Daily Devotion for March 25, 2006

To Jerusalem with the ComPassionate Christ
Day 25

 

Handed Over to Pilate

 

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.  Mark 15:1

 

Mark’s account of the Passion is about as straightforward as it could be; there is no pause for theologizing. There is breathlessness about his account, as if it had just happened, as if the embers still burned in the grate.

 

‘Immediately’ is one of Mark’s favorite words; he means that they went to the see Pilate straight away. The extraordinary interrogation had lasted through the night. Morning was breaking as they bundled Him off to see the Roman Governor.

 

To formalize affairs, or at least to give them the appearance of formality, the priests and scribes and elders met in the council of the Sanhedrin and agreed to what they were about to do. Caiaphas covered his tracks: it needed to look ‘official.’ Those Romans were sticklers for doing things by the book. Then, duly condemned, Jesus was bound, most likely with heavy manacles, and carried off to Pilate. The carrying was not gentle, however. The phrase conveys the idea of considerable force.

 

There could be little doubt concerning their purpose in bringing Jesus to Pilate, (John 18:31). They did not have the authority to put a person to death, though they would have liked it. Pilate did have that authority, and so they coveted it.

 

Pontius Pilate, suddenly the center of attention, was a relatively obscure Roman official, a political animal serving a term as the fifth procurator of the province of Syria. We would probably not even know his name, were it not for his part in the drama about to unfold.  There is archeological evidence however that tells us the fact of his existence.  See below.

 

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, as you were handed over to those who wanted to get rid of you, I can learn from this that I should hand over TO YOU all the things that I carry around and worry about – I need to place them with You and trust You IN and FOR all circumstances.  Amen

 

Historical Background for Pontius Pilate

 

Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect (governor) of Judea, a sub province of Syria, who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

As prefect, Pilate commanded Roman military units, authorized construction projects, arranged for the collection of imperial taxes, and decided civil and criminal cases. 

 

During his ten-year tenure as prefect, Pilate had numerous confrontations with his Jewish subjects.  According to Jewish historian Josephus, Pilate's decision to bring into the holy city of Jerusalem "by night and under cover effigies of Caesar" outraged Jews who considered the images idolatrous.  Jews carried their protest to Pilate's base in Caesarea.  Pilate threatened the protesters with death, but when they appeared willing to accept martyrdom he relented and removed the offending images.  Again according to Josephus, Pilate provoked another outcry from his Jewish subjects when he used Temple funds to build an aqueduct.  It seems likely that at the time of the trial of Jesus, civil unrest had again broken out in Jerusalem.

 

Pilate's lack of concern for Jewish sensibilities was accompanied, according to Philo writing in 41 C.E, by corruption and brutality.  Philo wrote that Pilate's tenure was associated with "briberies, insults, robberies, outrages, wanton injustices, constantly repeated executions without trial, and ceaseless and grievous cruelty."  Philo may have overstated the case, but there is little to suggest that Pilate would have any serious reservations about executing a Jewish rabble-rouser such as Jesus.

 

Although Pilate spent most of his time in the coastal town of Caesarea, he traveled to Jerusalem for important Jewish festivals.  While in Jerusalem, he stayed in the praetorian, which--there is a debate about this--was either a former palace of Herod the Great or a fortress located at the northwest corner of the Temple Mount.  (Josephus reported that Pilate resided at the palace.)

 

Christian accounts of the trial of Jesus suggest either that Pilate played no direct role in the decision to execute Jesus (Peter), or that he ordered the crucifixion of Jesus with some reluctance (Mark) or with great reluctance (Luke, John).  Many historians attribute these accounts to efforts by early Christians to make their message more palatable to Roman audiences.  It is clear that prefects had a variety of options available for dealing with a potential source of trouble such as Jesus.  These options included flogging, sending the matter back to the Sanhedrin, or referring the case to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee.

 

Pilate's repeated difficulties with his Jewish subjects was the apparent cause of his removal from office in 36 C.E. by Syrian governor Vitellius.  Following his removal from office, Pilate was ordered to Rome to face complaints of excessive cruelty.  He was exiled in Vienne, France.

 

 

The first of these is the inscription on a block of limestone, which was found at Caesarea in 1961. One half of the stone is badly damaged, but we can still read the other half of it:

 

. . . . . . S TIBERIEVM
. . [PO]NTIVS PILATVS
[PRA]ECTVS IVDA[EA]E

 

Among scholars, this inscription caused some sensation, because it proves that Pilate's title was praefectus Judaea, and not procurator Judaea, as the Roman historian Tacitus states in his Annals 15.44.

 

---

 Did someone send you this Devotion? Would you like to receive future ones directly? Click here to subscribe.

Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
		333 W. Lake Street, Addison, Illinois 60101
		(866) 455-6466 • Fax: (866) 451-1476
		Web Site: lcc.LutheranChurchCharities.org
		E-Mail: TimHetzner@LutheranChurchCharities.org
At the end of the day. . . Making A Difference In People's Lives and In God's Kingdom