Having been forsaken by his disciples, yet continuing to set his face toward the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus stands alone at the last phase in his rushed and unjust trial. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, had the power to enforce the death penalty that the Jewish council condemned Jesus to endure. As a pagan Roman, however, he would have little interest in punishing someone for blasphemy. So the charges highlighted by the Jews focus more on Jesus as a political threat to Caesar’s domain. In particular, they claimed that Jesus called himself the “King of the Jews.”
