Again Pilate came out and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look! I am bringing Jesus out to you. I want you to know that I find nothing I can charge him with.”
When the leading priests and the Jewish guards saw Jesus they shouted, “Kill him on a cross! Kill him on a cross!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and nail him to a cross yourselves. I find nothing I can charge him with.”
Christ himself suffered when he died for you, and with that one death he paid for your sins. He was not guilty, but he died for people who are guilty. He did this to bring all of you to God. In his physical form he was killed, but he was made alive by the Spirit.
The army officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus saw this earthquake and everything that happened. They were very afraid and said, “He really was the Son of God!”
Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do to make the people change. In fact, it looked as if there would be a riot. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of them all. He said, “I am not guilty of this man’s death. You are the ones who are doing it!”
While Pilate was sitting there in the place for judging, his wife sent a message to him. It said, “Don’t do anything with that man. He is not guilty. Last night I had a dream about him, and it troubled me very much.”
Judas said, “I sinned. I handed over to you an innocent man to be killed.” The Jewish leaders answered, “We don’t care! That’s a problem for you, not us.”
So Jesus is the kind of high priest we need. He is holy. He has no sin in him. He is pure and not influenced by sinners. And he is raised above the heavens.