Midweek Lent 3 3/15/06 Text: Matthew 27: 11-14 and 24-26 Title: Pontius Pilate
Midweek Lent 3
3/15/2006
Text: Matthew 27: 11-14 and 24-26
Title: Pontius Pilate
Grace, mercy, and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Today we are going to look at another one of the principal players in the Passion of Christ. Besides Judas, who we looked at last week, I can’t think of anyone that receives more scorn than Pontius Pilate. We see him as a weak individual who did not have the guts to stand up to the Jewish people that wanted Jesus killed.
Pontius Pilate’s official title was, “governor of the imperial province of Syria.” He was appointed by Emperor Tiberous Caesar to maintain Roman control over Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and some other territories to the North. He was governor of the area for 10 years.
Now at first glance you would think that his appointment was a real plum, for after all he controlled a large amount of land and people. The problem is that it was not a plum job. Palestine was considered a hot spot because the Jews had gotten a well deserved reputation for bitter opposition to any foreign rule.
The territory was troublesome and so when a governor was assigned there it meant that he was not on Caesar’s good side.
Pilate’s term as governor was not any better than those sent there before him for it was marred by almost continuous discontent and rioting among the Jews. History shows that he brought much of the trouble on himself. Let me give you a couple of examples.
The first thing he did when he was made governor was to install the imperial symbol, the Roman eagle on the main wall of the temple. You have to admit that was not the smartest thing for him to do. The people rioted and five days later he had it taken down.
Later he ordered the building of 25 mile long aqueduct to bring fresh water from the mountains to the citizens of Jerusalem. Now you have to admit that an aqueduct to bring fresh water to a city that was running out of water was a good idea. I am sure that there was no doubt in his mind that he would make some points with the Jewish population.
Well you would think that, but it did not work out as he had hoped, for you see he wanted to take the money to build it out of the temple treasury. As you can imagine another bloody riot broke out and that ended that idea.
I think that you could safely say that there was no love lost between the Jews and Pilate. Interesting information, but you might be wondering why I am giving you all this background information on Pilate. I wanted you to have it, for as you will see all that tension comes into play in the final hours of Jesus’ life.
The one thing that Pilate made sure of was that he was in Jerusalem on the Jewish holidays, for that is when they caused the most trouble. He had to be there to command his troops. So here he is on Passover Week in the year 29 and just as it happened almost every year, there was trouble brewing with the Jewish population.
He was awakened early one morning by a noisy delegation of Jews. You can imagine Pilate’s reaction. No doubt he probably used the latest Roman curse words as he crawled out of bed and went to see what the devil was the problem they were complaining about this time.
When he asked them what the problem was their sarcastic answer did not help his mood any. Then they told him that, “This man deserves to die because he calls himself a king and opposes payment of taxes to Caesar.”
That was what he was waiting for and he jumped at the opportunity to rid himself of the whole mess. He was not going to just rubber stamp their verdict, for he knew that if that statement was true they would have right there urging him on. Their hypocrisy was more than he could stand.
But they had backed him into a corner and if he refused to hear the case, then in the Jews own words, he would be no friend of Caesar’s. And if Caesar ever heard of it, his next assignment would be even worse than this one.
Pilate knew that the Jewish trial was sham, nothing more than a diabolical plan to get rid of someone who was obviously a threat, not to Caesar, but to the Jewish leaders themselves.
Pilate tried every way possible to stop their thirst for Jesus’ blood. That is every thing, but using the power he had, to tell them to back off and just free Jesus. He tried to pawn off the case to Herod, but that didn’t work when Herod sent him right back, because Jesus did not perform any magic tricks for him.
Then he tried to give them a choice between releasing Jesus or another man named Jesus Barabbas, a notorious criminal. That did not work, so he decided to beat Jesus with one of the worst whips that has ever been invented. The whip consisted of leather thongs in which were embedded small bones, or pieces of metal. The sole purpose was to tear off chunks of flesh and muscle. Most of the recipients of the whip did not survive it. He thought that might do it, but even that did not work.
He finally just gave in to them. He washed his hands in a wash basin symbolizing that he was innocent of Jesus’ death. Oh, I almost forgot. Sometime in the midst of all this Pilate’s wife warned him that he better watch what he was doing concerning the man Jesus, for she had been warned in a dream that Jesus was innocent
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He ignored his conscience and the warning of his wife. Why did he let the Jews have their way then? The answer to that question died with him and we will never know, but I think that there is a good chance that he did it because he was a pragmatist.
