It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
The day of preparation was the Friday before the Sabbath of Passover (Mark 15:42). On this day preparations were made for the Passover, such as the removal of all leaven from their homes. The Jewish leaders were neglecting their duties of preparing for Passover in order that they might kill the true Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7).
Mark 15:42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached,
1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
The sixth hour conflicts with Mark’s account (Mark 15:25). There are two possible explanations (that are credible): first is that John was reckoning from Roman official time which began at midnight, and Mark from Jewish time which began at dawn. This would make John’s time about 6:00 am and Mark’s around 9:00 am. The difficulty with this is why John would use Roman official time and not Jewish time or regular Roman time which were the same. However, John was writing after the fall of Jerusalem with an audience of Romans and Greeks and this could easily be the case. The second possibility is the one preferred by Morris, Ramsay, and others. It regards both Mark’s time and that of John to be approximations. People of that time did not possess clocks and telling time was usually just a guess. In fact, there was a Latin idiom “in the lapse of an hour” which corresponded to our “in a second.” The third hour could easily mean mid-morning and the sixth hour could have meant getting close to noon. Both expressions could have been described as late morning.
Mark 15:25 It was the third hour when they crucified him.
At any rate, don’t be afraid of looking at seeming discrepancies in God’s Word. God’s Word is always true and there is no error in it, but it was written through human agency and it was written to different groups of humans so we need to examine possible differences in their context. The cool thing here is that if it were all invented by man then there would be no discrepancies because the later books would have been changed to conform to the former. God is not afraid of our examining His Word and we shouldn’t be either. (2 Tim 3:16)
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
Pilate’s position of being seated on the judgment seat would have usually resulted in the proclamation of a sentence, but Pilate does not do what is expected; instead he makes one last-ditch effort to get Jesus released. Pilate says, “Behold, your King!” which is quite similar to his previous statement “Behold the man!” (John 19:5) It is obvious to Pilate that this Galilean is in no way a king and he is using the accusation of the chief priests to try to get the people to enable him to drop the charges. The irony is that Jesus truly is the King! (Rev 1:5, 11:15, 17:14, 19:11-16)
John 19:5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Revelation 17:14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings— and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Revelation 19:11-16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no-one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron sceptre.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.