Bible Study With The Bishops: Pilate's Choice

Reading Plan Text for June 18: John 18:29-40

The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilate. They are being disingenuous when they tell Pilate "We are not permitted to put anyone to death." They plotted to kill him several times and were unsuccessful. Now that they have him in custody, they are reluctant to do the deed themselves. Instead, they put Pilate in an awkward position.

Pilate's first priority as the Roman Governor of Judea is to keep the province under control. Here he faces the possibility of unrest if he does not do what the Jewish leadership wants. On the other hand, if he executes Jesus, he could still have a rebellion on his hands. So he questions Jesus carefully, trying to find out what sort of man this is that the Jewish leaders are so afraid of. As Annas found before him, he does not get particularly helpful answers. Except that Jesus tells him one important fact.

If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." (18:36)

Obviously, Pilate received no reports of rioting or other armed uprising in the wake of Jesus' arrest. Over time he may have heard rumors or reports of an itinerant preacher and healer with a large following, but clearly this man before him is not the military Messiah so many expect. In fact, he tells the Jewish leaders that he finds no case against Jesus. He even tries to release him as a gesture of goodwill at Passover. The Jewish leadership, and the crowd they brought with them, will have none of it. They ask for the release of a bandit instead.

Pilate's hands are tied. Faced with the choice of releasing a man innocent under Roman law or inciting open rebellion in Jerusalem, he chooses what he sees as the only path to keeping the peace in Judea. In the long run, he made the wrong choice both for himself and for Rome.

For centuries Christians have blamed Pilate for making that choice. Yet, like Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, his choice played an important role in our salvation history. Where would we be, if he had chosen differently? Would Jesus have died later at the hands of a different governor? At the hands of the Jewish leadership? Or would he have simply vanished into the mists of time like so many other long forgotten prophets? Would God have tried again someplace among the Jews of the diaspora?

The answers to those questions belong to the realm of alternative history fiction writers. For the world as it is, the results of Pilate's choice continue...

Peace,
Jeffri