Luke 23:1-25 - Jesus Before Pilate and Herod

In reading this passage, I can't help but wonder why Pilate was so unwilling to not pass the judgement of death on Jesus and why he worked so hard to put that responsibility on others, as this man clearly had the power to do so.

Was he so afraid of Jesus and wondered if he truly was who he said he was, "The Son of God" and did that fear lead him to try to have others condemn him for fear of the potential consequence of his actions? He tried.....

Luke 23:7 "When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time."

But sending him to Herod didn't work as Herod sent him back to Pilate after he didn't get the answers himself to make a decision. Then Pilate gathered all the chief priests and told them he had no evidence of the charges they cited against him and therefore, he couldn't put him to death, but instead, was just going to punish him. Then the crowd spoke and Barrabbas came into play and Pilate was losing his ability to quiet them, so he finally relented and turned Jesus over to them. All this took time and It was as if Pilate was stalling, or trying to drag things out.....but why? PURE FEAR.

It seems to me he was looking more for ways to NOT be responsible for condemning Jesus to death as it would have been easy to convict him being that he had the reputation and ruthlessness , power and authority to easily do so.

Pilate saw Jesus as a threat and that is why he feared him. He saw that Jesus was not afraid of him and for a man with so much power over such a large area, this worried him. It also left him not feeling comfortable because it questioned his dominating power and authority over the land. But Jesus knew better and this is what got to Pilate.....that Jesus dismissed Pilot's belief that his power over the people and the state is what mattered. Jesus let him know that he didn't hold his fate in his hands......only GOD did.

I believe that there were many dynamics happening at once during this period and that GOD's hand in the ultimate plan of sacrificing Jesus for all of humanity in the great plan for salvation was perfectly played.