All that concerns is a pragmatist is what works best in a given situation. A pragmatist does not have a clear cut idea of what is right or wrong, you just do what you need to do, with little or no regard for others. Pilate just could not take a chance on doing what was right. He wanted a promotion so he could get out of this hell hole of the Roman empire.
You see, it just isn’t possible to stick to absolute principles of right and wrong when you want a promotion, or anything else bad enough. You have to do what is expedient. So Pilate winds up being seen as a weak, cowardly man willing to comprise what he knows is right.
Which by the way didn’t work out as he planned. Herod sent him off to Gaul some time later, which made his present governship look like a walk in the park. His pragmatism didn’t work and according to the historian Eusebius, Pilate in the end committed suicide. One will never know, but I wonder if he like Judas could not bear the weight of what they had done that night.
Here we are nearly 2000 years later and it is easy to cast stones at Pilate and all those that condemned Jesus that night. But when you give it some thought nothing has changed. Don’t we still live in world that views pragmatism as being the only way to go? I am not talking about politicians who unfortunately say far too many times whatever it takes to get elected, or to get their favorite projects passed.
I am talking about us, you and me. Who of us can honestly say that they have never compromised their belief system for the sake of being practical? We all know the temptations of hidden incomes, exaggerated deductions, and the like.
Beating the government out of tax money has become a national pastime. How many of us have not paid attention to a particular law, because we felt like it didn’t apply to us? Far too many I am afraid.
You see if we want to talk about principles, then we have to talk about honesty, fairness, decency, and integrity, which is not very practical. It is not practical when we want something that benefits us. And so we too don’t always follow the commands of our God, the God to which we owe our very lives.
If Pilate, like Judas had had faith in Jesus his tragic death could have been avoided. That is the lesson we can learn from Pilate tonight, for we know, unlike Pilate, that our wavering and weakness, our calculating and compromising, together with all our other acts of waywardness and wrongdoing, are all covered by the cross of Jesus.
We know that our own acts are forgiven by the death that Pilate let happen because it was the most practical thing for him to do. Knowing that we have the strength, which Pilate did not have because of his lack of faith, to stand by our conscience and stick by our principles, so that we become less and less like the pragmatic Pilate and more and more like Jesus, who truly is the Son of God. Amen.
3/15/2006
Text: Matthew 27: 11-14 and 24-26
Title: Pontius Pilate
Grace, mercy, and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Today we are going to look at another one of the principal players in the Passion of Christ. Besides Judas, who we looked at last week, I can’t think of anyone that receives more scorn than Pontius Pilate. We see him as a weak individual who did not have the guts to stand up to the Jewish people that wanted Jesus killed.
Pontius Pilate’s official title was, “governor of the imperial province of Syria.” He was appointed by Emperor Tiberous Caesar to maintain Roman control over Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and some other territories to the North. He was governor of the area for 10 years.
Now at first glance you would think that his appointment was a real plum, for after all he controlled a large amount of land and people. The problem is that it was not a plum job. Palestine was considered a hot spot because the Jews had gotten a well deserved reputation for bitter opposition to any foreign rule.
The territory was troublesome and so when a governor was assigned there it meant that he was not on Caesar’s good side.
Pilate’s term as governor was not any better than those sent there before him for it was marred by almost continuous discontent and rioting among the Jews. History shows that he brought much of the trouble on himself. Let me give you a couple of examples.
The first thing he did when he was made governor was to install the imperial symbol, the Roman eagle on the main wall of the temple. You have to admit that was not the smartest thing for him to do. The people rioted and five days later he had it taken down.
Later he ordered the building of 25 mile long aqueduct to bring fresh water from the mountains to the citizens of Jerusalem. Now you have to admit that an aqueduct to bring fresh water to a city that was running out of water was a good idea. I am sure that there was no doubt in his mind that he would make some points with the Jewish population.
Well you would think that, but it did not work out as he had hoped, for you see he wanted to take the money to build it out of the temple treasury. As you can imagine another bloody riot broke out and that ended that idea.
I think that you could safely say that there was no love lost between the Jews and Pilate. Interesting information, but you might be wondering why I am giving you all this background information on Pilate. I wanted you to have it, for as you will see all that tension comes into play in the final hours of Jesus’ life.
The one thing that Pilate made sure of was that he was in Jerusalem on the Jewish holidays, for that is when they caused the most trouble. He had to be there to command his troops. So here he is on Passover Week in the year 29 and just as it happened almost every year, there was trouble brewing with the Jewish population.
