Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting [a]the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
3 Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”
4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”
5 But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
Luke 23:1-5
Jesus handed over to Pontius Pilate. SO many lies, so much false witness by the Sanhedrin here. They walk over the law to enforce their own law and protect their power at the cost of their own salvation. Pilate correctly saw nothing of fault in Jesus. Whether he truly felt as such or this was merely to pass the buck is not clear in this verse.
The Sanhedrin focused on crimes against the state, as that was their audience, still firmly holding on to any loophole they could find to distance them from the final result of these trials. Jesus was not perverting the nation, forbidding to pay taxes, or claiming to be King (on his own) but he did not argue the point when Pilate inquired specifically if He was King of the Jews.
Again, Pilate saw no guilt in Christ here. This further incited the accusers, so much so they actually told the truth (which was no crime). Did Christ stir up the people and teach? Absolutely He did, more so than the Sanhedrin could have ever hoped under their own worldly authority.
Jesus delivered salvation under the authority of God which completely usurped the power of the Sanhedrin and rendered them impotent.
