John 19:12

"Crucify!" the murderer heard the impious crying out, And their will he fulfilled, Handing over, without being compelled to, The One whom he planned to have crucified. For having heard that he would be an enemy of Caesar, The coward was frightened. He would rather …

Accordingly, all the synagogue of Israel did slay Him, saying to Pilate, when he was desirous to dismiss Him, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children; " and, "If thou dismiss him, thou art not a friend of Caesar; " in order that all things might be fulfilled which had been written of Him.

And "the clouds were commanded not to rain a shower upon the vineyard of Sorek," -the clouds being celestial benefits, which were commanded not to be forthcoming to the house of Israel; for it "had borne thorns"-whereof that house of Israel had wrought a crown for Christ-and not "righteousness, but a clamour,"-the clamour whereby it had extorted His surrender to the cross. And thus, the former gifts of grace being withdrawn, "the law and the prophets were until John," and the fishpool of Bethsaida until the advent of Christ: thereafter it ceased curatively to remove from Israel infirmities of health; since, as the result of their perseverance in their frenzy, the name of the Lord was through them blasphemed, as it is written: "On your account the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles: " for it is from them that the infamy (attached to that name) began, and (was propagated during) the interval from Tiberius to Vespasian.

But they again cried out, saying, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend." For when they profited nothing by bringing charges drawn from their own law, they wickedly betook themselves to external laws, saying, "Every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." And where hath this Man appeared as a tyrant? Whence can ye prove it? By the purple robe? By the diadem? By the dress? By the soldiers? Did not He ever walk unattended, save by His twelve disciples, following in every point a humble mode of living, both as to food, and clothing, and habitation?

He that delivered Me unto thee, i. e. Judas, or the multitude. When Jesus had boldly replied, that unless He gave Himself up, and the Father consented, Pilate could have had no power over Him, Pilate was the more anxious to release Him; And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him.

And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. Understanding that his power was established under the power of another, he was unwilling to condemn an innocent man: therefore he wished to release him. But the Jews cried out. Here the fourth point is set forth, …

2397 The effect of all this was that upon this Pilate sought to release him. As we saw before, Pilate tried to release Christ from the very beginning. Thus the upon this indicates he now sought it for another reason, that is, to escape from …

So, when the Lord frightened Pilate with these words, from that time on he sought all the more to release Him. The Jews, since they had been convicted of slander in claiming that He made Himself a king, and had not succeeded either in their …

And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him,....

Pilate sought to release him - Pilate made five several attempts to release our Lord; as we may learn from Luk 23:4, Luk 23:15, Luk 23:20, Luk 23:22; Joh 19:4, Joh 19:12, Joh 19:13. Thou art not Caesar’s friend - Thou dost not act like a person who has the interest of the emperor at heart. Ambassadors, prefects, counsellors, etc., were generally termed the friends of the emperor. This insinuation determined Pilate to make no longer resistance: he was afraid of being accused, and he knew Tiberius was one of the most jealous and distrustful princes in the world.

Pilate said to the Jewish religious leaders, "Look, here is your king!" Then they shouted out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The high priests replied, "We have no king except Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. These verses exhibit to our eyes a wonderful picture, a picture which ought to be deeply interesting to all who profess and call themselves Christians. Like every great historical picture, it contains special points on which we should fix our special attention. Above all, it contains three life-like portraits, which we shall find it useful to examine in order. The first portrait in the picture is that of our Lord JESUS CHRIST himself. We see the Savior of mankind scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, smitten, rejected by His own people, unjustly condemned by a judge who saw no fault in Him, and finally delivered up to a most painful death. Yet this was He who was the eternal Son of God, whom the Father's countless angels delighted to honor. This was He who came into the world to save sinners, and after living a blameless life for thirty years, spent the last three years of His time on earth in going about doing good, and preaching the Gospel. Surely the sun never shone on a more wondrous sight since the day of its creation! Let us admire that love of Christ which Paul declares, "passes knowledge," and let us see an endless depth of meaning in the expression. There is no earthly love with which it can be compared, and no standard by which to measure it. It is a love that stands alone. Never let us forget when we ponder this tale of suffering, that Jesus suffered for our sins, the Just for the unjust, that He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, and that with His stripes we are healed.

Pilate said to the Jewish religious leaders, "Look, here is your king!" Then they shouted out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The high priests replied, "We have no king except Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. These verses exhibit to our eyes a wonderful picture, a picture which ought to be deeply interesting to all who profess and call themselves Christians. Like every great historical picture, it contains special points on which we should fix our special attention.

Sought to release him - He was more and more convinced of his innocence, and more unwilling to yield him to mere malice and envy in the face of justice. But the Jews cried out ... - This moved Pilate to deliver Jesus into their hands. He feared that he would be accused of unfaithfulness to the interests of the Roman emperor if he did not condemn a man whom his own nation had accused of sedition. The Roman emperor then on the throne was exceedingly jealous and tyrannical, and the fear of losing his favor induced Pilate to deliver Jesus into their hands. Caesar’s friend - The friend of the Roman emperor. The name of the reigning emperor was Tiberius. After the time of Julius Caesar all the emperors were called Caesar, as all the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh. This emperor was, during the latter part of his reign, the most cruel, jealous, and wicked that ever sat on the Roman throne.