April 15, 2025 | Be God's Family
A Bad Governor and a Worse Judge
Scripture: Matthew 27:11-26(NIV)
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Devotional
The religious leaders couldn’t just kill Jesus; they wanted to publicly execute Jesus. It could not be a quick stoning; it had to be a legal sentence of death as a criminal and traitor. But there was a problem. While the Romans allowed the Jews to keep their customs, the imposition of death by crucifixion for criminals and traitors they kept to themselves. The religious leaders needed approval of the Roman governor to legally kill Jesus.
Enter Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. I wonder how Pilate felt when he got the call from Emperor Tiberius. “I know you’ve always wanted to be a provincial governor. I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is you are being appointed governor. The bad news is it’s Judea.” Ugh. Those unruly Jews, they are always rioting, and they hate Romans.
Who was Pontius Pilate, whose name is forever remembered in the Apostle’s Creed? The scriptural, anecdotal and historical record of Pilate is complicated. According to Scripture, Pilate was a weak, vacillating judge who let Jesus be crucified knowing He was innocent. According to anecdotal and historical sources, Pilate was a culturally insensitive governor who resorted to cruelty and brutality to maintain Roman authority. While sparing Jesus might seem contrary to that reputation, there is evidence that Pilate’s insensitivity and cruelty (and the death of his main political sponsor) put him on shaky ground with the Emperor. There was also a continuing uneasy power struggle between Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders, who might send unfavorable reports of their own to the Emperor.
Pilate had already dealt with uprisings, riots, and local revolutionaries like Barabbas. Now they bring this religious leader to him, accused of crimes of Jewish heresy. Jesus seems like a nice guy, not some dangerous criminal. Jesus wasn’t accused of Roman crimes meriting the death penalty. But when the religious leaders worked the crowd into a frenzy, and threatened another riot, it became a Roman problem. More specifically, it became Pilate’s problem.
To avoid a riot, an innocent man had to die. And yet, God’s plan was so much bigger than Pilate and his responsibility as governor and his decision as judge. God’s plan was for His Son to die for all the sins of mankind; the sins of everyone alive in 33 A.D, and who would live ever since.
Pilate was a bad governor and a worse judge. I’m actually grateful for that.
Poem
I Stand Alone
Psalm 109
I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt. I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads. Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love. Let them know that it is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it. While they curse, may you bless;..
Psalm 109:23-28a
I stand alone
Frail
Thin
Fading
Beaten
Scarred
Buckling
Gaunt
I stand alone
Scorned
Fading
Accused
Cursed
Wounded
Stripped
Hated
I stand alone
Silent
Trusting
Praying
Loving
Forgiving
Blessing
Sacrificing
