Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 19:15

"They therefore cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar." — John 19:15 (ASV)

The time in view here depends on the method of reckoning “the sixth hour.” If it were reckoned from midnight, it would be about six o’clock in the morning; if from sunrise, which accords better with John’s general procedure, it would be about noon. But Mark states that the Crucifixion took place at “the third hour” (Mark 15:25). Perhaps Mark indicates that the trial came early and that the execution occurred at mid-morning, while John stresses the fact that it was accomplished before noon. Pilate presented the bleeding, disheveled figure to the crowd with these words: “Here is your king.” In their bitter irony, these words show Pilate’s contempt for the Jews. As the people clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion, Pilate scornfully asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” The reply of the chief priests is astonishing: “We have no king but Caesar.”

The official heads of the nation, who would gladly have welcomed independence, put themselves on record as subjects of the pagan emperor. Even allowing for the fact that the Sadducean priesthood was willing to compromise with the Romans for the sake of political advantage, nothing revealed their lack of spiritual principles so vividly as this act of betrayal. It was the final step in the process initially described in 1:11.