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Pilate’s Golden Opportunity

Published July 6, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Pilate, small men

From a historical perspective, Pilate was an interesting personality. Someone once quipped:

Small men are fussy.

Pilate was a small man, if not in stature then in personality and character; how he treated Jesus proves this. But Pilate had a career long before he met Jesus Christ. According sources that include the writings of Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius, Pilate was the fifth procurator of Samaria and Judea. In a letter from Agrippa I to Caligula, Pilate is described this way:

This man is inflexible, merciless, and obstinate.

In fact, Pilate’s cruelty was well-known; so well-known that other barbarians of the day considered him to be a “saint!” He was particularly fond of annoying the Jews every chance he could. For example, he once raided the temple treasury to fund an ambitious building project. He even went so far as to defile the temple by hanging golden shields inscribed with the images and names of the gods of Rome on its walls.

Pilate was indeed a small man. According to the Gospels, he was proud and cruel. He was superstitious and likely henpecked by his wife. He was the stereotypical self-seeker who said things and did things to gain his superior’s approval. He hated the Jews for no other reason than they bugged him merely by existing. Oddly enough, there is some evidence that Pilate did respect and exercise justice as best he could.

Pilate was a not a good man. But as bad as he was, he wasn’t as bad a Annas and Caiaphas, the Jewish religious leaders who delivered Jesus to Pilate.

“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you understand? I have the power to set you free or to nail you to a cross.”

Jesus answered, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:10, 11 NIrV)

On the other hand, we have Jesus, whose character was completely the opposite to that of Pilate. They are so different, it reminds us of an old verse:

The waves of the world’s sea may surge, But the blue sky above is calm.

In Mark 15, we read about the night Jesus was hauled before this man Pilate, and in their exchanges and by observing their behavior, we can see just how calm Jesus was, in contrast to the restlessness of Pilate. Jesus, not Pilate, is seen the One in charge of the situation. Pilate is seen as a “small, fussy man” when compared to the calmness of our Lord.

Pilate was just one man, yet he forever remains mankind’s example of how so many people today treat Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

Pilate had Jesus handed to him

It was very early in the morning. The chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, made a decision. They tied Jesus up and led him away. Then they handed him over to Pilate. (Mark 15:1 NIrV)

Knowing how much Pilate disliked the Jews, and how much he preferred political expediency, we can understand why the religious leaders pawned Jesus off on him. The Sanhedren had condemned Jesus to death but that’s about all they could do. There were no teeth behind their condemnation because they had no authority to carry out a death sentence. Only Rome could do that, and Pilate represented Rome and Roman justice.

But look at this situation more closely. The paths of Pilate and Jesus would have never crossed had the Sanhedren not foisted Jesus in front of him. Do you realize the golden opportunity presented to Pilate? There was virtually no chance Pilate would have met the Savior. None. Here was Pilate’s one chance to justify himself by justifying Jesus.

But Pilate’s golden opportunity is really the opportunity presented to ever single sinner who is privileged to hear the Gospel of salvation, either from a preacher or a neighbor. When you share your faith with the lost, you are, in a sense, delivering Jesus to them! They can either accept Him or reject Him.

Pilate grasped the truth about Jesus

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. (Mark 15:2 NIrV)

I don’t think Pilate is mocking Jesus with this question. He’s asking a serious question of our Lord because, in Pilate’s mind, it could very well be true. Remember, Pilate was keenly interested in justice. In Pilate’s mind, the truth about Jesus was taken seriously, if not assented to. How many people in your neighborhood intellectually know the truth about Jesus but have never placed their faith in Him? How many unsaved people have heard the Gospel, can quote John 3:16, understand the message of salvation, yet have never made the decision to give their lives to Christ?

