Day 12
John 18: 28-30
28Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
The Roman Domination of Judea (John 18: 28-30)
The Romans had set up a complex bureaucracy to run Judea. The Emperor Tiberius had appointed Pilate the fifth procurator of Judea in AD 26 and he had complete control of the province. The troops under his command consisted of 1 ala (about 120 men) of cavalry and four or five detachments of infantry (about 3,000 men). These soldiers were stationed at Caesarea with a detachment always on garrison duty at Jerusalem in the fortress of Antonia. Pilate, like all Roman governors, had the power of life and death. He could reverse sentences passed by the Sanhedrin which had to be submitted to him for ratification. He also appointed the high priest and was in control of the temple and its funds. Even the vestments of the high priest were kept in his custody and would only be released for use at the major festivals. When the procurator took up residence in Jerusalem he would bring extra soldiers to patrol the city. Everything in Judea was controlled by Pilate although in practice he allowed the Jewish authorities to run the city on a day-to-day basis. This explains why Jesus had both a Jewish and a Roman trial.
Think: How can Jesus have remained in control of events when he had surrendered himself to the authorities?
