Posted on 04/06/2015 12:35:58 PM PDT by Teacher317
I'm not exactly a Biblical scholar, so be a little gentle with the flames.
I was watching Passion of the Christ yesterday for Easter (my third time seeing it), and a thought occurred to me. Both the movie and the Gospels note that Pilate tried, repeatedly, to not sentence Jesus to death. His wife lobbied for Jesus, he declared "this man has done nothing", he sent him to Herod declaring him not guilty, and he even tried the once-a-year prisoner release gambit. At every turn, the high priests and the crowd pushed for his death. Even after finding him guilty of something (Jesus DID try to talk two tax collectors out of their jobs, and he DID admit to being the King of Hosts... with the exact phrasing depending on your Bible version), he only sentenced him to punishment, not death (and yet Jesus got viciously tortured... again, against Pilates orders).
So... here's my question for the many religious historians and "experts" on FR that I have some respect for...
Why is it that we have, every week for 2000 years, called out Pilate by name in the Apostle's Creed. Caiaphas is the one, by most accounts, who pushed the most for Jesus to be tortured and killed. The high priests pushed the crowds to act up if they did not get their way. The Romans just wanted to avoid yet another riot and civil unrest, and Pilate (according to the movie) was already on notice about allowing any more uprisings.
In the end, Pilate tells the crowd "you do it, I won't. The blood of the Son of God is not on my hands", and he famously washes his hands. He did his best to find other ways out, he did his best to avoid many people being killed in the riots, and he recognized, repeatedly, that Jesus was innocent. His only crime was to EVENTUALLY wear down and give in to the crowd to avoid many more than one "man" being killed. For a Roman soldier with political responsibilities, with no reason to have any faith in this latest prophet, he did a good job overall of trying to minimize the damage to himself, to the crowd, to Rome, and to the region. I cannot say that I could or would have done any better. (although every Christian will want to jump up and say "Well *I* would have stood up for Him!!!"... which is almost surely malarkey. Pilate didn't KNOW, and neither would you have known.)
So, again... why do we weekly pour out scorn for Pilate's name, for millenia, and not Caiaphas?
The Jews didn’t want Jesus’ death on their hands, especially during Passover. So they tried to pass the responsibility over to Pilate. Although Pilate found there were no facts to condemn Jesus under, he sentenced him to crucifixion anyways.
The manner of Jesus’ death itself shows he was killed by the Romans, ostensibly for rebellion. (Thus the epithet, King of the Jews.) The Jews would have stoned him to death for blasphemy, but got the Romans to do their dirty work for them.
I may have missed it, but it seems that no one came up with the right answer — only Pontius Pilate could give the death sentence, and he in fact did do just that. The High Priests Council could not carry out the death sentence under Roman rule. It was somewhat lucky (for Pilate) that the flogging itself did not kill Jesus — there were 302 different whip marks on Jesus, if you believe the Shroud of Turin was in fact Jesus’ burial shroud (which I do). It was so brutal that Pilate was quoted in the Gospel as being surprised that Jesus had died so quickly on the Cross.
Not to be contrary, but in truth, the party responsible for Jesus’s death, was . . .
Jesus.
The issue with Pilate is that he four no fault which Christ, but did what was politically expedient:
Luke 23:13-15 — Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.”
Luke 23:23-24 — But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand.
Matthew 27:24 — When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
In my opinion, Pilate was trying to get the equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Pilate's sin there might well be one of omission ... he failed to exercise his genuine, God-given authority properly. It serves as a reminder to those of us now, today, who hold genuine authority. We are responsible not only for our use of it, but our failure to use it when we are required to do so.
Exactly on target FRiend. All happened EXACTLY as God willed.
The Jews didn’t have the authority to kill anyone without the Roman’s permission. It wasn’t that they didn’t want blood on their hands during Passover, it was they couldn’t kill him without being punished by the Romans.
