People Jesus met - Pilate

People Jesus met - Pontius Pilate

This is the last in the present mini series of people who met the Lord Jesus.
There is a verse in Timothy tells us the Lord bore his testimony to the truth in the face of Pilate, and the same steadfast confession is required of Timothy, and all other followers of the Lord. 1Timothy 6:13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the course of his trail Pilate came to know a great deal abut the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
The Apostle’s Creed, assigns Pilate a central role in Jesus’ death with the words,
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

1. PILATES LIFE UNTIL NOW Luke 13:13,
Pilate represented Roman civil and military power, and had governed Israel since the year 26. Pilate had come from Seville in Spain, served under Germanicus, risen through the ranks, then went to Rome and made his fortune. He obtained his post as governor of Judea through his marriage to Claudia Proculla, a granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. Claudia’s mother, Julia, was notorious for her coarse immorality even in decadent Rome, and her daughter was like her. Augustus would refer to them saying, “Would I were wifeless or had childless died.” The marriage was a smart career move but a moral disgrace.
Pilate’s oversight of Judea was insensitive. Pilate constantly upset them and seemed deliberately to provoke them.
When he arrived in Judea the first time, he sent his legions to Jerusalem by night, bearing standards blazoned with the images of Tiberius, which the Jews considered idolatrous. That he did it by night shows that he knew that previous governors had never done that. Crowds of Jews in protest walked to Caesarea where Pilate was staying, and demanded that the standards be removed. There was a stand off for five days. Pilate met them in the local stadium, locked them in threatened to kill them, if they did not disperse. To his amazement the Jews all threw themselves on the ground and bared their necks. They would die rather than see the holy city of Jerusalem contaminated. Pilate backed down.
On another occasion he took money from the sacred Corban treasury to build a fifty-mile aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon into Jerusalem, provoking outrage from the citizens. A revolt took place about this too; because this money had been set aside for the Lord’s work. When the people gathered to protest, Pilate sent soldiers into the crowd disguised as common people who, on a prearranged signal, pulled out hidden weapons and attacked the demonstrators.
Luke refers to an apparently similar massacre Luke 13:13, “There were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.” Some people had gone on pilgrimage from Galilee to Jerusalem and while they were offering sacrifices in the temple Pilate ordered his troops in - we have no idea why. Their blood flowed all over the temple courtyard mixing with the blood of the sacrifices, polluting the place.

2. PILATES TRIAL OF CHRIST
Pilate had probably been contacted the previous night probably by Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin didn’t want to carry the sole responsibility of killing Christ. The thousands of people Jesus had healed and all the people whose lives were changed by Jesus, would all be complaining about the terrible thing the chief priests had done in killing him..”
When the leaders appear, they do not seem to have their charges against Jesus well thought out. Pilate then followed the four stages of a Roman trial:
a) Pilate heard the charge.
Pilate heard the charge. John records Pilate, demanding, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” and the best they could do was retort, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you” John 18:29–30.
When they finally came up with accusations Luke 23:2 says, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."
The first and second were lies because Jesus said, "...Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's..." Matthew. 22:21b.
The third accusation was both true and important; each of the Gospels records it.
The Jews were trying to make Jesus look like an earthly revolutionary who was going to lead a rebellion and crown Himself king.
Pilate knew this was a religious matter and that Jesus was innocent of treason or rebellion. Rome never accused Jesus. So he tried to acquit him.
b) He investigated the evidence
"Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said to Him, Are you the King of the Jews?"
Pilate's question implies, "Is this a joke? You mean they are accusing You of being a king?" And there stands Jesus -- meek, mild, silent, all alone, calm, with His hands bound. He didn't look much like an earthly king. It’s as if Pilate says, Where's Your army? Where are Your kingly clothes? You don't look like a king."
c) He asked for the defense.
34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me? 35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
Pilate says, "What have You done?" In the Jewish court and the Roman court, the judge had no right to ask that question. Under no circumstances was a man to be condemned at the word of his own testimony. It is similar to the US Fifth Amendment. Pilate is asking an illegal question. So Jesus does not answer it.
Then Jesus explains what kind of a King He is, since Pilate understands that He is no political king. Jesus brings Pilate into a discussion of the issues.
Are you asking this as a Roman? Are you asking Me if I'm a political reactionary? Is this your own idea, or did somebody report to you that I claim to be a king?"
Jesus knows if He says, "Yes, I'm a king," then Pilate has a problem because he will be leading the Jews in an insurrection and there is a case to answer.
If Jesus says, "No, I'm not a king," then He has denied His kingship. So Jesus can't just say yes and He can't just say no -- His answer must be qualified. Jn 36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
d) He came to the verdict.
He knew that the real reason behind the accusations was the Jewish leaders’ envy of Jesus, and spoke the verdict: “I find no basis for a charge against him.”
John says that Pilate spoke those words three times. But instead of doing what he should have done at that point, releasing Jesus or at least placing him under protective custody as a later Roman commander did with Paul when his life was threatened by this same judicial body, the governor launched a pattern of irregular proceedings that led eventually to Jesus’ execution.

