Pilate: Part I
Everyday we are faced with
decisions that need attention. What should I wear? Who should I invest my time
into? Do I cut corners on this project to get it done faster? Am I ready to be
a father or mother? Some are important, others not as much. The point is we are
conscious beings that must make decisions based on what we know to best suit
our needs. Or wait; can we make decisions that may not suit our needs, but
instead serve a bigger purpose? Do we always look out for number one?
Pontius Pilate, whether for bad or
good made a decision that defined his time as Roman prefect or Governor of
Judea. His decision, with heartache and intensity, changed humanity for
eternity. Who was this man though,
mentioned in all four gospels? We know that he ruled between 26-36 AD during
the time in which John the Baptizer was working and preparing for the coming
Messiah and that he was the one responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. Beyond that
there is not a lot of information about him.
Truth: Is It Real?
In John 18 Pilate questions
Jesus to determine who he really is. Is he a threat to the province, to his
rule, to Rome? What is interesting and what has confused and confounded
theologians throughout time is what Pilate says in verse 38, “What is truth?”
Really, that is the question asked, or as more likely the situation,
sarcastically remarked? Can you imagine standing before a judge that has the
fate of your life in his hands and asks, “What is Truth?” I would be in disbelief,
I would tell him, ‘Isn’t that the reason I am here, so you can determine the
truth!?’ But alas, Pilate lives in a society and culture, not unlike our own,
where truth is relative and therefore cannot be known. The Greek philosophy
that permeates the Roman Empire during this time is thick with skepticism and
disbelief. The major schools of thought were Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Neo-Platonism.
All of these wreaked havoc on the concept of absolute truth. Sound familiar?
Today we live in what is known as a post-modern society, that is, a society
that raises tolerance to god-like heights and is offended when truth-claims are
presented. It is a feel good, pluralistic, and all-inclusive society where my
truth is just that, mine; it may not be true for you, but it is true for me. Pilate
however did not even entertain an answer from Jesus to his own quip about
truth. This of course is ironic since he was literally face-to-face with truth
incarnate, the Son of God, who so deftly stated in John 14:6, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life.” Jesus didn’t say he knew the truth, but that he
emphatically was the truth; that he
was in fact the only way to God the Father. Pilate was worldly; he followed the
mores of his time. He was, in Christian lingo, both in the world and of it. He
obviously did not see Jesus as a threat, or as a true king. Decidedly, Pilate
saw Jesus as a simple philosopher, since that is what truth was, a word draped
in philosophical terms and ideas.
Now some of
you, myself included, say, ‘Wow, Pilate was unbelievably blind, how in the
world could he not see Jesus for who he was!’ Wait a minute though, how often
do we take Jesus for granted, failing to see that his way is ALWAYS the right
way, but are too aloof to care or notice? Are we not unlike Pilate, unwilling
to hear the truth when faced with it? The question is, do we know the truth,
but are too selfish or prideful to seek and follow it, or is it worse? Rev.
Walter Adeney former professor of New Testament Exegesis at New College in
London during the 19th and early 20th century put it this
way:
Pilate is the typical skeptic, who
is worlds removed from the “honest” doubter. Serious doubt, which is pained and
anxious in the search for truth, is in essence belief, for it believes in the
value of truth, if only truth can be discovered; but typical skepticism not
only does not credit what the believer takes for truth, but despises it as not
worth seeking. That is the fatal doubt, a doubt that eats into the soul as a
moral canker.[1]
This I believe, this “fatal doubt” is what Pilate indeed had
within his soul. A black hole that refused to see truth for what it was,
objective reality. However, Pilate must have known that truth exists in some
way shape or form, for how else could he have found Jesus guiltless so many
times. That’s the thing with truth; you cannot deny its actuality, its power,
and its genuineness. Sooner or later one
must accept it or deny himself the facts that are presented.
Going back
to the passage in John right before Pilate asks Jesus what truth is, Jesus
states, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the
world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of truth listens to my
voice.” This truth is God; it is He that is immutable and worthy of trust.
Jesus’ soul purpose is to point to God through himself. Jesus is, as said earlier, truth incarnate,
truth personified. You see, because
Pilate did not think truth existed, he could not listen to Jesus, he was not
“of truth.” His soul, his wavelength if you will, could not perceive Jesus for
who he actually was. Pilate had an air of superficiality to him. Instead of
truly trying to seek and understand Jesus, he simply glanced at him and made up
his mind. This brings to mind a piece of one of my favorite poems written by
William Blake, “Life’s five windows of the soul / distorts the heavens from
pole to pole / and make you believe a lie / when you see with, not thro’, the
eye.”[2]
Pilate saw Jesus, a man brought bound and beaten by his accusers; heard his words,
that of a confused dreamer; and understood him as a man, a humble man. Like
Pilate we look, but do not see, hear, but do not listen, understand, but do not
really comprehend. Our filter is to be the Holy Spirit in us, allowing us to
see, to really truly see. By this, Jesus tells us in John 8:32, we are to be
free.
Pilate
forewent truth and traded it for the world and thus became a slave to it, a
slave to sin. He was unable to separate himself from the snares of the culture;
the materialism that pervaded the Roman lifestyle, the prestige of being a
person of power, and the inability to see truth for what it is, freedom. He was
stuck in the rat race of the worldly life. The futile attempt to get more, be
more, and still end up empty internally and eternally. Truth according to Jesus
will free us from the sins and snares of the world and give us the meaning
behind life that creates fulfillment, purpose, and direction.
What will
you choose?
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