Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin,made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
From the night time informal court, Jesus is brought to Pilate. The Jewish leaders on their own could not carry out capital punishment. It was a level of punishment reserved for the Romans. They have decided that Jesus blasphemy is worthy of death, but while his "I am" statement would have been offensive to them, it would have been merely words to the Roman occupiers. They have to decide what they can accuse Jesus of that will be significant enough for the death penalty.
They appear from Pilate's question to have decided to paint Jesus as an insurrectionist against Rome. While claims to divinity wouldn't have worried Pilate much, claims to political power would have been taken very seriously. "Are you the king?" Pilate asks. Jesus terse reply seems to indicate that he is acknowledging the charge while not confirming or denying it.
And so the trial begins. The charges are numerous, but Jesus remains silent. Mark clearly places the trial in parallel to the scene in the high priest's courtyard. Jesus is falsely accused and speaks only in direct answer to a question from the presiding official.
The charade of the charges is clear to Pilate, and he is amazed that Jesus does not offer a defense. So Pilate is left to make the judgement. He hopes that by invoking the tradition of clemency for one prisoner, he will avoid having to condemn a man he knows to be innocent. So likely in providing the choice of prisoners he seeks to make it a stark contrast and easy decision. Do you want the King of the Jews to be free or a murderer. He may or may not know that Barabbas is Hebrew for "son of the father". So in a way, he offers them the choice between the son of the father who brings life and the son of the father who brings death.
And the mob incited by the chief priests choose death. They cry for Barabbas' release and Jesus death. Crucifixion appears to have been the Roman's preferred execution as it served as a public and continuing warning to others.
Sadly Pilate is the kind of leader who leads from behind. The crowd is in a furor and he doesn't really care all that much and so Jesus is handed back to the Jews so that they can crucify him.
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