In the "treasury of the church" they put what was brought as a gift to God. See how God has brought their work to naught, so that only their bloodthirstiness is revealed. "To this day," says the Evangelist, "that land is called "the land of blood," so that everyone remembers that they killed the Lord. Take into account that the Jews also took care of the love of strangers, so they also bought land for the burial of strangers. Let us be ashamed, who consider ourselves to be people of a better life, but despise strangers. "At the price of the Priced" the prophet calls the price of Christ, Who, although priceless, was valued by the children of Israel, that is, the children of Israel set His price, agreeing to give Judas thirty pieces of silver for Him.

And Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said to him, "You speak." And when the chief priests and elders accused him, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many testify against you? And he did not answer him a single word, so that the governor was greatly astonished.

He is brought before Pilate as accused of a civil crime. That is why Pilate asks Him: did He not think to reign over the Jews? Jesus answered him, "You say." The answer is the wisest, for he did not say yes or no, but something in between: "You say." But it can also be understood in this way: yes, just as you say; and thus: I do not say this, but you say. He did not answer anything else, because he saw that the judgment was not going according to the truth. Pilate marveled at the Lord, on the one hand, that He despised death, and on the other hand, that He, being so wise and eloquent, and having the opportunity to present a thousand justifications, answered nothing, and paid no attention to the accusers. Let us learn from this not to say anything when we are before an unjust judgment, lest we make a greater fuss and become the cause of greater condemnation (for judges) who do not heed our justifications.

On the feast of Easter, the governor had the custom of releasing to the people one prisoner whom they wanted. At that time there was among them a well-known prisoner, called Barabbas; And when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ? for he knew that they had betrayed him out of envy.

Pilate tried to free Christ, although his effort was weaker than what was proper (according to the proper he should have resisted them for the truth). First he asked the Lord, "Do you not hear that they bear witness against you?" And he asked, so that, if Christ was justified, he might have an opportunity to set Him free. When the Lord did not want to justify Himself, knowing fully that He would not be released, even if He was justified, then Pilate proceeds to the goal in a different way, resorting to the above-mentioned custom, as if to say: "If you do not let Jesus go as innocent, then at least as a condemned man grant Him to the feast." For how could Pilate have imagined that they would demand the innocent Jesus to be crucified, and that the guilty thief would be released? And so, knowing that Christ is innocent, but suffers from envy, he therefore questions them, and thus shows himself to be a weak man, for he even had to suffer for the truth. Therefore he is worthy of condemnation as a man who has concealed the truth. Barabbas means the son of the father, for "bar" means the son, and "abba" means the father. So the Jews asked for the son of their father the devil, and they crucified Jesus. To this day they cling to their father's son, the Antichrist, and they deny Christ.

While he was sitting in the judgment seat, his wife sent him to say, "Do nothing to that Righteous One, for I have suffered much this day in a dream for His sake." But the chief priests and the elders stirred up the people to ask Barabbas, and to destroy Jesus. Then the governor asked them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ? Everyone said to him: let him be crucified. And the governor said, What evil has he done? But they cried out even more loudly: let him be crucified. Pilate, seeing that nothing helped, but the confusion increased, took water and washed his hands before the people, and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous one; See you. And all the people answered, saying, His blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them, and having beaten Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

A wonderful thing! The one tried by Pilate frightened his wife! It is not Pilate himself who dreams, but his wife; either because he himself was not worth it, or because they would not have believed him himself, but would have thought that he was saying this out of mere partiality for Jesus; or perhaps he, as a judge, would have kept silent about the dream, if he had seen it. This dream was the work of God's providence, not so that Christ might be freed as a result of it, but that the woman might be saved.

Question: Why did Pilate not release Christ after this?

Answer: Because it was not safe for him to release Him, as accused of stealing royal power. However, he had to demand testimony as to whether Christ had gathered soldiers around Him, and whether He had not prepared weapons, whether He had not stored up gold and silver. And since Pilate was instead weak and evasive, for this reason he is inexcusable. For when they asked him for a notorious villain, he gave it up; and about Christ he asked: "What shall I do to Jesus?" – thus making the Jews themselves the rulers of the court. Since he was a ruler, he could take Him out of their hands by force, just as the famous commander took Paul (Acts 21:31). "Let him be crucified," said the Jews, intending not only to kill Him, but also to ascribe to Him a villainous guilt, for the cross was the execution of evildoers. Pilate washes his hands as a sign that he is clean from hatred. The wisdom is obviously false; for although he himself called Jesus a righteous man, yet he delivered him over to murderers. And they take the wages of murder and His blood upon themselves and on their children; this retribution soon befell them, when the Romans destroyed them and their children. However, even to this day the Jews, as children of those who killed the Lord, bear His blood on them, for for disbelief in the Lord they are persecuted by all, and there is no mercy for them. Pilate beat Jesus, that is, with a whip, either to please them, or as a sign that he also condemned Him, and that they would no longer crucify an innocent man, but a disgraced and condemned one. Thus was fulfilled the prophetic saying: "Splash My widows on the wounds."

Then the soldiers of the governor, taking Jesus to the praetorium, gathered the whole army against Him, and having undressed Him, put on Him a scarlet robe; and having wove a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and gave Him a reed in His right hand. and kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Rejoice. King of the Jews! and they spat on him, and took a reed, and smote him on the head.

Here the word of David was fulfilled: "Deliver me not over to the mockery of a fool" (Psalm 38:9). For the soldiers dealt with Him worthy of themselves, as if they were madmen; they clothed Him, as a king, in chlamys instead of purple; instead of a sceptre they gave Him a reed, a crown of thorns instead of a royal diadem, and they bowed down to Him in mockery. See how all kinds of reproach have been put into action; the face was disgraced with spitting, the head with a crown, the hand with a reed, the whole body with chlamys, the ears with blasphemous words. But although they did everything they did in reproach to Christ, nevertheless, you understand that all this was done by Jesus Himself in a significant way. Thus, the scarlet chlamys signified our blood-stained and murderous nature, which He took on and sanctified, putting on it. The crown of thorns signified the sins arising from worldly cares, which Christ consumes with His Divinity (the head means His Divinity). The reed is an image of our perishable and feeble flesh, which the Lord took on, just as David says: "The right hand of the Lord is exalted" (Psalm 117:16). And by accepting blasphemy in His ears, the Lord delivered us from the serpent's whispering, which entered through the ears of Eve.

And when they mocked him, they took off his scarlet robe, and clothed him in his garments, and led him away to be crucified. As they went out, they met a certain Cyrenean, named Simon; they compelled him to bear his cross.