Pilate on History Channel

Matthew 27 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

17So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked

them, "Which one do you want me to release to

you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"

18For he knew it was out of envy that they had

handed Jesus over to him.

19While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat,

his wife sent him this message: "Don't have

anything to do with that innocent man, for I have

suffered a great deal today in a dream because of

him."

20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded

the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus

executed.

21"Which of the two do you want me to release to

you?" asked the governor.

"Barabbas," they answered.

22"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is

called Christ?" Pilate asked.

They all answered, "Crucify him!"

23"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked

Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify

him!"

24When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere,

but that instead an uproar was starting, he took

water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

"I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It

is your responsibility!"


Over the weekend,I had a few minutes of peace and

quiet, and I saw that the history channel was

airing a program about Pilate. So I watched part

of it. Overall, it wasn't too badly done. But

whenever I watch one of these programs I'm always

thinking that most people are neither historians

nor theologians. The programs leave alot out.

To the best of my memory, these specific quotes

were absent from the TV show. I suppose that one

objection to this passage is that it can be seen

as an attempt on the part of the gospel writer to

cast blame on the ruling elite in Jerusalem

rather then the Roman government. That's

plausible given that the elite were mostly

despised by the people. But it's not as if the

Romans were any more popular. Verse 18 says

it plainly, 'he knew it was out of envy that they

had handed Jesus over to him'. Based on that

observation, it leads to the conclusion that

Pilate did not see Jesus as a genuine threat to

Roman authority. It is consistent with the rest

of the gospel message that Jesus is what we would

think of as a political pacifist. He clearly was

not leading an armed rebellion against the Roman

government. Just as clearly, he was antagonistic

to the religious elite in Jerusalem. The TV show

didn't give much attention to the issues posed

here. I have no idea why the TV show would

choose to take this approach. You might imagine

that they fail to see the significance of the

religious corruption represented by the Jerusalem

elite. It's a theme that works it's way through

all of the gospel accounts.

Here's one of those passages:


Matthew 16

The Demand for a Sign

1The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and

tested him by asking him to show them a sign from

heaven.

2He replied,[a] "When evening comes, you say,

'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'

3and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy,

for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to

interpret the appearance of the sky, but you

cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4A

wicked and adulterous generation looks for a

miraculous sign, but none will be given it except

the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went

away.


What is 'the sign of Jonah'? In the book of

Jonah there is another metaphor of the

resurrection. Jesus is saying again that he has

power over death. That's not what the religious

leaders were wanting to hear. Not to mention

that he refers to them as 'a wicked and

adulterous generation'. These is fightin' words.


You can almost imagine smoke coming out of the

ears of the religious crowd. They were not able

to intimidate Jesus in the least. And that is

something that they just weren't used to. They

had bought rights to the high priesthood from the

Roman government, because they wanted the power

to intimidate people. And for whatever other

reasons such people might want to have the

political favors of Rome. Who knows? But Jesus

was always pointing out their religious hypocricy.


You can only cover so much in a one hour TV show,

so I can understand why they have to leave things

out. They did hint at the historical context.

But I thought that there wasn't enough emphasis

on context. And that can lead to misguided

assumptions and conclusions. There's more to

consider in Jesus' crucifixtion. I got the

impression that they were trying to lay much of

the motivation for the crucifixtion of Jesus at

the feet of Pilate, rather than the Jewish

religious leaders. Again, there's no way to know

for sure about all of the backstage activity, but

I have a bias that leans toward the accounts

recorded in scripture, rather than the accounts

of Josephus, for the simple reason that Josephus

was a historian first and had no particular

insight into the religious implications that were

playing out on the stage of history. In my view,

I think that the religious implications were far

more important than anything else that might have

been an influence. In other words, I don't think

that Pilate had any strong motive to crucify

Jesus and I think that is easy to see in the

events recorded in scripture. He just took the

most politically expedient route. In other

words, it was easy for him to crucify anyone who

was labeled a 'rebel'. There would be no

repercussions from the Roman government. And he

was fully aware that Jesus was not a violent

element. His disciples were not terrorists. He

was despised by the ruling elite, and therefore

had no political clout. In Pilate's eyes, he was

a political non-entity. But there's no question

that, considering politics, expediency was the

rule rather than the exception. It would bring

the Jerusalem elite further into his corner if he

would cooperate with their plan to eliminate this

crazy preacher who was becoming a thorn in the

side of the religious leaders, because of his

unwillingness to cooperate with the established

status quo. Jesus kept upsetting the apple cart.

