“Pilate”

 

                                                                                              

                Talk about being between a rock and a hard place; Pilate was stuck right in the middle of T-R-O-U-B-L-E. On one side, he has an uprising of the Jews in the making, just waiting on Him to decide concerning Jesus.  On the other side, he has his wife. Matthew 27.19 tells us that she is highly encouraging him to do nothing with Jesus because He is innocent.  Now I don’t know about you, but I would rather face an uprising of the Jews instead of having my wife upset with me.  As Pilate investigates and then deliberates, one might get the impression that Jesus was having an effect on him.  In John 18.38, Pilate says to the crowd of the Jews, “I find no guilt in Him…”. The word guilt means “cause” or “logical accusation”.  It must have been very difficult for Him to understand why these Jews were so adamant about getting rid of this man.  I am not suggesting that Pilate’s time spent with Jesus was what one might consider pleasant, but I do feel as though Pilate was somewhat impressed with Jesus.  However, in the end the Jews win, and Pilate is forced to execute Jesus for a crime that He count not account.  I have always wondered what happened to Pilate after his encounter with Jesus.  Josephus, in the work “Antiquities of the Jews”, records that the Emperor Tiberius summoned him back to Rome to answer for his mishandling of a riot that involved the Samaritans in 36 A.D. Yet when he arrives in Rome, Tiberius has died, and Caligula has assumed the throne and nothing more is said of Pilate.  Is it possible that Pilate was so affected by Jesus that He could have obeyed the Gospel later in his life?  Of course, it is possible, but we will never know this side of eternity unless some new evidence is discovered.  Whether or not he does develop a faith in Jesus as the Son of God, does not negate the fact that he was guilty of the sin of placing Jesus on that cross; but so are we!  In fact, we are just as guilty as Pilate.  Even though we may not have issued the command to have Jesus scourged or commanded the soldiers to nail Jesus to that cross, we are not guiltless.  The reason we are just as guilty is because no one person crucified Jesus.  We all had a part in the crucifixion because we all sin, and sin is what placed Jesus on that cross.  After knowing this, what matters is what we do now, that makes the difference.