“Gets the wrong end of the stick”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, March 1, 2022
John 18:28-38 (Forward, p. 31) CEV p. 1126
I’m afraid that Pontius Pilate often ‘gets the wrong end of the stick’, being maligned for all sorts of nefarious deeds. He is described as being weak and vacillating and appeasing. Some of this may no doubt be true, but he is under intense pressure. He is already labouring ‘under a cloud’, already at peril of ‘striking out’ because of past misdeeds. Already the Jewish authorities have reported him to Caesar, such that he is certainly living on ‘borrowed time.’ And, now the Jewish authorities come to him with a cooked-up charge against Jesus. Instead of accusing Jesus of blasphemy, which was their original sentence, they now accuse Jesus of rebellion and treason, of setting Himself as King and agitating for His own kingdom. They know perfectly well that blasphemy would count nothing for Pilate (what does he care about such an ‘internal’ matter?). But they know that rebellion and treason, especially against Caesar, would spur him into immediate action. Caesar would ‘not be amused’ if he, Pilate, went soft on such a charge!
Even so, as Frank Morison details in his wonderful little book, Who Moved the Stone, Pilate refused to roll over and play dead. He refused to cow tow to the wishes of the Jewish authorities and simply rubberstamp their decision. Instead, much to the disgust and dismay of these authorities, he went methodically through the procedures of a proper trial as laid out within Roman jurisprudence.
And even later on, as we see in chapter 19, he tried to let Jesus off. He announced his sentence of acquittal, tried to play the sympathy card (by showing off the terribly battered and flogged Jesus to them), and even suggested to them that he let Jesus off as an alternative to the prisoner Barabbas, a convicted murder and terrorist. But then the crowds, egged on by their leaders, played their trump card: they accused Jesus once again of claiming to be a king, thus going against Caesar.
To me, Pilate is but one more person of many who has collapsed under pressure, given in to ‘the inevitable’. Certainly, Simon Peter was guilty of this, certainly so too were most of the rest of the Twelve, and certainly have many Christians over the centuries. And yes, is this not us, as well. Far too often we give in when we shouldn’t. But as the old song says, “I’m Only Human, Afterall!” Is this not the price, and the curse, of being human? So, God, help us in this. Help us in this coming Lenten season to be more faithful to you, and to each other. Amen.
Forward notes: “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews’” (verse 36a).
“’That’s not how we do things here.’ How many times have I heard that? I go into a new situation—a job or a committee, and I realize I must learn to do things differently. The old way no longer works.
Jesus also did things differently and not as others expected. Wherever he went, he met hunger with food, sickness with healing, violence with peace.
I think Pilate was puzzled at Jesus’s lack of resistance to his arrest. Jesus explained clearly that if he did things as the world expected, there would be fighting and revolt. But there was no fight. Jesus did not call for armed resistance to prevent his arrest or save him from death.
God calls us to a new way of being in the world. Jesus modeled this in his ministry, putting a divine spin on the phrase, ‘That’s not how we do things here.’”
Moving Forward: “How do you meet the world differently because you follow Jesus?”
