Mark 15:1

Mark 15:1 says, And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.  Since the chief priests had no authority to kill Jesus, the morning after His arrest they had a consultation with the elders, scribes, and the whole council.   These were all the religious leaders of the Jews, God’s chosen people.   It is bad enough that the people of the world want to discredit and destroy Jesus, but it is even worse if people who call themselves Christians, those who say they have put their faith in Him as their Savior and Lord, do so.  They bound Jesus, though He wasn't trying to escape, and brought Him to Pilate, who in the world's view did have the power to sentence Him to death.  Verse two adds, And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto them, Thou sayest it. Pilate asked Jesus only if He was the King of the Jews.  This could have meant that Jesus was trying to usurp the power of Roman authority. Somewhere in life, we are going to have to ask our self Who Jesus Christ is.  Jesus simply replied, "Thou sayest it."  Jesus left it up to Pilate to decide what he believed about Jesus, and He still leaves it up to each individual today.  Jesus will never attempt to force us to believe in Him.  At that time, He could have shown Pilate without a doubt that He was Who people were saying He was, but that was not why He was there.  We cannot force Jesus to become what we want Him to be but can only accept Him for Who He is.  Pilate and all those who were accusing Jesus were looking at His kingdom in physical terms, not spiritual terms.  Verse three continues, And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. The chief priests accused Jesus of many things, but He didn't answer them.  People of the world today are still accusing Jesus of many things that He never did or even said in an effort to discredit Him.  Verse four states, And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.  Pilate asked Jesus if He had anything to say about these accusations, and Jesus again said nothing.  They could either accept Him for Who He was or reject Him, and so can we. Verse five adds, But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.  Then we are told that Pilate marveled at the silence of Jesus, but not that He believed Jesus.  Everyone had heard enough already to either accept or reject Jesus as the Messiah, and there was nothing more that He could say that would change their minds.  We today have all the knowledge about Who Jesus is necessary to decide for ourselves whether He really is the Son of God and the only Redeemer that there is.  The choice is always up to each individual.