Pontius Pilate. The name itself brings the Christian mind to the week of the entry, to the night where the apostles broke bread, and to Christ's arrest, "trial," crucifixion and resurrection. Pilate is a key figure in the book of Matthew (27) to whom the Jewish leaders hand Christ.
Interestingly, Rev. Dr. Joel Heck, theology professor at Concordia University Austin, writes about Pilate in the March 2020 Lutheran Witness. When we hear the story of the passion this week, it's good to know the story Dr. Heck shares (new to me). In John 19, Heck writes, "When the Jews feared that Pilate was about to release Jesus, they shouted, 'If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar." To the "rest of the story..."
Heck notes this: "Just two years earlier, Lucius Aelius Sejanus had been executed in Rome for a plot against those who were aligned with Tiberius, the Roman emperor.
"Pilate was a friend of Sejanus and had actually been nominated for the governorship in Judea (by Sejanus). If word got back to Rome that Pilate was Sejanus' friend, Pilate's governorship, even his life, could soon be over.
"The Jews apparently knew about Pilate's friendship with Sejanus and seemingly threatened to send word about that friendship to Rome. So Pilate realized that he was in a difficult spot. He had to choose between justice and his future. He decided to compromise his understanding of justice and Roman law and handed Jesus over to be crucified."
Heck goes on to say that God's plans always supercede man's. Pilate's frame of mind becomes even more clear with this background information. To know the story from scripture is to see a man who seems to not want to have Christ's blood on his hands. Knowing this story says Pilate was also concerned with keeping his own head on his shoulders and the Jews knew it. Through it all, God's plans prevail.
We all have blood on our hands. We too deny Christ, plot and plan, and attempt to twist our "thoughtfully" developed plans so that our will be done. Going back to Jeremiah 29, we remind ourselves that God "knows the plans He has for us." Yet even Christ Himself shows us in his prayer in earnest when He implores God to spare Him from this, but he does confess, "Not my will, but your will be done."
We pray that we always seek God's will. We ask for the mercy and forgiveness when we act like Pilate and seek to employ our own will and plans over God's. We know that even with Christ's blood on our hands, there is forgiveness.
Rev. Dr. Joel Heck, "God's Plans (not ours)" Lutheran Witness, March 2020
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