate, thou art a wise man; thou shouldest see who I am. As if to say, If thou sayest these things of thyself, thou speakest against thyself: for thou knowest better. But if others have told thee of me, ask those who have told thee of me, and let them prove it.
(17) Pilate answered as a proud Roman, saying, "Why do I ask about your law and your religion? Your people and the chief priests have delivered you to me; now if there is anything behind that we Romans do not understand, tell it. Then Christ makes a long sermon, saying:
Joh. 18, 36.
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from hence.
(18) This is a right answer to such a charge and question. It is true, saith he, I confess it; for I have preached that I am a king, and that I have a kingdom; but with a difference. But this is how it stands: The kingdom of which I preached and in which I am king is not a worldly kingdom. I have done no harm to Caesar; neither have I done harm to you, governor, in your office; but I have taught that what is Caesar's is to be given to Caesar. Therefore my kingdom does not concern the Roman emperor at all. This is the Lord's responsibility and excuse before Pilato, the governor.
019 And he saith again, Take hold of it, and I will prove unto thee by deed that my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being delivered to the Jews. So he wants to say:
If my kingdom were a worldly kingdom, I would have come to the city with a large group of armed people and struck many dead. But none of this is done by me; here no one draws a sword, no one is put to death. A king does not take a kingdom if no one fights for him, as I do. Since no one fights for me, and my disciples and servants flee from me and leave me, you not only know from my responsibility, but you also see and experience that I am not a worldly king, nor is my kingdom of this world. Thus the Lord excuses himself against the Jews on account of the accusation, and publicly disgraces his accusers before the governor and makes them public liars.
Joh. 18, 37.
Pilate said to him, "Are you still a king?
020 Because thou art not a worldly king, and thy kingdom is not of this world, and yet thou professest to be a king, and to have a kingdom, I ask thee: What kind of king are you, and what kind of kingdom do you have?
Joh. 18, 37.
Jesus answered: "You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. He who is of the truth hears my voice.
Do you want to know what kind of king I am and what kind of kingdom I have? I will tell thee, My kingdom is called, and is, a kingdom of truth, which dealeth not with lies, nor with falsehood, nor with vanity; but is an everlasting, an everlasting kingdom, wherein are constant, everlasting, true goods. And I am a king of truth; I was born to it, and this is my office, therefore I came into the world, that I should preach the truth, and that the world should receive the truth. These things I preach to all men, kings, emperors, citizens, peasants, high and low. And so Christ has nevertheless preached a beautiful, glorious preaching.
In this sermon he makes a clear distinction between his kingdom and the kingdom of the world.
22 When Pilate hears that Jesus is not a worldly king and that his kingdom is not of this world, but that he is a king of truth, and that by his teaching and preaching he rather promotes and helps the emperor to his kingdom than hinders it, he answers and says:
Joh. 18, 38.
What is truth?
23 As if to say, O poor Jesus, you are like a poor king. If thou art a king of truth, thou art a bad king: for he that wouldest be rich and high must not begin with God and honor, neither must he go forth with truth. If thou goest forth with truth, thou goest forth; thou deceivest me not at all with thy kingdom. If you do not wear armor and do not let your servants fight for you, you will not harm the emperor and me, whether God wills it or not. For he has thought that Christ's kingdom is a kingdom that is played like a comedy or other game.
(24) With the word of Pilati, that he says: "What is truth? our time is finely painted. For now it is also possible to say: What is truth? What is faithfulness and faith more in the world? What is honesty? Give me the shirt to the skirt. Whoever wants to deal with truth is already lost. But he who wants to get ahead must lie, deceive, dissemble, betray.
025 And the other counsel of the chief priests and elders, which they had determined against Jehovah, is found wanting, and perverted. Just as they did not succeed in their demand that Pilate execute Jesus without interrogation, so they also failed to accuse him of being an insurrectionist. And here again the holy people are publicly disgraced.
Joh. 18, 38.
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith unto them: I find no fault in him.
026 Thus he saith, Ye chief priests and elders have accused this Jesus of being a rebel and a murderer: but I hear out of his mouth that he is not a temporal king, but a king of truth, and that he suffereth Caesar to remain. So you also see that he is alone and did not come with an entourage, but kept himself as a beggar and a poor preacher.
