Bible Study John Chapter 18:28-40 Conversation Between Pilate & Jesus

Q1 What was the intention of the Religious Leaders about Jesus? How can you tell?
Their intention was to killed Jesus.

1. The reason they brought Jesus to Pilate was for him to sentence Jesus to death. They had no power to sentence Him as revealed in 18:31.
2. They told Pilate they had their reasons else would not have brought Him in 18:30. It showed their arrogance and lack of respect even for Pilate. They were essentially wanting Pilate to rubber stamp their decision. By implication from Pilate's conversation with Jesus recorded in 18:33, the accusation must be about being "King of the Jews". It was probably a distortion created by Pilate himself since he see it as a matter of the Jews. The accusation that the Religious Leaders had on Jesus was His claim as Son of God, the King of all, the Creator. Pilate reduced it to King of Jews.
3. They asked for Barabbas, a robber to be freed instead of Jesus. Barabbas was probably the first man freed by the substitution of Jesus. It was not his choice but the religious leaders. Nevertheless, he benefited from it because of Jesus.

Q2  How did Jesus witness to Pilate?

1. Get a personal commitment. from v34 of your own or hear say to v37 so you are a king.
2. Tell the Truth:
1. v36 My Kingdom is not of this world.
2. v36 They would fight for me. 
3. v37 I came to bear witness to the truth.
4. v38 Everyone who is of the truth listens to me.
3. Give an Opportunity for Commitment.
1. Pilate said "What is the truth?" - He was forced to consider the proposal of Jesus.
2. He found Jesus not guilty (of trying to build a kingdom on earth to over-throw the Romans). His purpose was not political.

Q3 What great idea did Pilate came out to save Jesus? Did it work? What did that say about Pilate? What can we learn?

1. Great Idea - Substitute for Jesus.  He offered a bad guy, a robber, Barabbas in exchange for Jesus. 
2. It did not work. The Religious Leaders just wanted Jesus' death. They wanted to legalize it with Pilate's consent.
3. It show that Pilate did not fully understand the issues at hand. He thought it was a small matter that can be settled easily. In the next study, we shall discovered more about Pilate's character.
4. The lesson for us is that for any issue, please dig deeper to find the intentions of people and then you can come out with good solutions. Failure to understand the true intentions will result in proposals that fail.

Lesson Learned:

1. The persistence of evil.
2. The witnessing of Jesus - Personal and Truth.
3. The Need for Understanding of Intention to Solve or Mediate Issues.