Snapshots - Jesus through the Lens of History

Pontius Pilate – A Day at the Office

      Think back to the worst job you ever had. Remember how each day was enormously depressing. Thank goodness you have moved onto something better. (Oops! Sorry if you are still in it.) Now, this is the state of mind for Pontius Pilate in the first century. He didn’t ask to be a Roman procurator in this hot and volatile section of Israel, but here he is slowly dragging his feet from responsibility to responsibility. And one of the more onerous was overseeing the high Jewish holiday of Passover in the city of Jerusalem. 

Now, let’s snap a quick photo of Pilate’s residence, the place he tries hard not to leave. He lives on the pleasant coast of Israel in the voluptuous city of Ceasarea. His villa has all the comforts of the modern first century – running water, baths, gardens and lots of servants. Yet, once every year he has to trudge over to Jerusalem and amass his troops to do crowd control for the Passover holiday. And to a Roman this ain’t a pleasant assignment. 

      During the last years, violent revolutionaries, screeching prophets, oppressed lower classes, and roving bandits have reached a crescendo and plagued his tour of duty. Pilate’s form of policing and peacekeeping is swift and final – just grab ‘em and crucify ‘em! The bodies hanging on crosses outside the city are constantly being replenished. Take photos only if you want them in your own album.

     Pilate and the High Priest of the Temple meet when necessary, which is often during this holiday week. Together they share the burden for keeping a semblance of peace in the city. Whether a ripple of revolt or tsunami of insurrection occurs, the Sanhedrin is required to turn over any Jewish troublemaker to Pilate for quick trial and immediate penalty on the old rugged cross. Jesus was a radical and yes, seen as interfering in Temple politics, as well as a possible threat to Roman authority. The rules were the rules so inevitably Jesus had to be found guilty by the priests and given over to the Romans.

     Many movies, books and myths have tried to capture the emotional climate of Pilate on the day when the priests of the Temple of Jerusalem turned Jesus over to the Romans. What did Pilate think? What guilt and remorse, if any, did he experience? What we do know from history, is that Pilate was simply trying to keep the peace, giving short shrift to just one more dissident, one more troublemaker. Pilate kept Jesus’ trial short, the penalty just another tedious necessity in a long line of similar incidents. This was such a daily ‘ho hum’ activity that first century historians barely recorded this particular prisoner’s trial, verdict, and inevitable penalty.

Over the next two thousand years, Jesus followers have layered more and more meaning and glory onto an event that, at the time, was seen as an almost unimportant blip on the screen - though it was crushingly sad and confusing to Jesus’ family and followers. 

But, we will return, bringing our cameras to record as much depth and insight as possible about this amazingly short event that has none the less impacted the world for millennium.