Mark 15:1, commentary and pictures

Early in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus and carried Him away and delivered Him to Pilate, the Roman governor. The binding showed that condemnation had already been decided before any fair trial. Yet the authorities staged a formal proceeding at daybreak because trial of a prisoner by night was contrary to Jewish law, and the judges then pronounced the final sentence of condemnation. The transfer was a rushed effort to get the Roman authorities to confirm and carry out the sentence after failing to establish a valid charge against Him, with such haste that it called Pilate from his bedchamber.

Jesus stood bound as a prisoner inside the Roman judgment-hall surrounded by a guard of soldiers while spectators filled the hall, and the judges of the Sanhedrin, priests, rulers, elders, and the mob remained just outside the entrance. Pilate came out to examine Him with unfriendly eyes and severest expression, prepared to act with magisterial severity and to finish the work as quickly as possible because he knew the Jewish authorities were anxious for haste in trial and punishment. The Jewish officials would not enter the Roman hall because ceremonial defilement would keep them from the feast of the Passover, while murderous hatred had defiled their hearts. Their blindness kept them from seeing that Christ is the real Passover Lamb and that by rejecting Him the great feast had lost its significance for them.

The leaders' charges were unsubstantiated and driven by envy, malice, and plotting against Him, and Jesus was innocent and just. His calm, dignified bearing and silence under accusation impressed Pilate, who declared that he found no fault in Him. Pilate nevertheless feared the crowd and, on learning that Jesus was a Galilean, sent Him to Herod rather than decide the case himself. His calm silence and submission under indignity moved Herod to fear and conviction, but Herod sent Him back to Pilate rather than ratify the condemnation. Pilate's wife was warned in a dream that Jesus was a just man, yet the priests stirred the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas.

The same crowd that had hailed Him as king reviled Him in the condemnation and humiliation before the judgment hall. That crowd cried for His crucifixion. Jesus had prepared His disciples for this ordeal so their faith would not be overturned by the crowd's change of heart or by the defection of professed followers.