In every age, in all nations, there have been people, who passionately seek power. Only God knows how many ills fell upon the earth when those who held on to power, no matter the cost, committed the most horrible crimes.
At the very beginning of our era, the world faced a tragedy, which on the one hand, remained in people’s memory as an act of appalling injustice, and on the other hand became a blessing for billions of people, who found peace with God.
Out of the several main characters during the last days of Jesus Christ, there are two that particularly stand out – Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate.
Apparently, the whole city was set in motion, when Judas, who very well knew where the Teacher and His Disciples usually stopped for prayer, came out of the temple in the company of high priests, the Jewish elders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, a detachment of soldiers and ministers holding burning torches and lanterns over their heads. What’s going on? Where are all these important people going at such a late hour?
The sight witnessed by those who happened to be near the temple and on the road to Gethsemane was truly impressive. The procession of officials, walking with decisive, energetic steps, seemed breathtaking and made one think that something extraordinary had happened. The fire of torches lit their furious eyes. They loudly threatened someone who was stirring up the people, blasphemed and violated the Law of Moses to the accompaniment of rattling swords, stamping feet, cracking whips, knocking hooves of Roman horses’ and various screams and shouts.
Alarmed residents of Jerusalem peered out from behind their doors and windows, from the top floors and from the flat rooftops of the houses as the procession walked past. All bystanders, vagabonds, tramps and just curious and trusting locals, partial to any scandal, started flocking to them from all parts of the city. On the way, they armed themselves with stakes and rocks, lit new torches and lanterns… They were also joined by a considerable number of those who came to celebrate Easter from other places of the Roman Empire. In the crowd, all kinds of gossip and horrifying news were being made up and immediately passed from person to person. As they were approaching the Garden of Gethsemane, the crowd grew larger and larger.
From that time on, Christ was in the grip of the crowd. When Christ was put before Pilate, the crowd had the deciding vote, and it was basically the crowd that Pilate had to struggle with.
The procurator of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, was the high representative of the Roman emperor Tiberius. It was known that the defiant people of Judaea made it a troubled place, at any moment ready to explode with civil unrest, protests and even rebellion. For this reason, the job of procurator was far from sinecure. It required a decisive person, a man of strong character.
That’s why Pilate was flattered to be entrusted with such an important position and did his best to repay Caesar’s trust. At the same time, he understood what a hot spot he was in.
Pontius Pilate, having earthly power, was very proud of it: “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free You or to crucify You?” (John 19:10) With these pompous words Pilate himself testified that if he wanted, he could let Jesus go, knowing that He was betrayed out of envy. Christ quickly relieved him of his pride by saying the words that put him in his place: 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 is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11) These words shocked Pilate. None of those arrested spoke to him like that.
At that moment Pilate started to see clearly. Christ’s words, like rays from the sun, lit him, and made him see himself on the scale of eternity. All his arrogance instantly disappeared and he suddenly realized: he was just a pawn in this grandiose kaleidoscope of events, involving forces of a clearly unearthly scale and he would have to pay for his decisions. He also understood that the One who was standing in front of him bound, humiliated, but amazingly calm, is not a simple Man, and in this calmness, Pilate suddenly saw how great He was. It became clear why Christ didn’t hastily and inconsistently try to convince him of His innocence, and why didn’t He beg to be let go. No, calm as the king, He looked past Pilate, as if He Himself had all the power here.
It touched Pilate’s heart. He was completely confused by his wife’s story of seeing this Holy Man in a dream, by her asking Pilate not to harm Him and the high priests’ demands that He should die, because He called Himself the Son of God. From then on, as it’s written, he started looking for a way to set Jesus free.
It was the day that Pilate remembered until the end of his life. He understood that he was trapped. On the one hand, there was an unruly crowd of infuriated Jews, who he had to keep in subjection by Caesar’s orders.
On the other hand, Pilate clearly saw that he was facing the Representative of the divine authority, from which, as this Nazarene said, he got his own power. What a terrible day! What should he do? Freeing Jesus will certainly mean that there will be a rebellion. Moreover, it will be Pilate’s fault and he won’t be able to justify himself. The insidious Jews brought this Man to him for trial and now it depends on his decision, whether or not this crowd, blinded by anger and hatred, will calm down or furiously rush to the streets, destroying everything in its path. It will consequently lead to innumerable victims on the streets of Jerusalem and in the vicinity. What exacerbated the situation even more was the fact that Easter attracted tens of thousands of Jews and Greeks from other countries and provinces of the Roman Empire to Jerusalem, they would definitely not stay away from these events. What an ideal situation for the rebellion! The insidious Jewish leaders seemed to have tailored everything for this to happen. Obviously, there are not enough soldiers in the Roman garrison to suppress the rebellion. Everyone will most likely die in this fire. Of course, Rome will send new legions that will completely destroy rebellious Judaea. Tens of thousands will be killed and crucified, but he, Pilate, his family, his friends and soldiers will no longer be on this land. What to do? What to do?..
Let us recall how many times Pilate tried to avoid the trial of Jesus and to convince the crowd. On the morning when Jesus was first brought from the Sanhedrin court and put before Pilate, he said to the chief priests and the crowd: “I find no basis for a charge against This Man.” (Luke 23: 4) But again they insisted and shouted.