The world is full of people just like Pilate. They’ve heard about Jesus, they know the words about Him, but they don’t know Him. In a very real sense, today’s unbelieving friend or neighbor isn’t all that far removed from Pilate, who himself wasn’t too far removed from Agrippa. Paul had testified before him in Acts 26, and when the apostle had said his piece, this happened:

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. (Acts 26:27, 28 AV)

“Almost persuaded.” How many Americans think those are just the words of a country song first recorded by David Houston back in 1966. Of course, it was also hymn written by Philip Bliss. But it was pagan King Agrippa who first said them to Paul, shortly before he died a horrible death. Being “almost persuaded” doesn’t cut it. Nor does intellectually understanding who Jesus was, as Pilate did.

Pilate was amazed with Jesus

That’s what the record says in Mark 15:5 –

Pilate was amazed. (Mark 15:5 NIrV)

Jesus amazed Pilate. Some other versions use the word “marveled.” However you translate it, Pilate was taken with our Lord. He didn’t dismiss him out of hand. Pilate marveled at Christ’s character, His “majestic serenity” in the way He responded, or didn’t respond, to questioning.

Jesus amazes a lot of people, by the way. But being amazed or intrigued by our Lord does not equal a confession of faith in Him.

No wonder Pilate was amazed with Jesus. Jesus continually remained silent in the face of the ridiculous accusations heaped upon Him by the high priests. Pilate was puzzled and amazed at the same time because it was obvious to him that Jesus was innocent.

Although probably coined by the ancient Egyptians, it was Thomas Carlyle who translated this well-known phrase from the German work Sartor Resartus in 1831, in which a character says this about speech and silence:

Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silver, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity.”

Sometimes silence spells tragedy. It was so for Israel during the days of Amos:

“The days are coming when I will send hunger through the land. But people will not be hungry for food. They will not be thirsty for water. Instead, they will be hungry to hear a message from me. People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. They will travel from north to east. They will look for a message from me. But they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11 NIrV)

And so it was with Pilate. Pilate had a chance, but that chance was slipping away from him fast.

Pilate was sympathetic toward Jesus

“Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?” asked Pilate. He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous. (Mark 15:9, 10 NIrV)

As noted previously, Pilate seemed to know the truth about Jesus. At the very least, this Roman procurator wasn’t violently opposed to our Lord. He had no desire to see Jesus hurt in any way. And, in fact, he actually wanted to set Jesus free. To do our Lord a favor, as it were. “Finding no fault” in Jesus is barely the starting point, though!

But again, being nice to Jesus or even treating Him with respect isn’t the same thing as submitting to Him as Lord and Savior. There are a great many people in the world and in the church today who are highly respectful of Jesus. They may even take His Sermon on the Mount seriously. But that’s not having saving faith in Him. That’s not becoming one of His disciples.

Over in John’s Gospel, we have this event from a slightly different perspective. In John’s more lengthy account, we read this:

“So you are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right to say I am a king. In fact, that’s the reason I was born. I came into the world to give witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then Pilate went out again to the Jews. He said, “I find no basis for any charge against him.” (John 18:37, 38 NIrV)

Pilate understood the moral truth of Jesus’ situation. Deep in his heart of hearts he knew Jesus was just an innocent schlub caught up in yet another religious controversy in Jerusalem. But the spiritual truth of Jesus eluded Pilate.

Pilate was concerned with what others thought

Jesus, the Truth, was standing right in front of Him, but instead of doing what he knew to be right, Pilate listened to what others thought.

“Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. (Mark 15:12 NIrV)

How sad that this man who was so interested in justice being served had such a vacillating spirit that he would choose to deal with Jesus, not according to his conscience, but according to what that fickle and perverse crowd wanted.

“Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” the crowd shouted. (Mark 15:12, 13 NIrV)

Prodded by his conscience, but eager to test the resolve of the public, he laid his heart bare:

“Why? What wrong has he done?” asked Pilate. (Mark 15:14 NIrV)

Of course, Jesus had done no wrong, and Pilate knew it. And it was within Pilate’s power to set Jesus free. But the resounding shout of “Crucify Him, crucify Him” swayed him more than Jesus’ words of truth. In the end, Pilate made his decision as a mere political opportunist. A morally weak man, completely devoid of any integrity.

Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd. So he let Barabbas go free. He ordered that Jesus be whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross. (Mark 15:15 NIrV)

Jesus had been handed over to Pilate for judgment, and for the sake of history, Pilate judged Jesus correctly: Jesus Christ was an innocent man. But that’s all Pilate did. In the end, just as Jesus had been handed over to him, he in turn handed Jesus over to others as quickly as he could so that they would do with Him as they would. The paths of Pilate and Jesus will cross again, but at the great tribunal of the future, it won’t be Jesus on trial. It will be Pilate.

History hasn’t been kind to Pilate. Even non-believers look at him scornfully, putting him in the same league as Judas Iscariot. With the exception of the Abyssinian Church which canonized Pilate because he believed in the innocence of Jesus and the Greek church who gave his wife similar recognition, Christians shake their collective heads at Pilate and wonder how he could have been so cold as to let Jesus be crucified. Pilate should have released Jesus. The Jews should have received Him. Both have experienced the heavy hand of God’s judgment. The Jews are still spiritually blinded, and what happened to Pilate? His history is very scant, but what we do know is that he was regarded as a bumbling, inept ruler who was always running afoul of the Roman government for one reason or another. Ultimately, he was deposed and recalled to Rome, about five years after the events of Mark 15. According to a 4th century A.D. historian, Eusebius, he finally “fell into such calamities that he was forced to become his own murderer.”

If you are reading this and you are not a Christian, understand that Jesus has been delivered by God for you and in the Word of God to you. Don’t be like Pilate, anxious to get rid of Him; anxious to go along with the crowd. Pilate had been given a golden, once in a lifetime opportunity: Jesus had been brought right in front of him, yet he profited nothing from that encounter. How many times have you been given the opportunity to choose Jesus? Make the most of the opportunity. Choose wisely.

EXCEPTional Bible Verse, Part 8

Published December 16, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: authority, Exceptional Bible Verses, Pilate

John 19:11

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. (John 19:11 KJV)

From a one perspective, John 19 presents the greatest miscarriage of justice in the history of jurisprudence. Rome had become well-known around the world for its system of justice. Most of us are familiar with the two-faced god, Janus. He had one face that looked forward, while the other looked backward. Janus reminded Roman judges to look at both sides of a legal question. But Roman justice came with a high price tag; Rome ruled with an iron fist. Whether you were guilty or innocent, you got justice under Roman law – not mercy, but justice. For over a thousand years, Rome ruled the world, dominating people with the promise of law and order, peace and protection, all under the heavy burden of tyranny and dictatorship. This is why, considering Roman history, what happened to Jesus was a true miscarriage of justice.

Our EXCEPTional Bible verse is Jesus’ response to governor Pilate’s question:

“Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you?” (John 19:10b TLB)

Let’s take a look at the events that led to Pilate’s question and our Lord’s surprising answer and what all that means to you.

1. Trial before Annas and Caiaphas

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were determined to stop Him at all costs, and they were going to use the courts to do just that. In fact, Jesus had never gone against the law – His Father’s or Rome’s – so these despicable men, puny high priests like Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas, manufactured lies against Jesus that another puny man, a Roman governor named Pilate, would pay attention to.

Jesus was given a preliminary hearing before the proud, ambitious, and wealthy Annus. It was during this time Peter, who was brought by John into the palace where Jesus was being questioned, actually denied knowing Jesus three times!

As if the humiliation Jesus was experiencing while He faced Annus and later the Sanhedrin weren’t enough, He knew a member of His inner circle – and close personal friend – was in the process of disowning Him.

