Sorry for the super late upload.  We will be covering John 19:1-16 only because we prolly wont be able to finish the entire chapt in 1 lesson. Also pls end earlier as we have to go for the church thingy at 1pm.


Pilate’s Problem

Passage focus- John 19:1 –16

Read the passage once through first. You may want to point out that we will be focusing on Pilate.

1. What details are left out in John?

a. Handwashing (Matt27:24)

b. Jews taking responsibility for Jesus’ death (Matt 27:25)

c. Release of Barabbas (Matt27:26, Mark 15:15)



Things that Pilate did

1) V5, Pilate tried to “save” Jesus by flogging him so that the Jewish people might take pity and call for his release. But it failed.

2) V6, push blame to the Jews and the priests and temple guards.

a. The Jews asked him to make a decision, then refused to accept that Jesus is “not guilty”

3) V8, Panic. Why? Earlier on, the priests and Jews had been stressing the political implications of Jesus’ claims. (King). Suddenly, it became about religion. That Jesus is the Son of God.

4) V12, tried to release Jesus again, but halted when questioned about his loyalty to Caesar.

5) V14, present Jesus again, author highlights Passover is approaching due to emphasis on link being that Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

6) V16, gives up Jesus to the roman soldiers. Interesting how they claim “We have no king but Caesar” in a surprising show of “loyalty”

7) (Interesting extension) V21 & V22, insist on what he wrote, but in doing so kinda explicitly declared that Jesus is the King. Possibly to humiliate the Jews, but was ironically true.



Feel free to either continue the lesson or do sharing or anything you want. I would recommend drawing similarities between Pilate and us, in the sense of how we try to do what is right but receive a lot of pressure from external influences.

Notes on Pilate’s character

1) Not evil, but rather he tries to do good. He seems to underestimate the authority and power he has, however, and listens/fears the power of the others more. Technically he did have the power to pronounce Jesus not guilty and call for His release. But he did not.

2) Quick to push responsibility. He washed his hands off the issue as soon as he could, both physically and symbolically. As a person in power, it was still his responsibility and his decision whether he claims to have it or not.

3) I believe, to a small extent, he himself did believe that Jesus was not an ordinary man, and perhaps in a way believed Jesus’ claims. (It could also be due to him being VERY cautious.) Why? Well he did panic after v7 when he heard what Jesus “called Himself”. After that, he kept wanting Jesus to explain himself, and perhaps the wisdom in the answer scared Pilate so much that he tried to free Jesus.



Do we see ourselves in Pilate in the way we try to make the right decisions but are actually questionable in retrospect? Do we lack the courage to stand fast against pressure?

Share and pray!

Kenn