3. PILATE FOUND EVIDENCE OF JESUS INNOCENCE
a) He had his wife’s message.
Matthew records that Pilate’s wife sent him a message while he was seated on his judgment seat. “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him,” she said.
Frank Morison reminds us that the Romans were particularly superstitious where dreams were concerned. He suggests that Pilate and Proculla were probably together the night Jesus was arrested, that Proculla would have known about the Sanhedrin’s request for a trial, would have gone to bed thinking about Jesus and what she had heard about him, and when she awoke the next morning to find Pilate gone would have known he was beginning the trial. Her warning message to him had to be swift and urgent and would have been taken seriously by Pilate.
b) He saw the envy of the Jews rulers.
Pilate knew they were trouble makers and prejudiced and biased against an innocent one.
c) He was most impressed with Jesus.
He met a perfect Man - How marvelous was that calm self-possession as he did not try to defend himself against his accusers. Matthew reports Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor”. I find in Him no fault at all." The King of truth was maligned and hated, but remained self- controlled, patient and forgiving to the very end. Jesus was as pure at the end as He was at the beginning. There was nothing to hold against Him.
He met the eternal King - jn 36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." Before Pilate, Jesus claimed to be a King. But not an earthly king appointed by his subjects but a King who appoints His subjects. Pilate knew well that the Kingdom Jesus was claiming was no threat to an earthly kingdom. The Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual Kingdom.
He met the incarnate God - "...To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world..." be born is to be human, but to come into the world indicates pre-existence. 7 The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God." 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, Pilate said. "Don’t you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free.
He met the teacher of Truth - Jesus said, "I came into the world to bear witness to the truth." What truth? The truth about God, the truth about men, the truth about sin, the truth about judgment, the truth about love, the truth about holiness, the truth about life and death, the truth about everything.
"Pilate said unto Him, What is truth?..." Notice the cynicism in this: "Truth, what is truth?" as if he were saying, "I've been looking for truth all my life. That is twentieth-century man -- there is no truth. "...Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice." Many people claim to have the answers, Jesus alone comes from God.
4. PILATE SOUGHT WAYS OUT
John 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Pilate tried four expedients to avoid pronouncing the death sentence:
a) Asking the people to choose either Jesus or Barabbas.
"I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?" 40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!
Barabbas was an insurgent, that is, a revolutionary who wanted to drive out the occupying Romans. That is why he was being held for execution. Every Jew knew about Barabbas, he was probably a hero. John makes the nature of the people’s choice crystal clear when he records Pilate asking them, “Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” and they shout back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas” John 18:40. The people wanted an earthly king offering earthly advantages, rather than a king from heaven who offered truth, righteousness, and eternal salvation. That did not work, what a dreadful choice.
b) Sending Jesus to Herod Luke
When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, but that way our did not work. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
c) Offering to punish him without an execution.
Matthew: I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him." but that way our did not work either - 18 With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!"
d) Producing Jesus to stir the people’s pity
Producing Jesus in a beaten condition to stir the people’s pity. Luke "Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him." That did not work either, so all attempts to avoid a decision failed.
5. PILATE CAVED IN AND MADE A WRONG DECISION
Christ’s Fate was Sealed; Pilate was trapped by his own indecision and failure to acquit and free the Lord Jesus. He says. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” “Crucify him,” they answered.
