At this, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
“Look! The days are coming,” says YHWH, “when I will raise for David a righteous Branch. And he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will do what is just and righteous in the land.
They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man subverting our ethnic group, forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
Then Pilate came out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to y’all so that y’all will know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”