Pilate was personally responsible for capital crimes in which the interests and security of the Roman Empire were at stake, so he began his formal legal inquiry.
Are You the King of the Jews?: To get the governor’s attention, Caiaphas accused Jesus of telling people not to pay taxes to Rome and claiming to be a king (Luke 23:2). To Pilate, Jesus might have seemed like another Jewish terrorist or revolutionary with ideas about the Messiah and a group of armed followers (see Luke 23:18–19; Acts 5:36–37).