Mark 15:9-11 Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

How does Pilate answer the crowd’s request for the release of a prisoner as was customary at the feast?

“Pilate answered them, saying, ‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’" (Mark 15:9).

•       ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς λἐγων (apekrithē autois legōn) (“answered them saying”)

Aorist Passive Indicative of ἀποκρἰνομαι

followed by

Present Participle of λἐγω

o  “Sometimes, however, a Present Participle accompanies an Aorist verb denoting the same action; regularly so in the phrase ἀπεκρίνατο (ἀπεκρίθη) λέγων; see Mark 15:9” (Ernest De Witt Burton, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek, 3^rd ed. Edinburg: T&T Clark, 1898, p. 55-56)

•       τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἰουδαίων (ton basilea tōn Ioudaiōn) (“the King of the Jews”)

o  βασιλεύς (basileus) (“king”)

§  1.  one who rules as possessor of the highest office in a political realm, king, generally of a male ruler who has unquestioned authority (exceptions are client rulers who owe their power to the grace of Rome). (BDAG, 169)

§  2.  one who possesses unusual or transcendent power; of a Messianic king; of God. (BDAG, 170)

o  Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaios) (“Jew, Jewish, Judean”) “Generally as description of ‘one who identifies with beliefs, rites, and customs of adherents of Israel’s Mosaic and prophetic tradition (the standard term in the Mishnah is ‘Israelite’). (Since the term ‘Judaism’ suggests a monolithic entity that fails to take account of the many varieties of thought and social expression associated with such adherents, the calque or loanword ‘Judean’ is used in this and other entries where Ἰουδαῖος is treated. Complicating the semantic problem is the existence side by side of persons who had genealogy on their side and those who became proselytes…also of adherents of Moses who recognized Jesus as Messiah…and those who do not do so. Incalculable harm has been caused by simply glossing Ἰουδαῖος with ‘Jew’, for many readers or auditors of Bible translations do not practice the historical judgment necessary to distinguish between circumstances and events of an ancient time and contemporary ethnic-religious-social realities, with the result that anti-Judaism in the modern sense of the term is needlessly fostered through biblical texts.) (BDAG, 478)

§  Modern Usage of “Jew”

“There is no general agreement today concerning the use of the term. The question ‘Who is a Jew?’ is being hotly debated in the context of the modern state of Israel. Orthodox Judaism accepts one as a Jew who has been born to a Jewish mother and who has not apostatized (e.g., converted to Christianity), while others would include also one who has a Jewish father or who has converted to Judaism (i.e., a proselyte). There is a clear preference among many Jewish leaders for the term “Israel,” rather than “Jew” as a contemporary designation of the Hebrew people” (Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised., Vol. 2, p. 1056).

§  “Who Is A Jew?”

“Automatic Israeli citizenship is granted any Jew under the 1950 Law of Return. The hard part, however, is determining who is a ‘Jew’?

         During the 1950s, the Supreme Court of Israel, in a 4–1 decision, ruled that the Law of Return does not apply to Jews who abandoned Judaism for another religion, although it does apply to atheistic Jews. The interior minister Mose Shapiro subsequently ruled that no one can be recognized as a Jew who does not belong to the Jewish faith.

         In January of 1970, the Israeli Supreme Court, by a margin of one vote, again settled the question ‘Who is a Jew?’ by deciding that the term referred to a nationality and not necessarily a religion.

         Then Israel’s Knesset (parliament) enacted a new law at the same time which defines a Jew as either one born of a Jewish mother or a convert to Judaism. This supposedly overturned the Supreme Court decision” (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times, p. 630).

§  How does Jesus commend the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13?

Rev. 3:7   “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

 He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:

Rev. 3:8   ‘ I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie — I will make them come and bow down  at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance,  I also will keep you from the hour of  testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole  world, to  test  those who dwell on the earth. 11 ‘ I am coming quickly;  hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your  crown. 12 ‘ He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the  name of My God, and  the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My  new name. 13 ‘ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

•       What is the name written on the robe and thigh of the Word of God according to Revelation 19:16?

“And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’” (Rev 19:16).

Of what is Pilate aware (Mark 15:10)?

“For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy” (Mark 15:10).

•       Who handed Jesus over?

“the chief priests”

• οἱ ἀρχερεῖς (hoi archiereis) (“the chief priests”)

“a priest of high rank, chief priest in Israel’s cultic life. The plural is used in the NT and in Josephus…to denote members of the Sanhedrin who belonged to highpriestly families: ruling high priests, those who had been deposed, and adult male members of the most prominent priestly families” (BDAG, 139).

•       For what reason is Pilate aware they handed Jesus over?

“…because of envy” (Mark 15:10).

Who stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas?

“But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead” (Mark 15:11).

•       ἀνέσεισαν (anaseisan) (“stirred”) 3P Aorist Active Indicative of ἀνασείω, “to cause to be disturbed, stir up, disturb, upset, incite” (BDAG, 71).

•       τὸν ὄχλον (ton ochlon) (“the crowd”)

“a relatively large number of people gathered together, crowd…a gathering of people that bears some distinguishing characteristic or status; a large number of people of relatively low status the (common) people, populace…in contrast to the rulers” (BDAG, 745).

•       Why do the chief priests stir up the crowd?

“…to ask him to release Barabbas” (Mark 15:10).

Father,

You are the God of all nations, the Sovereign Potentate. You are the covenant God of Israel, Your covenant nation. You are also the God of the Gentiles. All whom You chose for salvation are saved through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You are blessing all the families of the earth in Jesus, Who descended from David in the flesh, just as You promised the forefathers. And Your kingdom, which You have firmly established in Christ, will endure forever. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, is Your Anointed King and Your Servant, Savior of the world, and Lord over all. Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Jesus came the first time as humble Servant to seek and save sinners, and He accomplished the work of salvation through His death on the cross. And You raised Him from the dead on the third day, testifying of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. By Your grace through faith alone in Jesus, sinners are saved. All who receive Jesus are reconciled to You in peace and love. For by the blood of Jesus, our sins have been forgiven and our iniquity removed, just as You promised. You are our God and we are Your people. Glory and thanks to You through Jesus for so great a salvation. Glory to You for new birth by the Spirit.

Jesus Himself is our peace, who made both Jews and Gentiles into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to those who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to You, the Father. Your household has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom we also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

When Jesus comes again to Jerusalem, He will come as Conquering King to accomplish the restoration of the nation of Israel, just as You promised Your covenant people. Your promises to Israel will never fail. Israel will not be discarded or disregarded in Your kingdom of glory. Jesus will conquer the nations who rise against her. Israel will be saved. 

Glory to You and to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.