29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"
30 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."
31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
There was certainly not a great amount of love lost between Pilate and these hypocritically pious Jews. Pilate was not the least bit duped by their false pretence – he saw right through their charade. Matthew’s gospel tells us Pilate was aware of the motives behind these Jewish leaders’ actions:
18 For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. Matt 27:18 (NIV)
Pilate had been well aware of these leaders envy and fear over Jesus’ growing popularity and following. He had also witnessed the love, acclaims and wild enthusiasm the Jewish nation had had for their King. Certainly he had heard about - if not been privy to see - the great throngs assembled together shouting “Hosanna” (“Please save” or “Save now”) and waving palm branches (symbols of victory) at Jesus’ triumphal entry – ascribing Messianic titles to Him. John tells us earlier in his gospel:
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" John 12:12-13 (NIV)
It was the Jewish leaders in our verses for today causing this annoying raucous for Pilate not the masses. These leaders wanted our Lord dead and if possible, they wanted the deed done by the hands of the Romans. Everything legal in the eyes of man – always desirous of their external doings to be justified never mind their hearts remained hardened and dead. Big mistake! God values what is in the heart over the pretence of righteous actions. God always judges on the basis of why we act. With God, why we do something is far more important than what we do. Believe me; God is never duped over pretense. Proverbs tells us:
2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD. Prov 16:2 (NIV)
“Our Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done.” Teresa of Avila
In Solomon’s prayer for the temple dedication we are also given further insight into his knowledge of this Truth:
30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men), 31 so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers. 2 Chron 6:30-31 (NIV)
"Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. Witness the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples' feet! Isn't it true to say that on earth He was always stripping off first one robe of honor and then another until, naked, He was fastened to the cross and emptied Himself, pouring out His lifeblood, giving it up for all of us, until they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave?" C. H. Spurgeon
Yet the Jewish leader’s flawed actions were merely the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic Words – another confirmation that our Lord was exactly who He said He was:
17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" Matt 20:17-19 (NIV)