Day 3: Before Pilate

Sometimes decisions feel impossible. No matter what choice you make, someone’s going to be unhappy. And sometimes, trying to avoid a decision is a decision itself. A glaring example of this is in our Bibles, surrounding the person known as Pilate.

He was the Roman governor of Judea, and Judea was one of the provinces (or states) in the empire. At the moment he and Jesus crossed paths, he had been ruling for about seven years and, over that time, had made plenty of enemies. Pilate had a reputation for pushing the limits. Once, he brought Roman military symbols into the city, which Jews saw as idolatrous. On another occasion, he actually used temple funds for a Roman aqueduct. In both instances, he found himself on the verge of a riot.

As far as Rome was concerned, Pilate’s main objective was oriented around one main thing: keeping the peace. Make sure everyone falls in line. And for sure, no uprisings. In Pilate's world, riots weren’t just bad press locally—they were career-ending. So when Jesus was brought before him early on Friday morning, Pilate didn’t want to make any sort of polarizing religious judgment. He was trying to make a problem go away before it got ugly.

The night before, Jesus had been arrested in the garden of Gethsemane after celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples. He was taken before the Jewish ruling council (called the Sanhedrin), who had already decided Jesus was guilty of blasphemy. But they had a problem: the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead, and they didn’t have the authority to carry out capital punishment. Only the Roman government could execute someone.

So early Friday morning, Pharisees (Jewish religious leaders) took Jesus to Pilate, hoping he would carry out the sentence. But instead of saying he was guilty of blasphemy—Jesus had claimed he was essentially the same as God the Father—they changed the charge to something that would force Pilate’s hand. Here’s what it says in the Gospel of Luke:

“We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” —Luke 23:2

Now this was a problem Pilate had to deal with. If Jesus was claiming to be a king—a king that was opposed to Rome—that made him a threat. So Pilate asked Jesus directly:

“Are you the king of the Jews?” —John 18:33

Jesus responded in a way that must have confused Pilate:

“My kingdom is not of this world.” —John 18:36

At that moment, Pilate wasn’t sure who Jesus was, but one thing seemed clear—Jesus wasn’t leading a rebellion. He certainly didn’t seem like a threat to overthrow Rome. So Pilate went back to the religious leaders and announced his decision:

“I find no basis for a charge against him.” —John 18:38

The religious leaders persisted. They weren’t after a fair trial—they were after an execution. Jesus was invading their turf. They had tremendous influence, and Jesus was a threat to their authority. He regularly called out their hypocrisy. He had become a rival influence. Not to mention, he was acting with divine authority, saying he was able to forgive sins—something only God himself had the right to do.

In response to their continuing efforts to have Jesus done away with, Pilate tried to push the problem off to someone else altogether. When he discovered that Jesus was originally from the region of Galilee, he thought, “This isn’t even my jurisdiction! He needs to see the governor of Galilee.” And guess who was in town for the Passover celebration? Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. So Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.

When Herod confronted Jesus, Jesus remained silent. So Herod spent minimal time on this: he mocked Jesus’s claims of being a king, put a robe on him as a joke, and sent him right back to Pilate. He’s your problem, not mine.

Back to Pilate for a second time, who tried one more option to deflect his responsibility: let the people decide. He’d make the crowd an offer he knew they wouldn’t refuse—one that would keep him from having blood on his hands. I’ll let the people decide whether they’d prefer me to let this harmless teacher go free, or set free a hardened criminal. Surely that will let me off the hook. We’ll talk about how that played out tomorrow.

For the moment, though, consider all the ways Pilate misunderstood what was happening:

●      He thought he was removing himself from the situation. He wasn’t.

●      He thought Jesus was just a religious figure caught up in some Jewish power struggle. There was way more to it than that.

●      He thought he was the one with the authority. He didn’t have nearly the power he thought it did.

Pilate completely misunderstood who Jesus was, but he wasn’t the only one. Because of their own biases and ambitions, religious leaders couldn’t see who he was. Even Jesus’s own disciples struggled to grasp how this was all happening if Jesus was their imminent king. Yet through all of this, Jesus understood what he was really there for. He wasn’t interested in proving his innocence or escaping death—he had a different mission. He had come to offer himself as a sacrifice, not just for the people in that moment, but for all humanity.

Heavenly Father,

Help us to be inspired by the focus Jesus had. When we’re misunderstood, and sometimes even overwhelmed, help us to stay calm and continue to trust and follow you. Amen.