– John 18:38-40
Pilate is in a bind here. He knows that Jesus should not be killed, and he even announces Jesus’ lack of guilt to the people. But then, in a not-so-clever attempt to salvage the situation, he ends up making things worse. Pilate brings up a “custom” that he had probably made up himself earlier in his reign. This custom reeks of political theater. It is a ruler who is trying to look generous and magnanimous but ends up looking like an aloof dictator. At some point, Pilate must have realized that the Passover commemorated an act of grace shown to the Jewish people by Yahweh, their God. So, Pilate’s thinking must have been something like this… “I know! I’ll be gracious just like their ‘god.’ I’ll let them choose a prisoner (one of their own people) that I have ordered to be executed (probably for an act of rebellion against him, not against them), and they will see that I too am gracious.”
In this feigned act of graciousness, Pilate must have thought something like: “I’ll declare Jesus not guilty and then mock Jesus publicly by putting a robe on him and calling him ‘the King of the Jews.’ Then they’ll see that he is harmless.” The only problem is that what Pilate thought was mockery was more like rubbing salt in the wound. This was a bigger deal to the Jews than Pilate ever realized. This of course would be something that he would have understood if ever took even the slightest interest in the people that he was put in charge of. However, Pilate didn’t realize that claiming to be “King of the Jews” was not just a silly mistake, it was blasphemy. Only God’s anointed, only the Messiah, could do that. So, to Pilate’s surprise (ignorant as he was), the Jews do the exact opposite of what he wanted them to do and ask him to release a thief so that an innocent man could be killed.
But I find it interesting that God uses both the obstinate adherence to religious tradition by the Jews and the ignorant whims of an out-of-touch tyrant. All of this works together to ensure that the guilty one is set free while the innocent one is killed on the cross. This is an absolute travesty! But it is also THE GOSPEL! Without this travesty of injustice which was caused by this unholy union of government and religion, there would be no gospel at all. The good news is that our hope is not in either the power of religion or the power of the state, but in the power of the grace of God as revealed in Jesus. This is what makes today such a “Good” Friday!
Josh Rose
Discipleship Pastor