Matthew 27:24, commentary and pictures

Pilate washed his hands before the crowd in a public show of clearing himself, declaring he was free from blame for the death of the righteous one and leaving the decision to them. He did this when he saw he could do nothing to free Jesus and a riot was breaking instead, so he gave way to the demand to crucify Him and released Barabbas. His display did not free him, for he knew Jesus was innocent and had been handed over from envy, yet to save his position and honor he condemned a just man he had authority to protect. The people took the blame upon themselves and their children, but their answer did not remove his guilt as the judge who handed Jesus to scourging and death.

Trial Context and Sequence

Matthew 27:24 belongs to the judgment of Jesus before Pilate, after the Sanhedrin had condemned Him and brought Him to the Roman governor to have the sentence confirmed and carried out. Before washing his hands Pilate had made repeated efforts to avoid condemning Him, for Herod had refused to ratify the condemnation, Pilate himself had stated that the charges were unsubstantiated and that no crime could be proved against Him, his wife had warned him not to harm the just man, and he had proposed to chastise Jesus and release Him. In terrible conflict over his conviction that Jesus was innocent and possessed power not of a common man but of God, and that the priests had brought Him from envy to a maddened power Pilate dared not openly oppose, he tried to save Him by the pagan invention without justice of setting at liberty one prisoner condemned to death at the great national festival.

He set the true and innocent Christ side by side with the notable Barabbas, flattering himself that the contrast between innocence and guilt would be so convincing that the people would choose Jesus of Nazareth. Barabbas was a notorious character who pretended to be Christ and did great wickedness through satanic agencies, claiming under satanic delusion that whatever he could get by theft and robbery and murder was his own, and claiming religious power and a right to establish a different order of things and to set the world right. The priests and rulers urged the crowd to choose Barabbas and to call for Jesus to be crucified, despite the warning that Jesus was just.

Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing to release Jesus, but that rather a tumult was being made that he could not quiet, stop, or overcome, and he yielded to the crowd's demand. He recognized that the uproar was defeating his efforts even though he had found no fault in Him. Yielding to the tumult, he released Barabbas and, after having Jesus scourged, handed Jesus over to be crucified. The multitude thus took upon themselves responsibility for the death of Jesus as a criminal when at the urging of the priests and rulers they demanded His crucifixion, echoing Caiaphas and accepting His blood upon themselves and their children.

Handwashing Declaration Explained

When he saw he could prevail nothing but that a tumult was being made, Pilate took water and in an imposing manner washed his hands before the multitude. In that public act he declared himself innocent of the blood of this just person and left the people to see to it and answer for the decision. The priests joined the mob in accepting that responsibility for Jesus' blood, echoing Caiaphas and calling it upon themselves and their children.

In the declaration Pilate called Jesus just, innocent, faultless and righteous. His words and his appeal reveal his settled conviction that Jesus was innocent and his fear about the judgment of God. He himself declared what his own reason told him, that no fault could be found in Him and that He had been delivered up from envy.

The washing of the hands was a declaration disavowing responsibility. It showed his unwillingness to let responsibility for the act rest on his own shoulders. It was an attempt to avoid the appearance of guilt when he saw he could not stop the tumult, though his official duty was to uphold justice.

Pilate's Inescapable Guilt

Pilate's washing of his hands before the multitude and his public declaration that he was innocent of the blood of this just person did not make him guiltless, clear him, or undo his decision. The washing was an empty farce that could not wash terrible guilt from his convicted conscience for this cowardly deed, for a public disclaimer cannot erase responsibility for choosing wrongly under pressure after compromising what conscience and duty require. He yielded to the mob rather than act on his conviction that Jesus was innocent, choosing to protect his position at the cost of an innocent life.

He knew Jesus was innocent and just, knew He had been delivered up from envy, had received warning from the Lord, and his own reason told him Jesus was innocent, which he himself declared. Herod had refused to ratify the condemnation, Pilate himself had stated the charges were unsubstantiated, and his wife had warned him not to harm the just man, yet he failed to act on that knowledge when pressured by the crowd and its leaders. Jesus was completely innocent and Pilate found no fault in Him, publicly washing his hands to disclaim responsibility while the multitude demanded crucifixion.

Through fear of losing his power, authority and life, and for selfish interest and love of honor from the great men of earth, Pilate consented to the death of an innocent man he knew to be just. He chose to sacrifice an innocent life rather than risk his position and honor, choosing to protect his position and honor rather than act firmly on what he knew was right. His words did not match his action, for though convinced of Jesus' innocence he yielded to the mob to protect himself.

