Jesus answers Pilate’s question with another, but He is not trying to be vague or evade the question. On the contrary, Pilate’s answer will show exactly the answer for which he is looking from Jesus. If Pilate asked the question out of his own curiosity, it meant that he was asking whether Jesus was a political king who was conspiring against the reign of Caesar over Israel; if Pilate asked because Caiaphas or the Sanhedrin had put him up to it, then his question was whether Jesus was the Messianic King of Israel. The answer of Jesus to the first question would be “no” while His answer to the second must be “yes.”