Friday, April 8

Matthew 27:15-26

Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

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.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

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!”

All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

In this brief conversation, Pilate asks two questions that every human being must ask, sooner or later. The two questions are, “What is truth?” and “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” And these two questions are related.

Sooner or later we find ourselves asking questions like, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” Where did I come from?” “Where am I going?” Those questions naturally give way to questions like, “Is there a God?” “What is God like?” “What does God require from me?” Eventually, in one way or another, we ask, “Is there life after death?” “How can I know my eternal destiny?”

Until Pilate met Jesus, he assumed he knew the answers to these questions. He believed that a man lived, died, and hoped that the gods of the afterlife had mercy on him. He also liked to believe that life itself was a matter of survival of the fittest – that it was every man for himself. And yet, here before him was a man who did not hate; who did not fight for his own survival; who spoke of truth as if it were absolute; and who claimed to rule a kingdom that is not of this world. Here was an innocent man who was being railroaded to execution by people who were jealous of his popularity and afraid of his influence. And, he, Pilate, was being forced to make a decision.

What would he do? Would he act according to his conscience – which told him that, whoever and whatever this man was, he was not guilty of a crime worthy of crucifixion – or would he act to preserve his position? He decided to try to avoid a decision altogether. He made an elaborate display of washing his hands and denying any responsibility for what was about to happen. Then he allowed Jesus to be crucified.

I find this to be one of the most sadly ironic images in all of scripture. Pilate washing his hands as if hoping to cleanse himself for the spilling of Jesus’ blood; while it was really his heart that needed to be cleansed.

I think with gratitude of the words of the old hymn,

“What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

Brian Coffey