It’s like the adulterous woman they took to Jesus. It was a trap for Jesus. They knew that if they stoned her and killed her on Jesus’ word and authority, the Romans would arrest him. So they tried to get him to say that the law of Moses demanded that they kill her. His response “He is without sin may throw the first stone” was brilliant. Since none would claim to be sinless, and risk the charge of blasphemy and expulsion from their position, no one would throw a stone.
Pilate was a cruel and hard governor... he had an uneasy alliance with the Pharisees to keep peace but they despised each other. History paints Pilate as merciless and he did have Jesus crucified. Just speculating but I wonder if Pilate was jerking the Pharisees around with his threats to declare Jesus innocent and release Him. Jesus forgave and associated with prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers and outcasts. His few hostile encounters were with the religious and political leaders (see Matthew 23)... who ruled the people, instead of serving them (sound familiar?). Jesus wouldn’t even speak to Herod, but was strangely un-hostile to Pilate who condemned Him (go figure?). All in God’s redemptive plan I ‘spose.
For the Jews, there are certain things that HAVE to happen before the Messiah returns. None of these had happened by the time of Jesus.
Plus, more likely, The Jewish PTB had no intention of giving up power.
"Not to be contrary, but in truth, the party responsible for Jesus’s death, was . . . "
Look in the mirror.
I agree: Pilate may have been a weak man, but making him into a monster, as I hear during many Easter sermons, is difficult to understand. As proconsul/prefect of Judea, reporting to the legate (of Syria), maintaing order was an important part of his job. Rebellion among the Jews was an ongoing problem, and one he would have been particularly sensitive to. We know from the historical record that he had committed a number of faux pas that created friction with the Jews because of his lack of knowledge of their customs; he was very likely warned against this by his boss. If he let a minor religious event that he did not understand blow up into an insurrection/rebellion, he could lose his life, or at least be demoted, or marked as a slave. As you say, he tried many times to find a way to free Jesus, without offending the Jews, but ultimately failed. I see him as a man who saw something holiness in Jesus, who did not think that whatever crime he committed merited death, and who did his best to help him. Ultimately, he violated his conscience by choosing his own security instead of doing the right thing. Pilate, being the one holding the buck is the one “legally” responsible for letting our Lord be put to death, but in my opinion there were others who were more culpable morally.
Some excellent and interesting (and educational!) answers. Thanks all!
FR really really needs a Like button, too!
I don’t have an answer...to Your question...
but the real question for the WHOLE WORLD...
is...
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
John 18:38... Get the Answer correct...You have it made...
get an incorrect or incomplete answer...not so much.
There are multiple definitions of suffer. In modern times, suffer typically means to be in pain or agony, but the word can also mean to resist or endure. To me the sentence is not blaming Pilate for the agony of torture and death described in the next sentence of the Creed, but rather the Creed is making the point that Jesus was far stronger than Pilate, because Jesus did not break down and beg for his life as Pilate expected.
That is the best course. When Hollywood makes a religeous movie, it is usually not for historical or biblical accuracy. I refuse to line the pockets of those that continue to comdemn Him to this day.
I might be wrong, but I believe it has been Caiaphas and the Jews who have been scorned for a millennia for the murder of Jesus, and Pilate's been blamed only recently by Hollywood in an attempt to divert responsibility away from the Jews.
A thousand years ago, Crusaders would stop off to murder entire Jewish villages in punishment for Jewish responsibility in Jesus' death as they passed through Europe on their way to the Holy Land, and, of course, there's no record of Crusaders stopping of in Rome to punish Romans for Pilate's involvement. After the Crusades, the Inquisitions targeted European Jews throughout Europe for centuries in continuation of their punishment for their responsibility in Jesus' murder.
No, Pontius Pilate scorn is a recent Hollywood invention.
Not to mention having to carry his own cross under extreme exhaustion and duress from the city to the Calvary...
Except that Pilate WAS guilty of this Man’s blood. He also uttered the famous question “What is truth?”.
In some ways, it is similar to a pastor who marries two men, sentencing them to a life of unrepentant adultery. He has their blood on his hands because he sees God’s Word and asks “What is truth?”.
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