Matthew 27:15-26
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. (v. 20) I have heard it said that the Jewish leaders had put together “their own crowd” and persuaded them to ask for Barabbas. I’ve always wondered about that and only this morning reflected further and asked myself about that “crowd”. Presumably many of these people could have been part of the same group that gathered at Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. I always imagine them as “the rabble”. But then I thought further and yes, devout Jews, including His disciples and many Galileans (if they were anywhere but their homes early in the morning) would have been in the temple area celebrating their own Passover weekend. They would not have been at Pilate’s palace.
Pilate … took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” (v. 24) No amount of water could have cleansed Pilate of his wrongdoing. He may have said the words in front of the crowd, but he still had the responsibility for Jesus’ fate. Furthermore, two verses later he has Jesus scourged; my Study Bible pointed out that Roman scourging was so harsh that many died of the scourging before they even got to the crucifixion. As Carol posted yesterday, we can all wonder at Pilate’s later life, especially when he heard of Jesus’ resurrection – an item that was clearly known throughout Jerusalem (see Luke 24:18). Did he have regrets and second thoughts? And you know what? God the Father still loved Pilate and wanted him to come to repentance (I Timothy 2:4). Pilate – one of the saddest figures in all of human history!
Slava Bohu!
Pilate and Judas – I agree, the saddest of all human beings in history.
I neglected to mention Pilate’s wife in my last comments. Since she had had dreams about Jesus and sent her husband a message “to have nothing to do with that man” I wonder about her later life too. Did she look into it when Jesus was purported to be resurrected? I’d like to think so.
She doesn’t carry the guilt that Pilate does, since he had the power to save Jesus and didn’t use it. He went against his own conscience, knowing Jesus was innocent. (Come to think of it, maybe he is a more pitiful figure than Judas—seems as if Judas really didn’t believe Jesus would be put to death, and Pilate sent him to his fate!)
Blessings y’all!