Pilates most stressful day

Introduction
As I first started preparing for this talk the “Christianity at Work” course was presenting the evening on stress at work. It occurred to me that Pilate had one of the most stressful days of his career. So I've called this talk “Pilate most stressful day”.
I'm going to read through the passage covering all of the interaction with Pilate. Every so often I will stop to make comment on the text and occasionally I will pause and leave you with a question to ponder for a minute or so.
First though lets refresh our memories about the two men.
Jesus
The story so far …
The word made flesh, born as a man, grown up and baptised in the spirit. He is on a mission. His mission is to rescue humanity, so that they can have a relationship with God and be saved from death. To do this he must take the blame for everything sinful we have ever done, and be put to death as a punishment.
His ministry has been running about 3 years, he has been teaching about the kingdom of heaven and teaching his followers so that they can carry on spreading the message about the Kingdom after he is gone.
In the last few days he has suffered betrayal by one of his closest friends. As a result he has been arrested by the Chief Priests. The rest of his friends have abandoned him. One of his three closet friends has publicly rejected him.
Now he is to be handed over to the Roman authorities.
Pilate
The story so far …
Pontius Pilate is the fifth prefect of the Roman province of Judaea. He has a reputation for being in-sensitive to the Jews and frequently having to suppress crowd trouble as a result. In one instance Pilate allowed his soldiers to bring effigies into the city. When asked to remove them he spent 5 days deciding what to do and then ordered his troops to surround the protesters and threaten to kill them. When the protesting Jews accepted their fate willingly he backed down and removed the effigies. In another similar incident he was censured by the Emperor Tiberius and forced to back down.
He is described as vindictive with a furious temper.
He's is about to have a very stressful day at work.
So lets have a look as Pilate's stressful day. We need to start in the last chapter (18) at verse 40 and move forward to the end of today’s reading. I'd suggest that you keep your bibles open and follow the text.

John 18:28-19:16

Jn 18:28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.
Jn 18:29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
Jn 18:30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

Pilate seems to have overcome his insensitive ways. He knows that it is special festival for the Jews, he understands that they are not allowed to enter the house of a gentile (Roman), so he has come out of his palace to meet them and hear what they have to say.
The Jews though are evasive. Clearly they want something, but it seems that Pilate is expected to guess what at this stage.

Jn 18:31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

Pilate does not want to be disturbed – nor does he want the responsibility for settling an argument for the Jews. It doesn't look like a promising start for the Jews, but don't underestimate a well managed, manipulated crowd.

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” the Jews objected.

So we now know the sentence they want, but still we don't have the charges!

When do I make people play “Guess what I want?”, expecting them to do something without being straight forward about what it is I would like them to do?

[Pause]

Jn 18:32 This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
Jn 18:33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jn 18:34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

It's a strange question! Where did Pilate get that from. He has obviously heard of Jesus, whether through reports of his actions with some Romans, or perhaps he has spies amongst the Chief Priests.
Jesus, of course gets straight to the point, and wants to know where the idea came from.

Jn 18:35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Pilate is again dismissive of the Jews. He now gets straight to his point. It's a very direct question – he wouldn’t get employed as a detective. Perhaps he has already decided that Jesus will tell the truth.

Jn 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Jn 18:37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Jn 18:38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

Pilate is dismissive of Jesus claim to be speaking truth. He is the ultimate politician here, considering only what is useful to achieve his immediate aims. There is no thought of Justice for the accused, no concern for getting to the truth – Jesus is just the pawn he is fighting over. The conversation with Jesus has had no effect on Pilate at all, except to confirm what Pilate already knows: Jesus is innocent of any crime under Roman law.

Jn 18:39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
Jn 18:40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

Pilate is still trying to release Jesus. Not because he cares for justice, but because he wants the confrontation with the Jews to come to an end. He's had bad experiences with Jewish crowds before, and knows that it will not be good for his career to have another one. He decides to give the Jews a direct choice – when he would normally have asked them who they want. Do you want Jesus or Barabbas? We can assume that he chose Barabbas as his alternative because he knew that Barabbas was not popular amongst the Jews.
The crowds response must have come as a shock to him.

Jn 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

Perhaps if some punishment is administered that will placate the calls for a crucifixion. A Roman flogging was a serious punishment and usually left the victim disabled for life – if not dead from the flogging. The aim though was not to kill, it is to inflict long term suffering. A flogging would tear the flesh from a man's back. His muscles would be exposed and damaged, sometime his bones would be exposed. He could also be turned around and have the same treatment applied to his chest and stomach.
Compromise – giving a little to restore the peace
- it's not submission
- it must be copied by the other side
- sometimes it's just gestures (as the flogging was) and doesn't achieve anything
- sometimes that's the first step to reconciliation
- sometimes it's a step to far

What are my limits – what won't I compromise on?

When I do compromise do I understand the value of the offer I'm making?

[Pause]

Jn 19:2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe
Jn 19:3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.
Jn 19:4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out h to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
Jn 19:5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

Jesus must have looked awful – barely alive. The soldiers have been mocking him and applying further punishment. Was Pilate now hoping that the Jews would lessen their demands. Had the flogging been enough? When he says “Here is the man!” Pilate has turned from being reasonable to being sarcastic. Here is the man you want crucified – look at him – he can barely stand. Look your king is wearing a crown of thorns.
Jn 19:6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

“I find no basis for a charge against him”. Pilate has said this three times by now. Three times he has declare Jesus is innocent. Three times Jesus was rejected by the Jews (Peter), three times he is declare innocent by the gentiles.
As soon as they saw him they shouted “Crucify! Crucify!”. Nothing Pilate could do would satisfy them, but he STILL doesn't know the charges.
Jn 19:7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
Jn 19:8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid,

Pilate believed in the Roman gods, today we might call that superstition, but then it was a recognised religion. He has already recognised something unusual about this man – perhaps he is a god and now the gods are against him as well.

Jn 19:9 and he went back inside the palace. o “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.
Jn 19:10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jn 19:11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you r is guilty of a greater sin.”

On the face of it Jesus has no power at all but who is really in control here? Perhaps only Jesus amongst all those involved realises the truth, God is in control, and God is in the room! Jesus also clearly puts the blame for his situation on the Chief priests. They are the ones who have lost sight of the truth they should be teaching, and have led their people into sin.

Jn 19:12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king s opposes Caesar.”

Now the Jews play their trump card in getting Jesus sentenced to death. “If you don't do as we say we will report you to Caesar. This is simple political blackmail. They have in their previous dealings identified Pilate's main weakness – his love of power, and have found a way to use it against him.

Jn 19:13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).
Jn 19:14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
Jn 19:15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Jn 19:16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

Finally the Chief Priest deny everything they stand for. “We have no king but Caesar” whatever happened to the Lord God, the person they are supposed to worship, whose passover they will eat in a day or two's time.
Pilate's conscience has been bothering him. He knows Jesus is innocent and doesn't deserve the sentence he has just received. In Matthew's account Pilate washes his hand to try to say that he has nothing to do with it. It's a custom he borrowed from the Jews for this one occasion.

When have I denied the justice that I know I should support?

What do I do to try to quieten the voice of my conscience?

[Pause]

Jesus went through all that and much more so that you and I can have a fresh start with God. His unjustified punishment and death mean that our deserved punishment will no longer be applied.