He was awakened early one morning by a noisy delegation of Jews. You can imagine Pilate’s reaction. No doubt he probably used the latest Roman curse words as he crawled out of bed and went to see what the devil was the problem they were complaining about this time.
When he asked them what the problem was their sarcastic answer did not help his mood any. Then they told him that, “This man deserves to die because he calls himself a king and opposes payment of taxes to Caesar.”
That was what he was waiting for and he jumped at the opportunity to rid himself of the whole mess. He was not going to just rubber stamp their verdict, for he knew that if that statement was true they would have right there urging him on. Their hypocrisy was more than he could stand.
But they had backed him into a corner and if he refused to hear the case, then in the Jews own words, he would be no friend of Caesar’s. And if Caesar ever heard of it, his next assignment would be even worse than this one.
Pilate knew that the Jewish trial was sham, nothing more than a diabolical plan to get rid of someone who was obviously a threat, not to Caesar, but to the Jewish leaders themselves.
Pilate tried every way possible to stop their thirst for Jesus’ blood. That is every thing, but using the power he had, to tell them to back off and just free Jesus. He tried to pawn off the case to Herod, but that didn’t work when Herod sent him right back, because Jesus did not perform any magic tricks for him.
Then he tried to give them a choice between releasing Jesus or another man named Jesus Barabbas, a notorious criminal. That did not work, so he decided to beat Jesus with one of the worst whips that has ever been invented. The whip consisted of leather thongs in which were embedded small bones, or pieces of metal. The sole purpose was to tear off chunks of flesh and muscle. Most of the recipients of the whip did not survive it. He thought that might do it, but even that did not work.
He finally just gave in to them. He washed his hands in a wash basin symbolizing that he was innocent of Jesus’ death. Oh, I almost forgot. Sometime in the midst of all this Pilate’s wife warned him that he better watch what he was doing concerning the man Jesus, for she had been warned in a dream that Jesus was innocent
Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He ignored his conscience and the warning of his wife. Why did he let the Jews have their way then? The answer to that question died with him and we will never know, but I think that there is a good chance that he did it because he was a pragmatist.
All that concerns is a pragmatist is what works best in a given situation. A pragmatist does not have a clear cut idea of what is right or wrong, you just do what you need to do, with little or no regard for others. Pilate just could not take a chance on doing what was right. He wanted a promotion so he could get out of this hell hole of the Roman empire.
You see, it just isn’t possible to stick to absolute principles of right and wrong when you want a promotion, or anything else bad enough. You have to do what is expedient. So Pilate winds up being seen as a weak, cowardly man willing to comprise what he knows is right.
Which by the way didn’t work out as he planned. Herod sent him off to Gaul some time later, which made his present governship look like a walk in the park. His pragmatism didn’t work and according to the historian Eusebius, Pilate in the end committed suicide. One will never know, but I wonder if he like Judas could not bear the weight of what they had done that night.
Here we are nearly 2000 years later and it is easy to cast stones at Pilate and all those that condemned Jesus that night. But when you give it some thought nothing has changed. Don’t we still live in world that views pragmatism as being the only way to go? I am not talking about politicians who unfortunately say far too many times whatever it takes to get elected, or to get their favorite projects passed.
I am talking about us, you and me. Who of us can honestly say that they have never compromised their belief system for the sake of being practical? We all know the temptations of hidden incomes, exaggerated deductions, and the like.
Beating the government out of tax money has become a national pastime. How many of us have not paid attention to a particular law, because we felt like it didn’t apply to us? Far too many I am afraid.
You see if we want to talk about principles, then we have to talk about honesty, fairness, decency, and integrity, which is not very practical. It is not practical when we want something that benefits us. And so we too don’t always follow the commands of our God, the God to which we owe our very lives.
If Pilate, like Judas had had faith in Jesus his tragic death could have been avoided. That is the lesson we can learn from Pilate tonight, for we know, unlike Pilate, that our wavering and weakness, our calculating and compromising, together with all our other acts of waywardness and wrongdoing, are all covered by the cross of Jesus.
We know that our own acts are forgiven by the death that Pilate let happen because it was the most practical thing for him to do. Knowing that we have the strength, which Pilate did not have because of his lack of faith, to stand by our conscience and stick by our principles, so that we become less and less like the pragmatic Pilate and more and more like Jesus, who truly is the Son of God. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 10:53 AM
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