Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. (Mark 15: 6-10)
The Roman Prefect determined that Jesus presented no threat to his authority. He then attempted to use the charges against Jesus to his political advantage.
According to Luke's gospel since Jesus was a Galilean Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for disposition. This gesture of deference was well-received. "Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other." (Luke 23: 12)
Herod - also finding nothing offensive in Jesus - sent him back to the Prefect. Then Pilate attempted to curry the crowd's favor by releasing him in a very public gesture of rebuke to the religious establishment. Pilate may well have been thinking of the crowd's triumphal reception of Jesus just a few days earlier.
The Romans were expert at ruling through the manipulation of contending forces. Don't let any group become too powerful. Don't totally alienate any group that has real power. Play them off one another. Position your own authority as the decisive element.
Pilate had, however, misread the attitude of the crowd - or perhaps the influence of the religious establishment - and his attempt to separate the crowd from the Temple leaders was not successful. The Romans also tended to be realists. If the tactic is not working give it up.
In the end Pilate's indifference to Jesus - whether man or prophet - combined with the religious establishment's offended self-righteousness, and the crowd's readiness to be manipulated to produce the death sentence. If any one element - political indifference, religious self-righteousness, or mass psychology - had been otherwise the innocence of Jesus might have prevailed.
Given the history of humankind Jesus may well have been confident of his forthcoming death. But this does not mean God had removed the possibility of humans making just choices. On that Friday long-ago all of the parties made predictable choices that reflected a narrow sense of immediate self-interest. And so it remains most often for us.
The Roman Prefect determined that Jesus presented no threat to his authority. He then attempted to use the charges against Jesus to his political advantage.
According to Luke's gospel since Jesus was a Galilean Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for disposition. This gesture of deference was well-received. "Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other." (Luke 23: 12)
Herod - also finding nothing offensive in Jesus - sent him back to the Prefect. Then Pilate attempted to curry the crowd's favor by releasing him in a very public gesture of rebuke to the religious establishment. Pilate may well have been thinking of the crowd's triumphal reception of Jesus just a few days earlier.
The Romans were expert at ruling through the manipulation of contending forces. Don't let any group become too powerful. Don't totally alienate any group that has real power. Play them off one another. Position your own authority as the decisive element.
Pilate had, however, misread the attitude of the crowd - or perhaps the influence of the religious establishment - and his attempt to separate the crowd from the Temple leaders was not successful. The Romans also tended to be realists. If the tactic is not working give it up.
In the end Pilate's indifference to Jesus - whether man or prophet - combined with the religious establishment's offended self-righteousness, and the crowd's readiness to be manipulated to produce the death sentence. If any one element - political indifference, religious self-righteousness, or mass psychology - had been otherwise the innocence of Jesus might have prevailed.
Given the history of humankind Jesus may well have been confident of his forthcoming death. But this does not mean God had removed the possibility of humans making just choices. On that Friday long-ago all of the parties made predictable choices that reflected a narrow sense of immediate self-interest. And so it remains most often for us.
posted by Didymus | 5:58 AM
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