27. When the chief priests and elders hear this, they go astray. For it will have struck them hard before the heads, that the Gentile judge calls them, so high people and regents of God, publicly as liars. They say, This man is a rebel and a murderer; Pilate saith, I find no cause in this man: what is this but as if he saith, Ye lie as husks and villains?
Luc. 23, 5-7.
But they stopped and said: He has stirred up the people by teaching to and fro throughout all the land of Judah, beginning in Galilee and ending here. And when Pilate heard Galilee, he asked if he were of Galilee. And when he heard that he was under Herod's authority, he sent him to Herod, who was also at Jerusalem in those days.
(28) Pilate would gladly be rid of the Jews and of JEsu the prisoner. When he hears Galilee, he thinks: Herod is lord and king in Galilee, to him I will send the chief priests and the Jews with the prisoner. The Romans did not like it when a judge ruled falsely, and when they found out, he had to take the blame. Therefore Pilate would have liked to be rid of this trade. And because he now hears that Jesus is accused as if he wanted to be a king and a rebel, he sends him to Herod. The Jews do not like to go to Herod, but they have to.
Luc. 23, 8-12.
But when Herod saw JEsum, he was very glad, for he would have liked to see him long ago; for he had heard much about him, and hoped that he would see a sign from him; and he asked him
many things. But he answered him nothing. The chief priests and the scribes stopped him and accused him severely. But Herod with his court despised and mocked him, put a white robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for before they had been enemies.
29. Herod is glad that Jesus is brought to him; for he thinks that Jesus must be afraid of him and pretend to him. The Jews cry out against him, accusing him and saying: This is a rebel and a murderer, he has wanted to be king in the country where you are Herod's king; therefore see that he is punished. Herod knew very well that this was a lie, for people were looking at it and had a high regard for rebels. Pilate and the other governors before him had also killed many rebels. If Jesus had been a rebel, Herod and Pilate would not have allowed him to remain in the country so long.
030 And again Jesus was found innocent before Herod the king. But Herod, in honor of the Jews and the governor Pilato, reviled him, and the court mocked him, saying, "Is this the prophet who performed such great signs and wonders among the people? And Herodem is grieved that Jesus will not do a sign before him; he is therefore angry with himself, and thinks, How can he be thought to be so? Should he not be glad to worship me and serve me? If he thinks me a fool, I will think him a fool again; and send him again to Pilato.
31 Thus the Jews lost again before Herod the king. The two rulers, King Herod and Pilate the governor, both testify that Christ is innocent and that the Jews are liars. For Christ died in such a way that he could not be condemned by public truth, but that the sun, moon and stars testified to his innocence.
032 And when they come again to Pilate, he said, How shall I get rid of these men? Herod will not judge him; what shall I do to him? Therefore says the evangelist:
Luc. 23, 13-17.
And Pilate called together the chief priests, and the rulers, and the people, and said unto them: Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that turneth the people away: and, behold, I have questioned him before you, and find none in the man of the things whereof ye accuse him; neither Herod; for I sent you unto him, and, behold, there is nothing brought upon him worthy of death. Therefore I will chastise him and let him go. For he had to release one to them according to the custom of the feast.
Herod and Pilate both confessed the Lord's innocence. So God has decreed this very day that those who have authority should confess that the Christians have been wronged. But after Pilate has done nothing with Herod, he takes two ways to set JEsum free. The first way is that he says to the people: "You have a custom that I release a prisoner to you at the feast, whom you want. Now I have a prisoner, named Barabbas, who is a select rebel and murderer (for he had committed murder in the riot, and was, as St. Matthew says, especially notorious), the same, or JEsum, whom they call Christ, I will release to you. Pilate was a wise man, and thought thus: They will not ask for Barabbam, but for JEsum, whom Herod the king and I, and they also, in their conscience, pronounce innocent. Therefore he says: I will give you none other but Barabbam, the very worst of all the captives whom I have now. Enough has been done by a pagan. I could, he says, propose a lesser rogue to you, but I will not do it. Take either Barabbam or Jesus. Pilate would have sworn to it, and would have thought that the heavens should fall in sooner than that they should ask for Barabbas.
