All on God's Friday

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:14 pm by Ben Witherington

All on God's Friday 2015-03-13T23:14:53-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

PILATE CROSSES PATHS WITH JESUS

The morning of the day began with a weary Jesus standing in front of Pontius Pilate at the usual hour for Roman judicial business—- 6 a.m. The day was April 7th A.D. 30, and Pontius Pilate was in no mood to be crossed by anyone. As if it were not enough that there were now 500,000 excited Jews in Jerusalem for Passover, some 250 times the numbers of troops he could muster on the day, there were various zealots in the jail next to the Antonio Fortress, with Jews clamoring for their release, on the basis of some ancient festival custom, also observed in the Egyptian province. Pilate despised these people, with their haughty claims that their god was the only god, and that the Emperor should not be worshipped as a deity. He did not understand having a temple with no images or statues of deities in it. And Passover of course was some kind of festival celebrating getting free from Egyptian oppression. It didn’t augur well for any sort of foreign rule or ruler. On top of all that, at the beginning of the week, there had been some fool riding into town on a donkey to acclamations and waving of palm branches, which Pilate had just been informed was a symbol of Maccabean victory and recapture of Jerusalem by an earlier generation of Jewish zealots—- just marvelous! If that were not enough, this same Jewish fool from somewhere in Galilee had performed some kind of symbolic act of turning over tables of money changers, and setting some creatures free in the outer court of the temple. And now this fool was standing right in front of him, looking tired but calm and collected.

Annas and Caiaphas had insisted it was urgent that Pilate deal with this man with dispatch, because Passover would begin later that same day (or for the Jews at the beginning of the next day. Another irritating feature of Jewish life was they didn’t even reckon days the proper Roman way. Was there no end to their contrariness?). In a normal Roman proceeding, there was a lot of begging and pleading by the defendant as he was expected to speak for and defend himself. But this, Jesus did not do— at all. The proceeding was going nowhere, and Pilate’s already short temper was getting shorter. Honestly, he had no desire to give the Jewish priests what they wanted. He thought maybe he could have Jesus flogged, as a token lesson of Roman justice, and then set him free. That would show he had taken the matter seriously but was still the final authority in the matter- not exactly giving these Jewish leaders what they wanted.

What Pilate couldn’t make out is why they saw Jesus as such a threat. “So you say you are a king?”

“That’s what you say,” retorted Jesus. “If my dominion were of this world, my disciples would fight for me.”

“So you do have a kingdom….somewhere?

“ I came into this world to proclaim the truth.”

Pilate snickered, “And what precisely, is this truth you speak of?”

Jesus did not answer, and so Pilate went out to the Pavement where a crowd had formed and told one and all— “I find there is no case against this Jesus from Nazareth. Shall I release this so-called King of the Jews?”

“Give us Barabbas instead” he heard some voice cry out. This was unexpected, but one thing Pilate knew— Jesus seemed to be nothing more than another messianic dreamer, but Barabbas was no dreamer— he was an assassin of Romans. Pilate had no interest in releasing Barabbas. It was already now the second hour after sunrise, and this was going nowhere. He had Jesus flogged, and dragged out before the crowd saying again he had no case against Jesus—- adding ‘Ecce Homo’ Behold the man. Then the cry broke out—- ‘crucify him, crucify him’.

Pilate retorted “you take him and crucify yourself” but the Jewish authorities were quick to reply “While we have a law that says he ought to die, as you know, we are not allowed to execute anyone in a Roman province, and he should indeed die because he claims to be the Son of God!’

This took Pilate completely by surprise. Tiberius wouldn’t be happy to hear about some Jewish prophet claiming to be a son of the gods and his not being dealt with by Pilate. Now Pilate was in a vulnerable spot. He had Jesus dragged back into his chamber. “Where are you really from?” asked Pilate, but Jesus refused to answer.

Don’t you understand that I have the power to have you released or to crucify you?”

Jesus replied: “You would have no power over me, if it had not been granted you from above. The one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin than yours.” Pilate tried again to release Jesus, but the Jewish officials had saved their trump card for last—- “if you release Jesus, we will report this to the Emperor, and you will no longer be on his list as an amicus Caesaris, a special friend of Caesar’s in line for good promotions.” This was the breaking point, and so Pilate went out, sat on his judgment seat, asked should he crucify the Jewish king and when their answer was affirmative, he handed Jesus over for execution. Good riddance thought Pilate. At least we will not have to deal with that pathetic man again. What is it about Judea that causes so many messianic figures and prophets to spring up?

Now crucifixion was called the Extreme Punishment, something no Roman citizen would ever undergo. It was reserved for the worst of the worst—- those who committed high treason, or those who led slave revolts or slaves who committed atrocities against their masters. Jesus apparently fit into the former category. The titulus above the cross which Pilate had fashioned did not read Christos/ Christus/Mashiach of the Jews, but rather Basileus/Rex/Melek of the Jews, a more obviously political charge. But was it an accurate charge, a just charge—- was Jesus, had he really claimed to be the King of the Jews? The matter was not clear to Pilate, and against his wife’s better judgment, he had done away with him.

Pilate was surprised that afternoon to learn that Jesus was already dead by the ninth hour, and the sky had turned unnaturally dark about then. Two members of the Sanhedrin had come and requested the body which Pilate readily granted, and to prevent any chicanery or theft, he had a guard posted at Joseph’s tomb. He did not really expect anything to happen, but better safe than sorry. More likely Jesus’ former followers would make themselves scarce at this juncture. But when the day of the Sun rolled around, suddenly a breathless centurion came running to Herod’s Palace where Pilate was staying with the report that somehow the stone had been rolled away, and Jesus’s body was gone, despite the guards, who now claimed to have seen nothing.

At first Pilate wasn’t too worried, but then there were reports that Jesus had been seen, in various places, by various people, and this did not augur well. Pilate himself had great fear of ghosts, and that Sunday night over dinner with his wife he said “I should have listened to you. This is the way it all begins. Somehow someone claims that a hero has slipped out of the grasp of Charon and Lethe and has escaped, and now, the man Jesus may be more dangerous dead but gone than he ever was before he was crucified.”

And so it was that unwittingly Pilate prophesied a remarkable truth—that the Jesus who had lived and taught and healed in Galilee and Judea was not nearly so dangerous or radical as the Jesus now in an unknown location, unleashed upon the world in story and argument inspiring either fear or wonder in his opponents or proponents.

“Who did move that stone?” murmured Pilate to his wife, “and where has the body gone?” These were the thoughts that haunted Pilate that Sunday night and many more after it.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 21, 2011

60 Minutes--- Did it Tell the Truth about Marco?

Next Post

April 23, 2011 The Pope's First Jesus Book--Chapter Nine

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz