INTRODUCTION.
Prior to this week’s lesson, Jesus had been arrested and taken to Annas, the former high priest for questioning. After being interrogated by Annas, Jesus was taken to the current High priest, Caiaphas. These proceedings were supposed to be carried out legally, but Caiaphas and the other members of the Sanhedrin Council, the Jewish ruling body, had already decided that Jesus should die to prevent His followers from rising up against the Romans (see John 11:45-53). But since the Jews didn’t have Roman authority to execute anyone, they had to get help from the Roman government. Since Pontius Pilate had been appointed Roman Procurator or Governor (see Matthew 27:11) over Judea, the Jewish religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate accusing Him of forbidding the Jewish people to pay taxes to Rome and saying that He was Christ the King (see Luke 23:1-2). They were sure that such accusations would convince Pilate to do what they wanted—kill Jesus. In this week’s lesson, we visit the conversation between Pilate, the Roman representative and Jesus, God’s representative.