Luc. 23, 18-23.
Then the whole company cried out, saying, Away with this man, and deliver us Barabbam. He had been thrown into prison because of a riot that had taken place in the city and because of a murder. Then Pilate cried out again
to them, and would have let JEsum go. But they cried out and said: Crucify, crucify him! And he said unto them the third time: What evil hath this man done? I find no cause of death in him; therefore will I chastise him, and let him go. But they lay before him with a great cry, and demanded that he should be crucified. And their cry and the cry of the chief priests increased.
(34) Is it not a terrible thing to hear of the holy people, that they all cry out: Not JEsum, but Barabbam? It is as if they were saying, "Let go of the desperate wicked man you have in prison, even if he is the devil himself. This sin is brought to their attention by St. Peter when he preaches to them, Apost. 3, v. 13, 14, 15: "The God of our fathers glorified his child Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied before Pilate, when he judged to let him go; but you denied the holy and righteous, and asked that the murderer might be given to you; but you killed the Prince of life. Today it is the same: let a man be as wicked and as evil as he will, but if he hold not the truth, he is the friend of the world. Our time is finely painted there.
Luc. 23, 24. 25.
Pilate, however, judged that their request was granted, and released the one who had been thrown into prison for sedition and murder, the one they asked for.
35 Pilate had to do this, even though he did not like it, because he had promised the Jews, but he did not promise that they would ask for Barabbam. Because they asked for Barabbam and denied Jesus, he had to keep his promise and release the archmonger who deserved death. This is called a Christian suffering, so it should go for Christ and his gospel on earth, that also stone and wood of the Lord Christ and his gospel testify innocence.
Joh. 19, 1.
Then Pilate took JEsum and scourged him.
Because Herod does not want to help, nor Barabbas, Pilate thinks, "What do I do?
well? Shall I crucify him? No, I will try another way; I will give him a city shilling and have him chastised, so that their poisonous anger will be quenched and I can let him go. Pilate thought, "Even though the chief priests and the Jews are still so angry and poisonous, when they see that I have so well crushed him, they will be satisfied; and he handed him over to the soldiers in the hall. There they stripped him naked and scourged him horribly; for where such boys are allowed a hand's breadth, they take a cubit's length.
Joh. 19, 2. 3.
And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns, and put it upon his head, and put a purple robe upon him, and said, Hail, king of the Jews; and they smote his cheeks.
(37) This is what the soldiers do for themselves, without the governor's command; they put on Jesus a purple robe, put a crown of thorns on his head, put a reed in his hand, bend their knees, and greet him mockingly and derisively: "Hail, King of the Jews," you have a crown on your head, and a scepter in your hand, and a royal robe; now where are your people?
Joh. 19, 4. 5.
Then Pilate went out again, and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. So Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe. And he saith unto them, Behold, what a man!
Pilate thinks that he now has it certain that the Jews will let JEsum go, because he has let him be beaten so badly. For he himself is in awe and horror of him, for he was so horribly maltreated. The evangelist John describes especially this exit of Jesus from the room where he was scourged, and indicates that he had seen miserable and wretched. How then it is to be thought that the Lord must have seen miserable out of all measure, because also the Gentiles lament his pilatum; wherefore he also
says, "Behold, what a man!" As if he wanted to say: I mean, you should now be satiated, because he is so miserably battered.
Joh. 19, 6.
When the chief priests and the servants saw him, they cried out and said: Crucify, crucify! Pilate said to them: Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
039 The chief priests and the Jews turn not aside, though Jesus is miserably stricken, and cries to Pilate the Gentile, saying, Crucify him.
40 Pilate cries out again, "Crucify him; I cannot crucify him because I find no fault in him. As if he wanted to say: You are scoundrels and evil-doers.
Joh. 19, 7.
The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by the law he shall die; for he made himself the Son of God.