This so-called preliminary hearing was really a joke, as was the mock trial before the Jews. It was a joke because there was absolutely no serious attempt to get at the truth; Jesus’ fate had been decided long ago; the verdict was decided long before Jesus was tried. Annas’ question to Jesus is enlightening because it reveals what he was really interested in:

Inside, the High Priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. (John 18:19 TLB)

This corrupt priest was more interested in learning the size of Jesus’ following than what He was teaching them; his interest in Jesus’ teaching was only secondary so as to find a hook on which to hang a charge.

When asked to defend Himself, our Lord responded in a way that resulted in a face-stinging slap:

Ask those who heard me. You have some of them here. They know what I said. (John 18:21 TLB)

Annas wouldn’t even call a witness to see if anything Jesus was teaching was wrong or seditious.

Next, Jesus stood before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin,where He fared no better. Caiaphas was the real high priest who presided over the Sanhedrin, so this was really first trial of Jesus, the trial in the Jewish religious courts. John doesn’t give us any details about what happened here.

2. Before Pilate

Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Next he was taken to the palace of the Roman governor. His accusers wouldn’t go in themselves for that would “defile” them, they said, and they wouldn’t be allowed to eat the Passover lamb. (John 18:28 TLB)

This is an interesting verse because in it, we see the religion of Jews right beside the Person of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the Jewish religion. Here is Jesus Christ, the One who came to fulfill the Passover; Himself the Lamb of God, standing beside the very religious men who have brought charges against Him that will result in His hanging on a Cross. Yet, because these religious men didn’t want to violate their precious religious law, thus keeping them from participating in Passover, they wouldn’t go into the judgment hall. How they loved their religion, while plotting the death of their Savior.

This whole trial before Pilate was a mockery of Roman law as surely as the trials before the high priests was a mockery of Jewish law. Just look at what Pilate had to go through to satisfy these Jews. No wonder he hated living in Jerusalem!

18:20 – Pilate went out (of the hall)

18:33 – Pilate when back in (the hall)

18:38 – Pilate went out (of the hall)

19:1 – Pilate whipped Jesus (in the hall)

19:4 – Pilate went out (of the hall)

19:9 – Pilate came back in again (to the hall)

You can see that Pilate, not a Jew, tried to abide by the Jewish religious laws as he tried to get Jesus of the hook. Pilate knew something was wrong, desperately wrong, with what was going on with Jesus.

“Then take him away and judge him yourselves by your own laws,” Pilate told them. (John 18:31 TLB)

This disgruntled Roman governor didn’t want anything to do with Jesus. The problem Pilate was encountering was this: the Jewish religious leaders wanted Jesus dead; they would accept NO other verdict but they, because of Roman law, could not pass a sentence of death. This is what Jesus meant when He said this in Matthew 20:19 –

And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

Now, the Jews could have had Jesus stoned to death according to their religious law, but remember what was written in Psalm 22 and you’ll realize why the Jews did what they did:

My strength has drained away like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart melts like wax; my strength has dried up like sun-baked clay; my tongue sticks to my mouth, for you have laid me in the dust of death. The enemy, this gang of evil men, circles me like a pack of dogs; they have pierced my hands and feet. I can count every bone in my body. See these men of evil gloat and stare; they divide my clothes among themselves by a toss of the dice. (Psalm 22:14 – 18 TLB)

This was death by crucifixion which only the Romans did. That’s why the Jewish leaders handed our Lord off to Pilate; they didn’t know it, but they were fulfilling Scripture! Yet this man Pilate is truly a pitiful man. He didn’t want anything to do with Jesus. In this, our Roman governor is a lot like people today, who have no problem acknowledging a “higher power,” but when confronted with Jesus, these otherwise reasonable people can get downright testy. What to do with a Man who forces you to make a choice: His way or the wrong way? Yes, Jesus demands people make a choice; either follow Him or remain lost. This is why the world is so opposed to Jesus but not to the idea of “higher power,” whatever its name may be. Belief in a god or even God doesn’t call for commitment or dedication. But faith in Jesus Christ involves those things; it involves living according to HIS will, not yours. And to many people, that’s just offensive.

