true state of affairs ? How can one so poor as Thou art be a King ? How canst Thou be a King and yet not of this world ! "
[And when. ..said this. ..went out...Jews.'] The meaning of this sentence is that Pilate " went out " of the palace where he had been conversing with our Lord apart from the Jews, and re- turned to the courtyard, or open space at the gate, where he had left the Jews at the thirty-third verse. He broke off the conversation at this point. Very likely the mention of " truth " touched his conscience, and he found it convenient to go out hurriedly, and cover his retreat with a sneer. A bad conscience generally dislikes a close conversation with a good man.
Augustine says, " I suppose that when Pilate said, ' What is truth ? ' the Jews' custom, that one should be released at the passover, came into his mind at that instant, and for this rea- son he did not wait for Jesus to tell him what truth was, that no time might be lost ! " This, however, seems rather improb- able.
[And saith...l find.. .no fault at all.] In this sentence comes out the true impression of Pilate about our Lord. — " After ex- amining this man I can discern in Him no guilt, and nothing certainly to warrant me in condemning Him to death. He says, no doubt, and does not hesitate to avow it, that He is a King. But I find that His kingdom is not one which interferes with the authority of Caesar. Such Kings as this we Romans do not care for, or regard as criminals. In short, your charge against Him entirely breaks down, and I am disposed to dismiss Him as not guilty."
Our Lord, we may remember, came to be a sacrifice for our sins. It was only fitting that he who was one of the chief agents in killing Him, should publicly declare that, like a lamb without blemish, there was " no fault in Him."
89. — [But ye have a custom, etc.] In this verse we see the coward- ly, weak, double-minded character of Pilate coming out. He knows in his own conscience that our Lord is innocent, and that if he acts justly he ought to let Him go free. But he fears offending the Jews, and wants to contrive matters so as to please them. He therefore prepares a plan by which he hoped that Jesus might be found guilty and the Jews satisfied, and yet Jesus might depart unhurt, and his own secret desire to acquit Him be gratified. — The plan was this. The Jews had a custom that at passover time they might obtain from the Roman Governor the release of some notable prisoner. Pilate craftily suggests that the paisoner released this passover should be our Lord Jesus Christ. — " Let us suppose that Jesus is guilty," he seems to say : " I am willing to condemn Him, and declare Him a criminal worthy of death, and a malefactor, in order to please you. But having pronounced Him a guilty criminal, what say you to my letting Him go free, according to the passover cus- tom ? " — This cowardly and unjust judge Loped in this way to