Pilate is by far the greater villian

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | March, 2004 | John O'Sullivan

[Northern Yankee]

When Senator Howard Baker was a candidate in the 1980 Presidential election, he ran across strong criticism of his support for Jimmy Carter's return of the Panama Canal to Panama from a Republican woman in Vermont. "Well, madam," replied the senator with sweet reasonableness, "I must have cast thousands of votes during my time in the Senate. You probably agree with almost all of them. Why focus on the one issue where we disagree?"

"pontius Pilate probably made lots of good decisions too," responded the lady. "But we only remember one."

She had grasped an important point that seems to have eluded many of the film critics who have recently reviewed Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of The Christ: namely, that Pontius Pilate was not a decent fellow but a contemptible villan. These reviewers have seized on the different portrayals of Pilate and the Jewish high priest, Caiphas as evidence that Gibson's film is anti-Semetic.

[Northern Yankee]

I don't know if this has been posted before, but I thought timely as we start Holy Week.

[Northern Yankee]

[Victoria Delsoul]

But as Gibson's film makes horribly clear, he [Pilate] makes the wrong one. And in doing so, he establishes that courage is the handmaiden of the virtues. If we lack courage, we will find it very much harder to be virtuous against the crowd.

From the standpoint of the New Testament, according to the traditional teaching of the Christian church, and in Mel Gibson's movie, Pilate is by far the greater villain.

Yes, Pilate is the one who ultimately decided to put Jesus to death, knowing He was innocent. There is no question about Pilate's weakness, doubts, and cowardly behavior. By washing his hands, he freed himself from responsibility by putting the death of Jesus solely on Caiaphas and the mob. However, I've learned during my catechism classes that the responsibility and ultimate decision-making about the death of Jesus was his alone. It was Pilate who condemned Jesus not Caiphas or the crowd.

[dirtboy]

Yes, Pilate is the one who ultimately decided to put Jesus to death, knowing He was innocent. There is no question about Pilate's weakness, doubts, and cowardly behavior.

I was talking to my couzin today about how I thought that Gibson's portrayal of Pilate as bowing to public opinion and, in the process, committing a substantial wrong, was an indirect indictment of politicians like Bill Clinton.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I thought that Gibson's portrayal of Pilate as bowing to public opinion and, in the process, committing a substantial wrong, was an indirect indictment of politicians like Bill Clinton.

In a way, perhaps. But I think it's broader than that, as the article points out:

Yet there is also a less admirable reason why the modern world finds Pilate sympathetic. He is the patron saint of doubt and thus attractive to an age that regards doubt itself as a virtue - or at least as a mark of sophistication in the face of certainties with which we happen to disagree, whether they are the certainties of the religious right, or of fundamentalist Moslems, or of political ideologies. Many intellectuals, academics and (generally liberal) politicians have come to see doubt in these modestly heroic terms.

Now, considered seriously (which almost never happens), the idea that doubt is either a virtue or a sign of intellectual superiority is nonsense. Chronic doubt is a symptom of depression in clinical psychology. Everyday difficulty in choosing between finely balanced alternatives is simply a sign that we have not investigated the problem sufficiently. And the proper reaction to unjustified certainty is not doubt but the firm analytical refutation of dogmatic error.

[Joe 6-pack]

I believe it is the Coptic tradition that considers Pilate a Saint. As their tradition holds, he was converted to Christianity through his wife, Procula, and later martyred via crucifixion.

[Victoria Delsoul]

A Saint? I don't know about that. How about you, Jay?

[Northern Yankee]

I've learned during my Catechism classes that the responsibility and ultimate decision - making about the death of Jesus was his alone.

Spot on. Jesus tells Pilate that "You would have no power over me unless it were given to you from above." (John 19. verse 11)

Here's something to chew on. If Pilate had released Jesus, finding no guilt in him, would he have been doing God's will? Since this had been pre-ordained, was Pilate condemned to convict Jesus, or did he really have free will?

