Dear fellow redeemed: “He is innocent, but I will kill him for you.” Ultimately, that is what
Pilate said. But in so doing he becomes yet another witness for Jesus as Lord and Savior of the
world.
Last week we had Barabbas as the witness, the guilty man who was released so that the
innocent remained accused, just as we sinners are spared the wrath of God because the inno-
cent Jesus suffered it on our behalf.
So, now that Barabbas is free, what shall be done with Jesus? Pilate had an innocent
man accused by a vicious mob calling for his death. This isn’t a bunch of pro-lifers quietly praying
outside an abortion clinic, this is a bunch of rioters led by people of influence. The rioters have
the protection of the powerful — and more: “But the chief priests stirred up th(Mark 15:11,
ESV) How does Pilate deal with the mob?
First, he tries to play to their pity. 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And
the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in
a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him
with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to
you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown
of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
If you had been there, you would have seen a man with a terrible mass of thorns on his
head, the head wounds bleeding profusely. The flesh on His back would have been hanging in
ribbons where it wasn’t covered by the bloody purple robe that, with the crown was a mockery
of his kingly title. “Behold the man!” “See what you have done to an innocent man. Surly it is
enough; surely He has paid for any offenses you can imagine.
Pilate thereby bears witness to Jesus’ innocence and to his suffering because of the ac-
cusations of the evil men.
Here things take a turn. The accusers give up all pretense of Jesus’ being a threat to
Rome. When Pilate gives in they reveal their real purpose: 7 The Jews answered him, “We
have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the
Son of God.” Their justification of their demands has the opposite effect. From Pilate’s information, it is plausible that Jesus IS some kind of divine personage. 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” … 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
Pilate had heard of Jesus’ miracles, whether he believed the reports or not. And though
a skeptic, he was well aware of the Graco-Roman myths about Zeus or Jupiter having a consort
with mortal women and giving rise to mighty and heroic offspring- sons of the gods. The Bible
doesn’t tell us just what Pilate thought, but his fear gave yet another witness to not only the fact
that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, but that there was evidence in His favor.
From this point on, the Jews leave all semblance of persuasion and resort to coercion
and blackmail. Pilate held a high position, and to fall from that position would mean death. Really!
Pilate had married the granddaughter of Augustus Caesar. He had been elevated from a
middle-class position to that of the governor of a province. He had been inducted into a special
fraternity, Amici Caesarii, Friends of Caesar, and given a signet ring from Caesar himself. To fall
out of favor was to be ejected from the club, forfeit the ring, and face either ritual suicide of the
death of a coward.
And Pilate had been in trouble with Caesar before. A couple of years before, Pilate had
asserted authority in the temple precincts, leading to bloody riots. He kept killing rioters and they
kept coming until he backed off. The Jews complained to Caesar and Pilate had been rebuked.
The Jews had the ear of Caesar, and they would use their influence to make sure he was no
“Friend of Caesar.” So he caved.
13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the
judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it
was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the
Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no
king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus [away],
He is the archetypical example of someone who forsakes principle, even while recognizing it. Many others do the same. They say they shouldn’t neglect the divine service, but they do.
They say they shouldn’t leave their spouse, but they do. They say they shouldn’t approve of the
perversions of this world, but they do. God have mercy on us, when we acknowledge a truth but
live a lie, like others. They say they shouldn’t turn an indifferent eye to our Savior, but they do.
But in so doing, Pilate becomes a witness to his own cowardice, compromise, and cor-
ruption, but also to the fact that Jesus is in fat the King of the Jews. Not a king in the Roman
sense, of the man of war, but the one who is King of kings, and Lord of emperors too.
That is Pilate, yet another witness to Christ.
AMEN
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Midweek Lent 1- 2023
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