3. Pilate and Jesus, strange bedfellows

With superstitious fear, Pilate questioned Jesus over and over, trying to figure out a way to get this man off the Jewish hook. But Jesus remained quiet; He wouldn’t speak up in His own defense. Finally, Pilate in exasperation, looked Jesus in the eyes and said this:

“Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or to crucify you?” (John 19:10 TLB)

This verse reveals something about Pilate. The question that precedes this one, “To ME you offer silence?”is not a statement of surprise but of offense. Pilate just could not believe that this Jesus wouldn’t speak to Him! Sure, Jesus could talk back to those provincial Jewish priests, but to the almighty governor this prisoner DARES keep His mouth shut? The second question corroborates the first: Pilate had a high estimation of himself for he alone – nobody else – can secure Jesus’ freedom. Pilate was the MAN before all should bow. He was the one the people – people like Jesus – should be thankful for. The crumbs that fell from his table were beneficial crumbs. This was Pilate’s attitude. He was so filled with the pride of his position, he over-spoke the good thing he was trying to accomplish. Was Pilate the whole Roman government? Of course not! Yet here he was talking to Jesus as though he had the power to write his own laws; choosing which laws to enforce and which ones to ignore.

Yes, Pilate is a pitiful figure in this story. He wasn’t nearly as wise as he thought he was and he didn’t have the power he thought he had. Really, all Pilate wanted was to be left alone.

And that gets us to our EXCEPTional verse, Jesus answer to 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. (John 19:11 KJV)

Jesus had to respond to Pilate, for to remain silent would be to agree with the governor’s assessment of his level of power and authority. Jesus had to set this man straight. The word for “power” here is exousia, which means “liberty or power” as in “power to act.” In other words, any authority or power Pilate had was derived and not inherent. Westcott draws an inescapable conclusion:

Human government is only valid as the expression of the divine will.

Woe to the government that governs against the will of God! That government won’t survive.

In comparing Jesus and Pilate, another scholar has made this observation:

Jesus does more than assert His Divine power and origin. He assumes it. In striking contrast, Pilate asserts his power.

In reality, Pilate had NO power to either release Jesus or to crucify Him. But Jesus was not thinking of the Roman government, He was thinking of Himself. Consider this:

No one can kill me without my consent—I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right and power to lay it down when I want to and also the right and power to take it again. For the Father has given me this right. (John 10:18 TLB)

You see, Pilate had no power of any kind over Jesus. The only power Pilate had in this instance was the power Jesus gave him. Whatever was happening to Jesus and whatever would happen to Him in the next few hours was what Jesus wanted, not Pilate and not the Jewish religious leaders. Pilate needed to know that the fate of Jesus was not in his hands; but that a greater hand held Pilate.

But Jesus didn’t stop with this government official. It was God’s justice that put Israel under Roman domination. Their present position was a result of God’s punitive action. As surely as Pilate had no inherent power, neither did Caiaphas or the Jewish religious leaders. These men, unscrupulous and cold as Caiaphas was and unscrupulous and weak as Pilate was, were in positions of “power” only because they were tools in God’s hands, exercising His will, not theirs.

Jesus obviously saw something in Pilate because He wanted Pilate to know the truth. It wasn’t Jesus that was on trial here, it was Pilate on trial before Heaven’s Judge. Pilate the judge was being tried by a Judge greater than he. Caiaphas was judged as having committed the “greater sin.”

After all was said and done, Pilate knew Jesus was innocent but washed his hands of the matter. But he could not remove the guilt of his actions that day. Just a few years later, in 36 AD, he was deposed, sent off to Rome to face charges, was banished, eventually killing himself.

Pilate was one who was told the truth, knew some of the truth, but did nothing with it. A lot of people today know the truth of Jesus but, like Pilate, wash their hands of our Lord because they just want to be left alone. The tragedy is that God will leave them alone – for all eternity, unless they pay attention to Jesus.