Satan and his angels tempted Pilate toward his own ruin by suggesting that others would condemn Jesus if he did not, that the multitude was thirsting for His blood, and that if he did not deliver Jesus to be crucified he would lose his power and worldly honor and be denounced as a believer in an impostor. If Pilate had followed his conviction he would have had nothing to do with condemning Jesus.

As one chosen and appointed to administer justice whose official duty was to uphold justice, and who claimed authority to release or crucify, Pilate made himself responsible for the unjust sentence, for handing Jesus over to a cruel death, and for the cruel scourging and insults offered before any wrong was proved. His act was an attempt to avoid the appearance of guilt, but he failed in his official duty to uphold justice. He had authority to uphold justice but yielded to the mob and allowed an innocent man to be condemned.

Had Pilate exercised his power and position to protect Christ and had nothing to do with condemning Him, he would not have been accountable for His death, though Christ would still have been crucified. His wavering, indecision and refusal to act on conscience allowed the mob to overrule him and dictate his decision. He chose self-interest over conscience and duty and sacrificed a just man rather than risk personal loss, showing how compromising with evil to avoid consequences brings guilt, darkness, sorrow and ruin.

Pronouncing Jesus innocent and then delivering Him to His murderers to the most ignominious and cruel death left guilt that ever oppresses the soul and darkened his after-history. The power he tried to preserve was later taken from him, and in remorse, despair, anguish and wounded pride over the full gravity of his guilt he lost his office and ended his life. After Jesus' resurrection and the testimony that He was the Son of God, Pilate was convinced of the full gravity of his guilt and lived in despair and anguish. Those who compromise with sin gain sorrow and ruin.

The crowd's acceptance of responsibility for Jesus' blood did not clear Pilate, for he was guilty of Jesus' blood because, fearing loss of power and honor, he consented to the death of an innocent man despite his own convictions. The guilt of those who delivered Jesus to him was greater because they had received greater light, though he knowingly surrendered an innocent man to the mob. God's overruling of the outcome to make Christ the Redeemer and Saviour of the world did not lessen the heinousness of the crime.

Crowd's Choice and Consequences

When Pilate washed his hands and left the decision to them, the multitude took the guilt upon themselves and their children, echoing Caiaphas and joined by the priests in accepting responsibility for the blood of the just and faultless One whom Pilate had declared righteous. In doing so they made their choice against Him, demanding His death and His crucifixion, and that recorded decision will confront them when the judgment book is opened. Having chosen Barabbas once for all and demanded Christ's crucifixion, the priests and rulers afterward resisted the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah and sought to hide the guilt of their cruel act. Even while imposing religious rites they covered selfish, fraudulent, discontented and unholy hearts, contradicting their grand ceremonies by life and character.

Their invocation of His blood upon themselves and their children indeed brought that blood upon them, fixing upon them a Barabbas-like character. Those words never cease to torture the speakers, and the blight of God's curse rests upon them, for the true penitent is received but hypocrisy cloaked by religious profession is hated. By rejecting Christ the people of Jerusalem chose their own course, and God permitted them to carry out the purposes of their unsanctified hearts, so that continued rebellion brought humiliation and the withdrawal of His protection. Those guilty of His blood face retribution, of which the scene of Judas's death stands as an early sign.

Many who had swelled the cry for crucifixion at the urging of the priests and rulers soon realized the calamity that had fallen upon them, mourned the loss of His teaching and healing, and would have eagerly called for Jesus had He still been alive. Those who had helped put Him to death as a criminal then spread false statements about it, while those He had healed and comforted told the terrible truth. The priests and rulers who had influenced the people against Him became ill at ease under the grief, mourning and censure of the people and avoided those who were calling for Jesus of Nazareth. Yet those who had taken part in that condemnation and joined the mob in calling for crucifixion were afterward among those listening to the apostles preach Jesus as the Son of God.

When sinners are compelled at the final judgment to look upon Jesus clothed in humanity, the choice of Barabbas the murderer and robber in the stead of Jesus, with the crowning with thorns and scourging and crucifying, will be as fresh in recollection as when the deeds were done. Their confusion will be indescribable as they remember how His love was slighted and His compassion abused. The scene will make them realize what they might have been had they received Christ and improved the opportunities granted them.

Broader Lessons and Applications

The judgment-hall scene belongs to the closing scenes of earth's history, when every person must choose between Christ the Truth and Satan and his falsehoods by rejecting or accepting the message of mercy concerning God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, and the condemnation enacted there was the rejection of the Son whom God sent to save the people. That rejection centered on choosing Barabbas instead of Jesus and demanding that Jesus be crucified, so that rejecting the light presented about Christ is rejecting Christ Himself. The same choice between Barabbas and Christ is repeated in the world today, with each person demonstrating by choices whether Christ is chosen, while Jesus stands as the innocent and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world rejected in favor of Barabbas the robber and murderer. Pilate declared to the maddened throng that he found no fault in Christ yet delivered Him to be crucified, while the crowd put Christ to open shame, demanded His death, and called for the release of Barabbas, with angels witnessing and Satan standing at the head of those who reviled Him.

