Could
Pilate ever have won in this situation?
He was caught between a rock and a hard place – a context that must be
well known to almost every leader or politician.
And all the time there must have been a voice whispering at the back of his mind – be careful – Rome wants peace, your Emperor wants good relationships with the local leaders – deal with this little local difficulty speedily – be pragmatic.
So, after a token resistance Pilate goes with the crowd – but not exactly, because by washing his hands doesn’t he really show us that at least he is unsure, at best he is actually deeply aware that his sentence is wrong and unjustified.
Maybe we do the same at some pressurised moments in our lives. We make judgements on little evidence, we let pragmatism dominate over principle and live all too easily and comfortably with our prejudices.
Pilate is, in my book at least, one of the saddest figures in the gospels. He may have had many good qualities yet he goes down in history as a man who didn’t really bother to discover truth. In place of eager and open enquiry and the willingness to explore – he simply washes his hands.
Surely one of the greatest joys of our faith pilgrimage is being open to new discoveries – about God, about ourselves and the world around us. To search for broad horizons rather than sit back and accept the comfortable and unchallenged view. To be open hearted seekers after truth rather than its overconfident guardians.
Or as Gregory of Nyssa said way back in the fourth century: Sin happens whenever we refuse to keep growing.
Let us pray:
Lord, help us to struggle, to ponder, to think outside the box. Give us a willingness to ask the difficult question and live honestly with the answer. Help us not to wash our hands of this task but to grow to love discovering new and deeper truths about you, ourselves and the world around us. Amen
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