Verse 16
‘Therefore he then delivered Jesus to them to be crucified.’
The trial was over, the verdict had been given, and Pilate probably thought he would escape with a few days of bad conscience, while the Chief Priests no doubt believed that another problem was satisfactorily out of the way. Jesus was handed over to the crucifying party. They could now go back and finish off their Passover meal in peace, still ‘undefiled’, or so they foolishly believed. And the future would go on as normal.
But from the eternal point of view this was the moment when the Lamb was handed over to be sacrificed. He had been examined and found to be without fault. Now He would be offered up to God as a whole offering, as a Passover sacrifice, as a guilt offering (Isaiah 53:10).
‘To them’. To His accusers in principle, to the Roman soldiers in fact. Then He would be scourged again as a matter of course (Mark 15:15) before being led off to crucifixion. Everyone was satisfied. Things could now go on as normal.
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