Although no fault could be found in Christ, the multitude chose a thief and murderer instead, testifying to the moral taste of the world, and the same choice still stands for every person whether to have Christ Jesus to rule over them or to have Barabbas. The world cast Christ out but heaven received Him, finite man rejected the Prince of life but God the sovereign Ruler received and exalted Him, man crowned Him with thorns but God crowned Him with royal majesty. His death brings wrath and judgments of God unmixed with mercy to the rejector of His mercy, but hope and eternal life to all who receive Him and believe in Him.

The scenes done in sight and hearing of Heaven make manifest to angels and principalities the power of Satan over the human mind, for Satan led the Jewish priests and rulers as his agents to stir the passions of the murderous mob against the Prince of life, raising the hoarse cry for crucifixion, scourging Him, plaiting the crown of thorns, mocking and deriding Him, and setting Him aside for a robber and murderer. Men under the dominion of the deceiver become liars and murderers, and their railings and beastlike cries reach God and holy angels and make their record for time and eternity, yet those who instigated the suffering He endured as a malefactor will yet behold Him in glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. The cry for His blood was decided in counsel by Satan and his angels together, with Christ's own nation inspired to demand it and heap cruelty and scorn upon Him in the hope that He would resent such treatment and fail to maintain humility and meekness, but their cunning and hatred did not break up the plan of salvation.

The Jewish scribes and elders crucified Christ while professing great zeal for the honor of God, deceived by Satan's delusive power into believing they were serving God while following their own will in opposition to God's will. As those who rejected Moses rejected Christ and insulted the Spirit of God, so in rejecting Christ they rejected God and insulted the Spirit of God. Those who chose Barabbas yoked up with Satan, and while the Son of God hung on the cross bearing the insults of Satan and his agencies, His revilers proved themselves whited sepulchers deceiving the people by outward sanctity while reviling One in whose heart zeal for right and justice and for God's glory was highest. Their choice gave evidence that profession of piety and love for God and claim to know the Scriptures neither make men sons of God nor lead them to represent His character, and to spectators of true religion it appeared as if Satan were linked with the men triumphantly shouting blasphemy against the Commander of all heaven. This history of the professedly pious Jews directs lawyers and church members alike to consider that history in connection with the same divine law that judges all.

Jesus was completely innocent and Pilate knew it, finding no fault in Him and publicly washing his hands to disclaim responsibility while the multitude demanded crucifixion and took the guilt upon themselves and their children, yet His innocence did not protect Him from being mocked, spit upon, scourged and maltreated because the evil one controlled the minds of His tormentors. His endurance under unjust condemnation is a pattern showing that His followers must pass through similar scenes of unjust judgment and persecution. Jesus on the cross, yielded by Pilate to the pressure and will of the priests and rulers though innocent, stands as an example of faith against human power and policy used to support evil.

The trial formed the most trying ordeal of betrayal, agony in Gethsemane, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation and crucifixion, when the multitude that had hailed Him as king turned to hiss, revile and scorn Him as doomed to the cross, the cruel jeering crowd crying for crucifixion while professed lovers turned from Him in His trouble. Jesus deliberately brought about an earlier crisis of defection while still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, so the twelve would not be overwhelmed with surprise at this insult to their Master, would not hang faith on inconstant favor and opinions of others, and would not be carried away when faint-hearted ones sank beneath fear and disappointment. The condemnation when Pilate could not quiet the tumult brought grief and disappointment that tested the disciples as their Lord was condemned and the crowd reviled Him, marking their coming trial as they watched their beloved Teacher condemned and crucified. Professed sympathy and love for Jesus are thereby tested, since those who condemn His rejecters may themselves reject Him when faith is put to the test in shameful abuse, rejection and crucifixion.

Washing the hands declares disavowal of responsibility, as when responsibility for cruel treatment of a fellow believer accused and judged is refused. The Jewish clamor for the blood of Jesus parallels the Roman zealots' demand for Luther's death and the papal enemies' eagerness to shed Luther's blood, since opponents of truth clamored for death as the crowd clamored for Christ's blood. Pilate letting pride and concern for popularity close his heart against the world's Redeemer parallels the rejection of the light of truth under worldly pride and policy, as under the pressure brought upon Charles V.