38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”
Comment: Pilate obviously didn’t see any cause which made Jesus guilty. No one can find Him guilty because of His moral perfection, good works and teaching. Unless, of course, He was false in claiming to be ‘I AM’ – God! And maybe one with much authority would lose their position if they acknowledged Him to be what He said that He was – I AM. Pilate tried three ways to get Jesus freed. 1. He proclaimed Jesus’ innocence, twice! 2. He offered Jesus as the one whom he annually freed at Passover – the Jews preferred a real rotter Barabbas. 3. He made Jesus into a very tragic figure – beaten cruelly, dressed up in mockery in regal dress – the King of the Jews. All Pilate’s efforts were met with ‘Crucify him, crucify him!‘
Prayer: May I realise more fully Who You are, Jesus!
As I read it! 