Matthew indicates that “an uproar was starting”. It was the thing Pilate had to avoid at all costs. The leaders said “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar,” John 19:12.
That tipped the scales, for although Pilate may actually have feared Jesus a bit—perhaps Jesus was a kind of god—and although Pilate feared the hatred of the religious leaders and the fickleness of the crowds even more, Pilate feared the emperor most of all and dared not risk his disfavor.
So at last he called for water and washed his hands before the crowd. V24 “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. "It is your responsibility!".
Innocent? That is precisely what Pilate was not. All the water in the world could not wash the guilt of Jesus Christ’s blood from his hands, as countless generations since have realized.
Ryle- We see an imperial representative of the most powerful nation on earth knowing what was right, and yet afraid to act up to his knowledge--convinced in his own conscience that he ought to acquit the prisoner, and yet afraid to do it, sacrificing the claims of justice and countenancing the murder of an innocent person. Never was there a name so justly handed down to a world's scorn as the name which is embalmed in all our creeds--the name of Pontius Pilate.
Much contemporary Christian scholarship and popular media - Gibson’s Passion of the Christ is a recent example - present Pontius Pilate as a weak figure with an incidental role in Jesus’ crucifixion. Too lacking in guts to do the right thing and release an innocent man, he yields reluctantly to the death demands of Jerusalem’s bully-leaders. But such attempts to lower Pilate’s responsibility are unconvincing. We can see that Judas was certainly guilty. He sought to release Jesus for his own self-serving reasons, and not out of justice or compassion.
Pilate was guilty for condemning Jesus to death, but so was Judas, and the Jewish leaders and the mindless crowd as well.
The point is this we also would have cried out, “Away with Him! Crucify Him!”
We too are self serving like Pilate, money loving like Judas, envious like the rulers, and willingly manipulated by others like the crowd.
At the same time, as our Lord had indicated to Pilate, His death was the plan and purpose of God—His means for providing salvation for lost men:
6. WE TOO WILL FIND NEUTRALITY CANNNOT WORK.
He wanted to be neutral, to be innocent of his death, but he failed miserably, and in the end he took his stand against Jesus. No one can be neutral concerning Jesus Christ, for Jesus is either the King he claimed to be, or he is not.
If he is the King, say, “Yes, Jesus, I acknowledge who you are, and I want to become your subject today.”
Torrey, the evangelist, told the story of a man who said, "My question is what do you have against me?" The man then explained that he was a living a moral life, he took care of his family, worked hard for his employer, treated his neighbours well, and said as far as he knew he was doing his duty in every relationship in life, only he was not a Christian and again said, "What have you got against me?"
Torrey then looked him and said, "I'll tell you what I have against you. Jesus Christ is your King by divine appointment. You admit that you have not accepted Him and therefore you by not standing for Him are standing against Him."
One may try to avoid making a decision for Christ today by sending Him away – but He won’t go away, He will return.
One can try to shift the responsibility to someone else. Maybe some Christian has hurt you. The decision is still in our hands!
One could turn Jesus away, in spite of how difficult it is. Perhaps knowing the truth some still turn Him away. Other priorities of life are calling out to you too.
Are you undecided about what to do with Jesus? I want to encourage you to believe Him, trust Him, accept His offer of grace and mercy by being baptized into Christ – believing that by his power you will be raised up to live a new life.
Tradition says Pilate died a suicide. Whether that is true or not, we commit moral, spiritual and eternal suicide when we say "No" to Christ.
This question is for all of us: What will you do with Jesus today? Don’t try to ignore Him! Don’t wash your hands, respond to Him differently than Pilate did.
Yes God was ruling and overruling, but the wickedness of the verdict was 100 per cent Pilate’s. Ac 2:23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. God was in the sinful decision, but not in the sin of the decision. Whatever God determines in eternity men will choose in time. The manner of Jesus’ death was all arranged and governed by God and predicted by Jesus.
God was determined that his blessed sinless Son must die like the sinless Lamb of God and so take away the sin of the world.