Truth has a way of doing that. Some things

haven't changed alot over the years.

Destiny was forced upon Jerusalem at the hand of

Roman government. Pilate just happened to be

there, in the right place at the right time.


It's a hopeless task to try and sort out all the

details surrounding the situation that Pilate

found himself in, with 250 words or less. A one

hour history channel program doesn't really do it

justice. There is a ton of scholarship

surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls that provides a

deeper look into the situation in and around

Jerusalem at the time that Jesus was served up to

Pilate. It was not a calm period in and around

Jerusalem. From my perspective, the most

upsetting aspect of that time was that the

average person was resentful of Roman government

not because of their political intervention, but

because of their religious intervention. The

Romans had allowed the temple preisthood to be

hijacked by political cronies. That was a

serious blunder on the part of Roman government.

If they had been more aware of the significance

of religious devotion in Jerusalem, it would have

served them well. They would have had a lot less

trouble trying to rule the area. But how could

the pantheistic Romans been able to grasp that

concept? It was beyond their reach. So they

were content to leave religious matters in the

hands of the Jerusalem elite. In the end, that's

the reason why they were left with no option

other than the destruction of Jerusalem and the

temple. They didn't recognize the theological

significance of Jerusalem and the temple.

There's an inability on the part of politics to

recognize the significance of worship in the

lives of believers, because it goes all the way

down to the fundamental meaning of life. The

reason is that politics worships power as a

fundamental, and the theist worships G-d as an

exclusive fundamental. This is an irreconcilable

difference, because worship takes place at two

separate altars, and each demands loyalty. That

hasn't changed much either.


Taking a step back and looking at the bigger

picture, all these events played out according to

the plan of G-d. It turns out that the course of

history follows the prevailing current of the

times. Neither the Romans, nor Pilate in

particular, nor the Jerusalem elite and not even

Jesus' disciples seemed aware of the prevailing

currents. Events played out, and nobody was

paying attention to the script. There were too

many distractions. Men are always drawn to the

urgency of the moment, just like a moth to the

flame. More than anything else, this period of

time illustrates the sovereignty of G-d and the

insignificance of men. But that theme is no more

popular now, than it was then. It was the greeks

who declared that 'man is the measure of all

things'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagoras
Oh well, back to the drawing board. It was a

nice try, but in the proper context of history,

there is no man who is able to measure up to the

force of the current of the times, because it is

under the direct control of G-d, who is looking

down on man, enthroned in the heavens. Sorry,

but that's the proper context.


You can see where that puts us today. Men are

still moths circling the flame, distracted by the

urgency of the moment. Religion is still an

arena of political cronyism, totally beyond the

reach of pantheistic philosophies of government.

The modern 'secular' agenda will no more release

us from the sovereignty of G-d than the military

domination of the Roman legions could release

Jerusalem in times past. In fact, these

participants are agents of destiny, in the

omnipotent hand of G-d. Few are even vaguely

aware of the currents of time moving them into

the precise position that Destiny has ordained.

G-d is still enthroned in the heavens, far above

all principalities and powers. And I'm just

sittin' here eatin' my french toast, drinkin' my

coffee, smokin' my cigs and typing it all out;

trusting in the sufficiency of Jesus' blood to

free me from the curse of sin. Each has his

proper place in the scheme of things.


Given the course of human events, there is no

good reason to believe that worldly Utopia lies

just over the horizon. In the context of

scripture, there's every reason to believe that

something quite a bit different looms on the

horizon. The stage is set for the final act in

the history of this world, then the eternal King

of Heaven will lower the curtain on the age of

man and the genuine New Age will begin. Lookin'

at the script, I'd think that there is no better

place to be than on the Jesus Bus.