Pilate
As his company of guards escorted him out of the city and up to the execution grounds, Pilate couldn’t help but think that wouldn’t it be nice if he was back home in his palace Caesarea. There he could relax on his rooftop that overlooked the sea or maybe go to one of the hotly contest chariot races.
He hated Jerusalem! Every time he came there was nothing but trouble. He certainly wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for another one the seemingly endless Jewish feasts. During these feast you could count on trouble breaking out, and sure enough he had this Jesus situation.
As he gazed up at the three men hanging on the cross he took a small satisfaction that the Roman Empire that he represented had the power of life and death over the peoples they ruled. Not only that, but the use of the brutal Crucifixion method showed that if you crossed us there was going to a terrible price to pay. Fear has always been a good motivator.
His rule in this awful land had not got off to a good start. He had been told long before he got here that Judea had always been a tough place for the Romans to keep from rebellion breaking out. The heart of the problem was this crazy religion. Their belief in one god, and their belief that they were a chosen by this god to be a special people were always at the center of their problems. This certainly put them in direct conflict with us Romans who believe the more gods the better, and of course since we were in charge of the world, we must really be the chosen people.
When he first got to this forsaken land, he decided he needed to show these conquered people who was in charge. So he had pictures of the Emperor put on shields and hung around Jerusalem. Little did he know this was going to be so upsetting to these confounding Jews, who unbeknownst to him had some kind of prohibition against images in their religion.
Riots broke out, which he had no choice but to put down harshly. He couldn’t back down or it would be sign of weakness, so the unrest went on for sometime. Killing the rioters didn’t seem to have much effect. Eventually he got word from the Emperor himself ordering him to take down the shields, this just made him dislike this land and its people even more.
Sometime later, a band of Jewish insurrectionist from the Galilean region started a riot in the streets of Jerusalem and then took refuge in their Temple. That didn’t stop his soldiers from dispensing of them right there, mixing their blood with that of their numerous sacrifices. That didn’t endear him to the hearts of these troubling people but once again he had to show them who was in charge.
Then there was this ‘Messiah’ they keep looking for. Supposedly, in their writings, which go back hundreds of years, a Messiah was going to appear that would break the rule of their oppressors. Several times over the years some guy appears claiming to be this person, he got the people all riled up, and then they had to be put them down forcefully.
And now this Jesus fellow shows up, he too is from the Galilean region. He was going to have to bring up why these agitators keep coming from that region with Herod, thought Pilate. His spies had been keeping a close eye on this man for a long time. He had all the indications of being a serious troublemaker. But the reports he received were conflicting.
There was no doubt that this man was different. The reports detail numerous miraculous healings and other supernatural events. Just this week the hot rumor was that he brought someone back from the dead who had been in the grave for four days. He’s either a great magician or really does have supernatural powers. Even his wife Claudia, was enchanted with him, and she was usually a good judge of character.
The reason he was even concerned with this magic man, was that people who had seen Jesus in action were claiming that he must be the real Messiah. Now that meant trouble! Again, according to his sources, whenever someone tried to pin him down on who he was, his answers were always evasive.
This Jesus certainly was a puzzlement. One of his informers, who claimed he was there, reported that Pharisees tried to trip Jesus up by asking the ridicules question on whether they should pay taxes to us Romans. Accordingly, Jesus told them that they should. That not only was that the right answer, but it put those confound Pharisees in their place. He really couldn’t stand those self-righteous, pompous jackasses.
Earlier this week he was actually was thinking about bring in this mystery man and finding out on his own what he was really up too. That all changed early this morning when an angry horde appeared at his Jerusalem palace, the Praetorium, demanding that he hear this case against Jesus. Among other things, they were charging him with sedition.
He could tell right away that this was really a religious power play by the Jewish leaders to see who was going to control the hearts and minds of the people. Since Jesus was from the Galilean region, he thought that he could get off the hook by sending the accused over to Herod who was military leader of that district. He had happened to be in town. But Herod was more interested in seeing Jesus perform some kind of trick for him and when Jesus wouldn’t accommodate him, Jesus was sent back to him.
Pilate would be the first to admit that Jesus’ trial was a sham. If he had just had more time to give some thought to the matter, it might have turned out differently. The arrival of the Jewish leaders in the early morning with an already beat up victim, had taken him by surprise. They charged him with saying he was the “Son of God.” Which was of course a bunch of malarkey, why should he care anything about that?
The other charge was more serious; they said he claimed to be the “King of the Jews.” He was sure that this was designed just to get his attention, and if need be of Caesars. When he questioned Jesus directly about the charge, Jesus just gave him some round about answer. Most of the time he wouldn’t say anything at all. After querying him from every direction, he finally got him to say that he was a king but his kingdom was of another world. Now who could make sense of that!
When he reported back to Jesus’ accusers that he couldn’t find anything wrong with this man, they acted like someone had thrown boiling tar on them. They jumped up and down, waved their arms and started screaming their heads off, like a bunch of crazy nuts. “Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him,” they screamed with such malice, he was astonished. They were well beyond reason. He decided he was going to have to do something or they were never going to be satisfied.
This was the same group who had got him into hot water with Rome when they complained to the Emperor about the images they he had put around town. He didn’t want a repeat of that situation, he was sure his political position with Rome couldn’t take it.
He decided that maybe he could appease this mob if he had Jesus roughed up a bit. He told the Captain of the guard that his soldiers could have some fun with the accused but they couldn’t kill him. And they did a pretty good job too, but these “religious nuts” still weren’t satisfied.
His next tactic was to give them a choice. As was custom during the feasts, he could release a criminal as a sign of Roman goodwill. He decided he would offer Jesus to them or Barabbas. He knew for sure that the Jewish leaders hated this renown criminal. Not only because he was a murderer, but his failed insurrection had cause so much suffering for them and the general population, that this choice was going to be a no brainier. Much to his surprise, this option just incited them even more. They started chanting, “we want Barabbas, crucify Jesus, we want Barabbas, crucify Jesus.”
In the mist of all this turmoil, he get received a note from Claudia, who had come down to Jerusalem with him. It said that she had a terrible dream about the accused and that I shouldn’t have anything to do with this “Jesus” situation. If things weren’t confusing enough, now she has to get involved!
Now he was in a bind. He had given them what he thought was a false choice and they didn’t take the bait. It became obvious that the only way he was going to placate this mad throng, was to give in their bloodthirsty demands.
When he addressed the screaming mass for the final time, he told them that he still didn’t see any fault with this man, but he was going to give them their wish. To emphasize his disagreement with the judgment, he made a show of washing his hands of the situation. It was a shame that an innocent man was going to die for such a trivial matter, but better some Jew’s life than more decrees coming from the Emperor. His biggest problem was explaining it to Claudia, oh well, one more headache.
His thoughts were interrupted by the chief priests who were upset at the sign that was hanging over the head of Jesus proclaiming him to be the “King of the Jews”. They demanded that it be taken down. Pilate smiled to himself; at least in one small way he was showing again who was in charge. “No,” he exclaimed, “it’s staying!” After that he left to go back to the palace with thoughts of the tranquil Mediterranean on his mind.
Matt: 27 Mark 15 Luke 23 John 18 & 19
- What was Pilate’s main concern during the trial?
- Could he really have come up with any other answer than having Jesus Crucified?
