7 April, Friday — On Pilate

Good Friday

Isa 52:13-53:12
Heb 4:14-16,5:7-9
Jn 18:1-19:42

“I find no guilt in him”

It has become very difficult to be openly Catholic in my adopted country, America. We seem to be caught in the throes of a form of ‘liberalism’ that, viewed through the lens of history, is frighteningly similar to some of the more nefarious ideologies of the 20th century. I don’t know why we have let ourselves get to this place, why we have abandoned kindness, tolerance, moderation and respect for our neighbor, to embrace this extreme, ‘self-righteous’ anger. It’s as if the mob (or social media) has become our arbiter of truth. Because a mob derives its strength from chaos, he who speaks the loudest, who espouses the most extreme views, is the most powerful. Our politicians and the media understand this. To remain relevant, they know that they too must adopt the extreme, even if they don’t necessarily agree with it – and they do. So we are all caught in this vicious spiral of hate and vitriol, all of it our own doing. How do we dig ourselves out of this mess? I honestly don’t know.

Pilate was dealing with a mob that Good Friday. Though he was Roman, his brief encounter with Christ touched him, enough for him to try reasoning with the crowd. We see him declare Christ’s innocence repeatedly, to no avail. Pilate is often painted as the one who ordered for Christ to be flogged and executed. I don’t think Pilate had a choice; he would have been attacked, maybe even executed, if he had not handed Christ over. Scripture says that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:23-26). That perfectly encapsulates Pilate’s dilemma. Do the right thing but lose it all, or stay out of it and leave the Jews to sort themselves out?

Pilate was not all good, nor all bad; his greatest sin was that of self-preservation. Elected to be a steward of the people, Pilate was forced to do something he didn’t believe in because that’s what the people wanted! Wasn’t that the whole point of democracy after all, to do what the people want? Wasn’t he just doing his job? Right to the end, we see Pilate try to appease his own conscience, eg when he washes his hands, and when he writes ‘King of the Jews’ on Jesus’ plaque and defies the crowd who demand that he change the wording. Pilate must have realized that a great injustice had happened on his watch, and he sensed the role he had played in it. But he was one man against a mob; and there was so much on the line for him. The emotional conflict must have been impossible to bear. Christ said, “for whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matt 16:25). Faced with the angry mob outside the praetorium, Pilate chose to save his own life. What would we have chosen in his shoes, I wonder?

And what of my own predicament right now? Confronted with the prospect of being ostracized for my beliefs, why don’t I stand up for God against these angry liberals anyway? Why should I care what they think of me? Pilate may not have had the full benefit of Jesus’ teachings because he was raised a Roman – what excuse do I have to stay quiet?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Sharon Soo)

Prayer: We pray for the courage to stand up for our convictions, even if it means that we are persecuted and ostracized for them.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for Jesus, who paved the way for us, who stood up to his detractors with calm, grace and dignity and became a shining example of what it means to live our faith.