At every turn throughout this entire encounter Pilate finds resistance and frustration. The Jewish religious leaders do not want Jesus released and stir up the crowd so that the threat of rioting looms. Jesus refuses to defend himself against the charges brought against him. Finally, Pilate tries one last time:
"Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." (19:15)We have only three sources from which to draw a portrait of Pilate: the Gospels, the Jewish historian Josephus, and Philo of Alexandria's copy of a letter from Herod Agrippa to the Roman Emperor Caligula. None of them show Pilate in a good light. Essentially, Pilate was a political appointee serving at the whim of Caligula, who was notoriously cruel and unbalanced. The Jewish leaders know this and make an implied threat, saying
If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor." (19:12)Whether or not Pilate was a good or bad person, the deck is effectively stacked against him. He has run out of options.
These last three posts have followed a similar theme. But no matter who the historical Pilate was, or who we think we see in the Gospels, the character of Pilate has a role in the drama John lays out before us. His actions in the story are as carefully and skillfully plotted as Peter's, Thomas', Judas', and those of everyone else who appears. John is not concerned with recording historical facts. This is the story of the Good News of Jesus the Christ as told to a particular community many years after the events recorded took place.
And now Pilate has one last action to take in this drama before he disappears from the stage.
Peace,
Jeffri
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