Matthew 27:15-37
Innocent.
In this Good Friday passion scripture, the word leaps out. If we created a tally sheet for this text with the headings, "Guilty" & "Innocent", whose names would fall under each?
Mrs. Pilate had a nightmare (v. 19). About Jesus. That's a bad combination -- to be on the nightmare end of an encounter with Jesus. Her urgent message comes to her husband sitting in a judgment seat in deliberation over Jesus. (A person sitting in the judgment seat above Jesus -- that may be more awkward than a nightmare about Him!) "Leave that innocent man alone." The wife of Pilate did not want to be guilty of the blood of Jesus. But she was.
Pilate himself was eager, it seems to me desperately so, to distance himself from the guilt of Jesus' murder. Here was a man who made his living by oppression and iron-fisted intimidation! But we see him nervously call for a basin of water, and see him dramatically wash his hands before the riotess crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood." (v.24) He laid the responsibility for Jesus' death on the crowd. Pilate did not want to be guilty of the blood of Jesus. But he was.
Of course, there was plenty of guilt to go around: the crowds chanting for Jesus to be crucified; the priests and elders who plotted and persuaded toward the same; the murderous insurrectionist Barabbas whose deserved death penalty Jesus took; the soldiers who, bored by simple crucifixion, played with their prey by mockery and torture until "they were finally tired of mocking him" (v.31). Even generations yet to be born were brought into the equation, the guilt of Jesus' death begins for them as a matter of inheritance: (v.25) "his blood be on us and on our children!"
So, who is guilty, and who is innocent?
There are some who seem not to care a lick that their lives and choices put the innocent Son of God on the cross. There are others who for pride or fear seek vehemently complete disassociation. But at the end of the day, I see only one name on the scorecard under "Innocent", and the names of all others, of all humanity, my own included, under "Guilty".
His blood is on us. Somehow, might this verdict also be our pardon?
PPaul
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2 comments:
It's interesting how Matthew's description of this scene shows Pilate to be so eager to be rid of Jesus. This may be more to do with brevity, but I'd be curious to see Pilate's thought process during the time he had Jesus. The Passion movie made Pilate to be a much more conflicted character. Was he care at all about Jesus? Was he worried about his job (and his life) if he had another uprising? Or did he just want to be rid of his problem as fast as possible?
Regarding the comments....a little dialogue here.....I think that Jesus was a curiousity to Pilate. We would all like to think that Pilate recognised the gravity of the situation he was embroiled in. But it was probably more like "one more thing" with the Jewish people and with some oddities about the situation that Pilate had to take care of. I think we have to realize that these people were much like us-- just people doing their jobs, unknowingly stepping into history without understanding what they were part of-- until later. Hind sight offers us tremendous vision and understanding. How fortunate we are if we have eyes opened as it is happening which seems to go along with the theme of the sermon yesterday. Are we paying attention? Are we watchful of God's hand in the world? Are we seeing what is happening? Do we understand how each of us fits into the plan God is clealy working out? Do we really think it is all random? Your thoughts........?
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