Then Pilate asked the Jewish leaders one more time: “What charges are you bringing against this man?” “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” (John 18:30)
That’s such a “good” response. In other words, they were saying: “Pilate, you don’t need to know what He did wrong. If we tell you that He is evil, just believe us and have Him executed. And that’s all that is required of you. Why strain the relationship between us? The crowd wants the execution too… Just listen how they scream…
But Pilate knows that the real cause of their anger is envy. Therefore, he is trying to continue the fight. On finding out that Christ is Galilean, he sends Him to Herod, trying to buy some time and hoping for the fury of the raging crowd to cool down.
It didn’t work. Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate. Then Pilate decided on a half measure: he handed Jesus over to soldiers and ordered them to flog Him. (John 19:1-16)
Then he again showed Jesus, beaten, covered in blood, wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe, to the Jews and said: Here is the Man! Therefore, I will punish Him and then release Him. ” He believed that the sight of a battered and bloodied person would satisfy the crowd and arouse some human pity”. (Luke 23: 16-24)
But the crowd started to shout: “Away with this Man!” Pilate raised his voice, still wanting to let Jesus go. But they kept shouting: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
The insidious Jewish leaders bombarded him with the most difficult questions: “Don’t you know that He forbade paying taxes to Caesar?” – they shamelessly lied, knowing that it was Pilate’s responsibility to control tax collection.
“If you let this Man go, you are no friend of Caesar.” – the elders shouted. It was a clear hint that they would write a complaint against Pilate. He asked them for the third time: “What crime has this Man committed? I have found in Him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have Him punished and then release Him.” But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that He be crucified.
In the book “Acts of the Apostles” we can find a similar situation with a crowd of that time: here and there the crowd demanded execution. In a way, it’ll help us imagine the dramatic events happening in the praetorium of the Roman governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate.
“The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of Him! He’s not fit to live!” As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air…” (Acts 22:22-23) This behavior was typical for a Jewish crowd.
When he saw that the crowd’s excitement reached a critical point, Pilate decided to try the most extreme solution. Hoping for the magic word “king” to sober the people up, he said: “Here is your King!” (John: 19:14) But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Here Pilate makes a last desperate attempt to save Him by saying: “Shall I crucify your king?” And now the high priests publicly, amidst the many voices in the roaring crowd, for all to hear pronounce the official renunciation of the Messiah: “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:15)
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but 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 with a terrible curse: “His blood is on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:24-25) Then he surrendered Jesus to their will and released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for… (Luke 23:25)
During these dramatic events, Scripture mentions another person. Christ’s only intercessor at the trial was Pilate’s wife. So a weak and helpless person defended Almighty God in court. Imperfect and feeble earthly love petitioned for boundless Mercy, Light, unfading, eternal, and unending.
This young woman’s name is still known to this day. It was Claudia Procula. According to the legend, Claudia had a dream of the Last Judgment, which she later described in a letter. She dreamed about a Holy Man, who was sitting on a throne, and among convicts, distorted by horror, she saw the faces of Jewish leaders, who condemned Christ. She recognized the face of sly Annas, and closed her eyes in fear, trying not to see her husband among them.
How worried she was when in the evening Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate, irritated and disappointed by the morning trial, and asked for Jesus’ body. Perhaps, it was because of her influence, that Pilate let him take the body. But before, he called on the centurion and made sure that the Holy Man had died. Pilate’s wife either heard something, or spoke to the centurion herself, but she knew for sure what the warrior thought of this event. She had heard that it was a Holy Man, but the centurion said more: “This Man was the Son of God.” This was exactly what she had thought.
The young Roman woman eagerly listened to her handmaids’ stories and knew a lot about the Great Miracle Worker. For example, in a letter to her friend she accurately described the scene of the raising of Jairus’ daughter.
A sad letter, written after the crucifixion, mentioned that she was still under the impression of her terrible dream, frightened and tormented. She speaks of her feelings, an eclipse of the sun, an earthquake, and all the horrors experienced by the people of Jerusalem on that day. Since that time, she sought to find out all the details of Calvary’s Tragedy.
Under such circumstances, this woman received a baptism of fire. In agony she was reborn. She gradually regained her consciousness and many things became understandable. She sensed that from then on, Pilate’s star would be declining.
Outraged by Pilate’s brutality, the Jewish leaders filed a complaint against him with Vitilius, the ruler of Syria, and she accepted it. She perceived the untimely death of their son as a deserved punishment. Then came the trial of Pilate, his disgrace and exile to a distant province of Vienna, back then situated in Gallia, and eventually, Pontius’ suicide. From her point of view, all of this was the consequences of his involvement in Christ’s death.
It was simply logical for Pilate’s wife, the only intercessor in the trial, to become Christian.
Christ’s death that He took silently as a sheep before its shearers (Isaiah 53) has granted eternal life to billions of people. But on top of that, at that moment it saved tens of thousands of Jewish people and Roman soldiers, who would have inevitably died in the case of rebellion, if Pilate had let Christ go, and not Barabbas.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Him, who loved us and saved us, we will glorify and thank now and forever.