(41) Then they thrust him with the last piece, and this is the other charge, that they accuse him of being a blasphemer. The first accusation was that he was a murderer. The other accusation is that they say: What shall they long accuse and reproach him for? He is a heretic and blasphemer; he has blasphemed God in his preaching, saying, He is God, and has deceived the people.
These are two virtues of the devil: lying and murder. Christ must bear them innocently; and the innocent Christians must also bear them. The right blasphemers, deceivers and murderers are called holy, righteous and pious honors and servants of God, righteous, faithful teachers and leaders who show people the way to heaven. Again, the right honors and servants of God and the righteous teachers and leaders must be scolded as blasphemers of God and seducers of the people. With appearances one seduces the world.
John 19:8-11.
When Pilate heard the word, he was even more afraid, and he went back into the judgment hall.
House, and saith unto JEsu, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then said Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou wouldest have no power over me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Pilate is even more afraid, because he thinks that Jesus is one of the old gods of the Gentiles. But since he boasts of his power, Jesus gives him a good, sharp sermon. And because Pilate hears that this accusation of the Jews is also a lie and no good at all, he tries to find a way to release Jesus.
Joh. 19, 12.
From that time Pilate sought how he might let him go. And the Jews cried out, saying: If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend; for he who makes himself king is against Caesar.
044 Then they return to the first complaint, repeat it, and sharpen it, saying thus, Thou, Pilate, wilt not hear nor suppose that this man is an insurrectionist. But know this: If you release this one, we will accuse you before the emperor for defending him who is publicly against the emperor.
John 19:13-16.
When Pilate heard the word, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat in the place called High Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha. Now it was the preparation day in the paschal days about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, this is the king. And they cried, Away, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answer: We have no king but Caesar. Then he delivered him up to be crucified.
45 When Pilate hears that the Jews will accuse him before Caesar, and that Caesar will be angry with him because he has not done his work properly, he goes to him and says, "I will not be accused of anything.
Jesus answered them that he would be crucified. If he had acted with the Jews alone, he would not have been won over. But when he hears that all the people threaten to write to Caesar and accuse him, he falls from the testimony he gave to Jesus before and mixes his blood with the innocent blood of Jesus.
46 Last of all, he gives a testimony about and against the Jews, sends for water, as Matthew writes, washes his hands before the people, and says, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man, you see. As if to say, "If anything comes of this, either before Caesar or elsewhere, I will be absolved and will take all the blame away from you. And the Jews are defiant, and answer, His blood be upon us, and upon our children."
Therefore Pilate pronounces the sentence thus: I Pilate, in place of the Roman emperor, condemn this Jesus to the death of the cross because he wanted to be king of the Jews. The Jews received this sentence from Pilate with their great and unceasing cries.
48 Now this is the history of what happened before Pilate the governor. First, that the chief priests and rulers of the people demanded of Pilate that he have the imprisoned JEsum judged without interrogation. Secondly, that they accuse him of being a rebel and a murderer, and yet cannot stand with such an accusation. Third, that Jesus is sent to King Herod. Fourth, that the rebel and murderer Barabbas be released, and the innocent Jesus be delivered to be crucified. Fifth, that Jesus was scourged and miserably beaten, and yet the poisonous Jews were not satisfied. Sixth, that he is accused as a blasphemer, and yet the Jews drop this charge, and bring up the first charge again, and sharpen it with the emperor's name and majesty.
So Christ must die as a heretic and blasphemer, and as a murderer and wicked man, as they sing about him hanging on the cross, as follows: "If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross.
let us believe him. He has trusted in God, who now deliver him, let him be longed for; for he has said, "I am the Son of God. The most important reason why Christ must die is that they blame him for being a rebel and against the emperor.
50 Today we are in the same way. If the pope, bishops and poisonous papists cannot come to us, they say we are rebels. First they call us heretics; if that does not help, they say: We are disobedient to the emperor; the disobedience of the
But the obedient must be punished. So we too must bear the two virtues of the devil, lying and murder, just as Christ, our head, bore them. This is how it has been and will be until the end: the devil with his members, deceivers, liars and murderers has the title and name that he is a right leader, true teacher and helper to life; but Christ, who is true and a giver of life, must die with his members as a murderer, rebel and heretic.