OUR BUDDY, PILATE

“Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and, to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, ‘What charges are you bringing against this man?

“‘If He were not a criminal,’ they replied, ‘we would not have handed Him over to you.’ Pilate said, ‘Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law.’ ‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected. This took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death He was going to die.” John 18:28-32 NIV.

John said nothing about Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas. According to the other three gospels, it was this trial that revealed the Sanhedrin’s true colours. Caiaphas allowed false witnesses to testify without suffering the penalty for lying. The men of the Sanhedrin behaved in a disgraceful way, using verbal and physical abuse against the prisoner and allowing the soldiers to mock Jesus by ramming a crown on His head woven out of twigs covered in vicious thorns.

Having satisfied themselves of Jesus’ guilt, the Jewish leaders marched Jesus to Pilate to have their verdict ratified. They had decided that He was guilty of blasphemy because they refused to accept His claim to be the Son of God. They did not bother the test His claim by listening to the testimony of reliable witnesses. As far as they were concerned He was guilty and that was that.

Although it was illegal to condemn a man on his own testimony, Caiaphas put the question to Jesus, ‘Are you the Christ?’ to which Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’ Triumphantly proclaiming Him ‘Guilty!’ they bundled Him off to Pilate to ratify their verdict and sentence, only Pilate would not buy the charge of blasphemy. That was an internal, religious matter. Pilate didn’t give a hoot about their religious squabbles. It was His job to protect Rome’s interests and nothing else.

They thought that they had Jesus in the bag. Charge Him with treason because He claimed to be the king of the Jews and Pilate would be a pushover. After all, they were buddies, and he would go along with them as long as they did their job to keep the peace. Since they insisted that Jesus was a rabble-rouser, Pilate would surely rubber-stamp their verdict and condemn Him to death.

They did not bargain on Pilate’s resistance to their straightforward scheme. Pilate had to be sure that this man’s so called “treason” was in fact a threat to Rome. He couldn’t just go crucifying people left, right and centre just because the Jewish high court insisted they were guilty. It may have been true that Jesus claimed kingship over the Jews but what evidence was there that He was planning to overthrow Roman rule and drive them out of Israel? What sort of king was He?

Friend though he might have been, Pilate was not ignorant of the nature of these Jewish leaders. They could be conniving and unscrupulous to get their own way. Most of them were drawn from the wealthy political party of the Sadducees who did not have much interest in religion. They did not believe in the supernatural and rejected the Pharisees’ belief in the resurrection.

In spite of the coalition in the Sanhedrin, there was a deep divide between the two groups. Many years later, Paul would exploit this divide to turn the heat of their hatred off him.

Pilate had a responsibility to exercise Roman justice, even towards Jewish prisoners. Therefore he questioned Jesus’ accusers. ‘What’s the charge against Him?’ he demanded. The Jewish leaders shrewdly turned his question back on him. They dodged the question by trying to make Pilate look foolish. ‘Don’t be silly, Pilate! Do you think we would have brought Him to you if we hadn’t already found him guilty?’

‘Guilty of what?’ No answer! Pilate was also shrewd. ‘You take Him and try Him,’ he replied. He knew that they had no power to execute anyone. Only he could do that. This would turn into a running battle between Jewish and Roman authorities with Jesus as the prize. Who would come out tops?