Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-july-29-2024
Matthew 27:24-31
24 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!”
25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
It’s interesting to run into a genuinely political character in the gospels – and it seems to me that Pontius Pilate falls into that category. Clearly, he wasn’t a fool. Pilate could see that Jesus was innocent of anything that would be considered a crime. But when it came right down to it, Pilate wasn’t willing to risk his standing with the influential Jewish leaders just to support an itinerant rabbi.
And by the way, Pilate’s wife is another of the more interesting characters in the New Testament. You might remember that she sent Pilate a message warning him to have nothing to do with Jesus because she had experienced a troubling dream about him.
But Pilate himself has gone down in history as an example of the kind of moral ambiguity we encounter in all-too-many politicians. When the Jewish leadership dragged Jesus in from of him, Pilate made it clear that as far as he was concerned, Jesus had done nothing that deserved punishment. But the angry mob of Jewish leaders and their supporters demanded that Jesus be crucified.
According to the historians, Pilate was trapped. He was in the position of having to render judgment on a man he considered innocent, but the priests and the Pharisees and their supporters were demanding blood. And to make things more tense, it was the Passover, so the city was packed with religious pilgrims. Under those circumstances, if a riot broke out, it could easily get out of control. Pilate had already been in trouble with the authorities in Rome because of an earlier riot that had broken out on his watch. And as far as the Roman imperial authorities were concerned, maintaining order was Pilate’s primary responsibility.
We tend to condemn Pilate for moral cowardice because he failed to stand up for his principles and prevent the crucifixion of Jesus. But Pilate’s primary duty was to maintain order. So it’s unlikely that any Roman official in his position would be willing to risk his career – and maybe even his life – for the sake of a Jewish theological dispute. You might remember that in the Gospel of John, Jesus himself actually extends Pilate some grace – Jesus tells him that the Jewish leaders who handed him over were guilty of “the greater sin.”
So in our reading for today, Pilate performs the symbolic action for which he is remembered – literally washing his hands of the matter, trying to deflect responsibility for Jesus’ death.
And as the story is told in Matthew, the crowd of Jews in front of Pilate shouts, “Let his blood be on us and our children!” It’s important for us to remember that the Gospel of Matthew was compiled with a Jewish audience in mind. It was intended to tell Jewish readers how Jesus fit into the history and traditions of their people.
But sadly, lots of Christians throughout history have interpreted this passage as placing blame for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people collectively. In fact, this verse has been used to justify a lot of anti-semitism throughout history. But anti-semitic hatred is not only sinful, it’s also almost certainly not what Matthew had in mind. It’s much more likely that Matthew understood that the responsibility for the blood of Jesus fell on the Hebrew leadership, not on the Jewish people as a whole. Scholars believe that shortly before the Gospel of Matthew was published, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans, never to be rebuilt. So Matthew probably wanted to make the point that the whole Hebrew religious power structure had been wiped away because of its guilt for the death of Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we’re taught that responsibility for the death of Jesus falls on humankind in general, and not just on the Hebrew people or their leaders. Actually, it was those who thought of themselves as “God’s people” who bore responsibility for the death of Jesus. The people of God were so misled by their own fear of change, by their craving to do things the way they’d always done them, that they gave in to their sinful urges and participated in the murder of Jesus.
So in a sense, the blood of Christ falls on all of us. But the good news is that for those who confess our sins, for those who make a commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus and live in imitation of him, his blood has the ironic effect of washing from us the stain of our sins. That blood that once condemned us now rescues us from condemnation.
Today’s reading ends with Jesus being mocked and tortured by Pilate’s garrison of Roman soldiers. It’s not immediately evident why the Roman soldiers would be so sadistic in their torture of Jesus. Scholars suggest that the Romans had a general contempt for the Jews. The Jews were a minority of about 15% in the Roman Empire – very close to the percentage that African Americans represent in our nation’s population. And we see all too often in the news what can happen when armed authority figures are set free to violently express their contempt for members of a powerless minority.
Of course, it’s also possible that we’re meant to see the Romans as representing the gentile world in general. Maybe the message being communicated here is that it wasn’t just the Jews who murdered Jesus – that all of humankind shares responsibility for his blood.
This passage shows humankind at its revolting worst – brutal, violent and morally bankrupt. But this darkest hour of human history also reminds us of how much Jesus suffered out of his great love for us, and of the price God was willing to pay to reconcile us to himself.
Let’s pray. Lord, when we read this story of the gruesome treatment you suffered at the hands of those you made in your image, we are ashamed at the depths to which our species can sink. But we are also moved by the great love you demonstrated in suffering so much to rescue us from our sins. For that great love, we humbly thank you. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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