March 11/13

‘THEY MET AT CALVARY’

(4) PILATE – THE JUDGE WHO SENTENCED HIM

PASSAGES: Matthew 27.11-26 (Parallel passages Mark 15.1-15 and Luke 23.1-25

I. PILATE: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Share together what we learn of Pilate and his career from the pages of non-biblical history (see overleaf)

II. PILATE: THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT

* Pilate and Jesus’ person:

         What was Pilate’s impression of Jesus as a person? - What impact did Jesus make upon him?

- To what was this due?

* Pilate and Jesus’ guilt:

          What was his personal opinion of Jesus’ guilt or innocence? - on what was this based?

* Why, in the final event, did Pilate condemn Jesus to die? - What does the gospel reveal about this?

          What was Pilate’s dilemma? What his weaknesses?

- In what ways do the non-biblical records of Pilate’s career shed light on all this?

* How did Pilate attempt to ease his conscience?

III. PILATE: THE SPIRITUAL LESSONS

(We discuss together just how Pilate stands as a lasting and dearly needed warning to us all)

Pilate: reaching our verdict

* “Pilate is a figure of tragedy rather than a figure of villainy” so says William Barclay. Why would he say that? DO you agree with him? - Was Pilate bound and ham-strung? Or free?

Pilate: the choices , the faults * What was Pilate’s choice put in general, moral terms?

How does this relate to us?

Are we faced with similar choices in our daily lives? What are they?

* “Pilate’s fault was one common to all mankind” (W.E. Sangster)

Do you agree?

What was his fault?

In what ways do we show we are like him?

Pilate and the evasion of moral responsibility * What can we learn from Pilate’s attempt to evade personal responsibility and put the blame elsewhere?

What relevance is this to us? When do you see it happening in modern life?

CONCLUSION:

PILATE: THE KEY QUESTION – “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matt 27.22)

PILATE: THE CLEAR REVELATION

“Pilate’s story proves again that Jesus was not crucified by a few sins of unusual vileness but by a collection of common sins of which we are all guilty” (W.E.Sangster)

“It was my sins, O Saviour, that nailed you to the tree”

· PILATE: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

· Outside the Bible we learn of Pilate from 3 sources

From Josephus, the Jewish historian

From Eusebius, the early Church Father (mostly legends)

From Philo, the Jewish Philosopher

Pilate’s history:

Pilate came from the Roman middle-classes, but his ancestry is unknown. He rose through the ranks to the appointment of Procurator of Judaea, a position subordinate to the Governor of Syria and answerable to him and to the Emperor himself. The position was a stepping stone to higher appointments if one was successful. He would have had a military background.

He was appointed Procurator in AD27, held the position for 10 years, being recalled to Rome (under a cloud) in AD37. He was disdainful of the Jews, who were difficult to govern and whom he never really understood. He ran into trouble with them from the very start and sowed the seeds from his very earliest actions of the troubled relationships he had with them throughout. Arriving in AD27 at Caesarea, he ordered his troops to travel to Jerusalem and occupy his garrison (in the shadow of the Temple) by night, taking with them their standards which bore the images and idols of Caesar worship so violently hated by the Jews. This contravened a concession that idol-loathing Jews had won from Rome. It raised mass protest. Thousands marched to Caesarea to lobby Pilate who, after ignoring them for days, threatened to kill them all! They responded by offering themselves to death rather that break God’s commandment! Pilate had to back down.

Later, he clashed with them again over money taken from the very Temple Treasury to pay for an aqueduct he’d had built to save Jerusalem. The Jews rioted on the Jerusalem streets and had to be subdued by the massing of Roman troops.

It seems the unrest got to the ears of the Emperor (through Jewish reports to Rome, says Philo). And Pilate was given a final warning to ‘pull his socks up’ or lose not only hope of future promotion but also his present position.

Ironically, Pilate didn’t survive long after Jesus’ trial. A religious uprising in Samaria was violently and bloodily put down by Pilate. Upon hearing it, the Governor of Syria ordered Pilate back to Rome – and he passes out of the pages of history in AD37.