Obviously we know that God is all knowing and all seeing, and so we obviously know that man still has free will. It just staggers the mind to know that all of our actions are known, except for us. We need God's guidance more than we realize when we start to contemplate this whole passion.

Look at the actions of Judas, Peter, Caiaphas, and Pilate to see just where free will is given, and how they react to this situation that has already been mapped out before them.

Does this make sense?

[Northern Yankee]

Victoria,

I have not heard about Pilate becoming a martyr.

Certainly the historian Josephes clearly sees him as ruthless in his dealing with the Jewish people, and is called back to Rome to explain his brutality.

[aimhigh]

However, I've learned during my catechism classes that the responsibility and ultimate decision-making about the death of Jesus was his alone.

Unfortunately, your catachism was politically correct, but not historically correct. We are all sinners - Jew and Gentile alike, but scripture isn't silent on Christ's death.

Matthew 26:3-4 "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. "

Mark 10:33-34 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.

John 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Now the climax:

John 19:11 Jesus answered (Pilate), Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

And the clincher:

Acts 3:12-15 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? ... 13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. 14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

1 Thess 2:14-15 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

It's great to be policitally correct, but it's not good to rewrite history.

[Victoria Delsoul]

That's what I thought. Thanks Jay.

[Victoria Delsoul]

but it's not good to rewrite history.

Right, so let us refresh our recollection…

John 19:10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [at all] against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

19:15 But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

19:16 Then delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led [him] away.

19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called [the place] of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

19:18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put [it] on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, [and] Greek, [and] Latin.

19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

19:22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also [his] coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

19:24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

[Northern Yankee]

Nice responsee in your answers.

Christ chose his death, and all those in this passion were just players following their roles designed for them through the scriptures.

To put blame onto any group takes the power and divinity away from God and Jesus, and puts the power into tbe hands of men.

The Gospels do not rewrite anything but mearly confirm the glory and power of God.

[Burkeman1]

I hardly think such as Clinton was even on Mel's mind during the making of this film. You lesson this movie to even mention Clinton in the same breath. But I have seen this film three times now. And each time I came away more disgusted with Pilate than any other figure. His only concern with Jesus was how it would effect his political standing with the Empire and his prospects for advancement. At least the Jewish High Priests actually believed Jesus to be a heretic. Pilate didn't give a turd and washed his hands of it.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I definitely will not blame the Jewish people for Jesus death. However, as this article indicates there are villains in the Passion of the Christ, and Pilate isn't the ONLY villain but the greater one. We are all instruments of God, but we're still responsible for our decisions and actions. However, as God exists the devil also exists. Where there is good there is also evil. We can't assign every action to God's will because, there are some bad people out there doing bad things, i.e. Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung, Stalin; and other mass-murderers, perverts, and sick-minded individuals. But I digress, yes, it was written that Jesus would die for us on the cross. So in that regard I agree with you, Jay, that the Gospels confirm the glory and power of God and putting blame onto any group takes the power and divinity away from God and Jesus, and puts the power into the hands of men.

[Ciexyz]

It was MY sins, and YOUR sins, that nailed Jesus to the cross. He went willingly to his death as our sacrificial lamb. It was the plan of the Father God. Nuff said.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Indeed.

[Ciexyz]

Fox News just aired a lovely special on Jesus at 9 PM EST, and it's ending with a dialogue between a Catholic theologian and a Jewish rabbi, and they're able to converse in a friendly manner about their religious differences. So this is an example of the kind of positive dialogue that "The Passion" film is engendering.

[Dog Gone]

No kidding. This insane argument about who was to blame for the death of Jesus, when it was HIS plan to be put to death is really amazing.

[Ciexyz]

It is an insane argument, isn't it? Considering that the tomb is empty, because Jesus only stayed dead three days! He lives and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty!

It's a shame that a bunch of ignorant people throughout history put Jews in ghettos and staged pogroms all in the theory that "the Jews killed Jesus". Very sad, wasn't it.