The Crucifixion
“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” Matthew 27:23 · Berean Standard Bible
Pilate pushes back: why? What crime has He committed? But they just scream louder: crucify Him!
Pilate asks the most important question: what has Jesus done wrong? No one can answer — because there is no answer. So they just shout louder.
Pilate attempts to reason with the crowd, but they respond with increased fury.
When you cannot answer the question, raise the volume. The crowd has no case, no evidence, no argument — just a deafening demand.
Pilate challenges their demand by asking 'What evil has He done?' (ti gar kakon epoiesen) — a judicial acknowledgment of Jesus' innocence that the crowd's escalating cries drown out.
Pilate's question is legally significant — he finds no basis for conviction (cf. Luke 23:4, 14, 22; John 18:38, 19:4, 6). His inability to act on his own verdict makes him complicit in judicial murder.
Pilate challenges the crowd, but they shout louder.
The voice of reason is drowned by the voice of the mob — Pilate asks for evidence and receives only volume.
21“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
22“What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
23“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?”
24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”
25All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
Read all of Matthew 27 — The climax of the story. Every thread — sacrifice, covenant, prophecy, promise — converges at a cross outside Jerusalem.
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