This is a deep-dive series for Lent and Holy Week 2026 with author and scholar Dr. Eugenia Constantinou, based on her book “The Crucifixion of the King of Glory.”
Watch the full series HERE, including Jewish Life and Faith in Ancient Rome and the Catalysts for Jesus’ Trial and Conviction (2024) and Betrayal, Arrest and the Jewish Trial (2025).
Part 1: Pontius Pilate & Roman Justice
Who was Pontius Pilate, why did he have so much power over Jesus’s fate, and how can we understand his choices during Christ’s roman trial?
Dr. Eugenia Constantinou digs into the real history behind one of the Bible’s most controversial figures. Learn what ancient historians like Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria tell us about Pilate outside the New Testament, including prior incidents involving the Jewish people, and how Roman politics shaped his every decision. We’ll also cover how the Roman justice system worked — who had the power to execute, how trials were conducted, and why Jesus’s social status put him at an immediate disadvantage before the law. This episode sets the stage for the full Roman trial of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John.
Part 2: The Roman Trial Begins
In part two of our series on the Roman Trial, Dr. Eugenia Constantinou begins her verse by verse examination of the events as recorded in the Gospel of John.
We start with the arrival of the Jewish leaders at the praetorium, where ritual purity laws required them to wait outside. Dr. Constantinou walks through Pilate’s exchange with the Sanhedrin, their lack of a formal accusation, and how the charge of treason took shape based on the crowd’s acclamation of Jesus as King of the Jews on Palm Sunday. After questioning Jesus directly, Pilate concluded that Jesus is not guilty of any Roman crime. Dr. Constantinou explains Pilate’s attempt to release Jesus by invoking the Passover custom of freeing a prisoner, and what Pilate was trying to accomplish with that offer.
