A reading from the book of Luke Chapter 23:1-5, 14-17They brought charges against him, saying, "We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Messiah, a king."
Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He said to him in reply, "You say so."
Pilate then addressed the chief priests and the crowds, "I find this man not guilty."
But they were adamant and said, "He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to here."
and said to them, "You brought this man to me and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought against him,
nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by him.
Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him."
Meditation
Jesus stood before Pilate. Pilate saw him as an innocent man but ultimately wanted to appease the angry crowd. So he had him sent to be flogged hoping that would satisfy Jesus' enemies. This is one of the things that makes Jesus' crucifixion unique. Scourging wasn't normally used on someone about to be crucified. In Pilate trying to indirectly save Jesus from death on the cross he actually brought more suffering onto him. But since the crowd was not satisfied with that he ultimately sentenced Jesus to be crucified. He symbolically "washed his hands" of condemning Jesus to death but he still allowed it to happen. He still was responsible because he was too scared to go against the angry crowd.
Personal reflection
How often do we all not do the right thing because we are too scared or proud? We don't want to go against the crowd. We succumb to peer pressure. Pilate didn't think Jesus should be condemned to death and he tried other indirect ways to "save" Jesus. But Jesus requires us to do bold things to allow Him to save us. We can't hide our light under a bushel. We can't shirk our responsibilities. We can't avoid our own crosses. We have to face life and we have to take responsibilities for our actions. We are all Pilates. We've all avoided doing the right thing at one time or the other. We've all stayed silent when someone innocent was suffering. We've all put fear ahead of God. This is what it means to be fallen humans. We can pick ourselves back up if we allow Jesus to help us. But he asks us to participate in His grace. Sometimes that puts us in a difficult situation where we have to make an affirmative decision. Sometimes that makes us unpopular or perhaps we may look foolish to others. Sometimes we may have to lay down our lives. Often doing the right thing is difficult. How would things be different if Pilate had done the right thing and let Jesus go? Thankfully, when we avoid making decisions and allow bad things to happen, our Redeemer is always there to forgive us and heal us. He knew that out of our brokeness, that Pilate would be too weak even when he was in a position of "power". We are only strong if we lean on God.
2 comments:
When I meditate on the passion, Pilate is the character with whom I often identify--not a bad guy, just a guy going along to get along. Not wanting to do wrong, but not brave enough to do right.
Pilate is the example of appeasement, which never works. Appeasement means giving up our principles to save ourselves. But what is wrong is wrong and cannot ever be right. With God's help we will make the right choices but we have to be ready to be slandered and pilloried. Fortunately, we have the great example of Jesus to show us the way.
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