g Him; if, indeed, he had in his mind any
clear meaning and was not merely uttering an exclamation of annoyance.

They perceived that the critical moment had arrived, and at last they
let out the true reason for which they desired His death: "We have a
law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of
God."

This was the ground on which they had condemned Him themselves, though
up to this point they had kept it concealed. They had not mentioned
it, because they thought that Pilate would jeer at it. It had on him,
however, a very different effect. All the morning he had been feeling
uneasy; and the more he saw of Jesus the more he disliked the part he
was playing. But now at length the mention of His claim to be the Son
of God caused his fears to take a definite and alarming shape. It
revived in his mind the stories, with which his own pagan religion was
rife, of gods or sons of the gods who had sometimes appeared on earth
in disguise. It was dangerous to have to do with them; for any injury
inflicted on them, even unconsciously, might be terribly avenged. He
had discerned in Jesus something mysterious and inexplicable: what if
He were the son of Jehovah, the native deity of Palestine, as Castor
and Pollux were sons of Jupiter? and might not Jehovah, if He were
injured, blast the man who wronged Him with a curse? Such was the
terror that flashed through his mind; and, taking Jesus once more
inside the palace, he asked Him, with a mixture of awe and curiosity,
"Whence art Thou?"

Jesus gave him no answer, but again retired into the majestic silence
which at three points already had marked His trial. In the whole
conduct of the Saviour in His sufferings there is nothing more sublime
than these pauses; but it is not easy at every point to gauge the state
of mind to which they were due. Why was Jesus silent at this point?
Some have said, because it was impossible to answer the question. He
could not have said either Yes or No; for, if He had said that God was
His Father, Pilate would have understood the statement in a grossly
pagan sense; and yet, to avoid this, He could not say that He was not
the Son of God. So it was best to say nothing.

The true explanation, however, is simpler. Jesus would say nothing
about whether He was the Son of God or not, because He did not wish to
be released on this ground. Not as a son of God, but as an innocent
man, which Pilate had again and again ackn